Music Review: "Innocent" (CD Single)
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this song was performed live at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, in response, allegedly, to the 2009 debacle involving Kanye West's rude interruption of Swift's award acceptance speech. The song is darker and more somber than Swift's usual flavor, but its theme is uplifting: forgiving and learning from mistakes. Clean lyrics and content, but the heavy subject might be better for older kids.
- Families can talk about the media frenzy surrounding this song, Swift's MTV performance, and Kanye West. Do you think it is about him? Do you care? What do you think the song is about?
- Do the rumors about this song's intent make it more interesting? Does it make you want to buy the music more?
- The lyrics are melancholy, yet inspiring, saying, "Wasn't it easier in your lunchbox days, always a bigger bed to crawl into/Who you are is not where you've been or what you did." What do you think about these lyrics? Do you think Taylor Swift is referring to herself? Or her life as a celebrity?
On her third album, Speak Now, Taylor Swift is finding her voice and heart. Many of the album's songs are about former flames and heartaches, but "INNOCENT" is a solemn, powerful ballad that is rumored to be a response (or reprieve) to Kanye West's stage-storming during her award acceptance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
What makes Taylor Swift's music so unique is how much of herself she puts into each song. With her album, Speak Now, she's going all in. "Innocent" is a little darker, more serious than her other tunes. The melancholy melody is haunting, with intense lyrics, heartfelt and relatable, saying: "Wasn't it easier in your lunchbox days? Always a bigger bed to crawl into." The song shows Taylor's growth as a singer and person, a product of fame and life's harsh realities, but it ends inspiring and powerful with the declaration, "Everyone of us has messed up too.../Today is never too late to be brand new.../It's alright, just wait and see, your string of lights is still bright to me, you're still an innocent. Who you are is not where you've been."
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