Swiftie detectives think Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will change a problematic lyric (UPDATED)

Not since the early days of Westworld (when the show was really good and not just “trust me it’s actually still good”) has a community of people been so obsessed with solving a mystery that may not actually exist, but Uproxx says that Taylor Swift fans—Swifties, in their parlance—have apparently uncovered evidence that Swift is going to be changing a controversial lyric in her song “Better Than Revenge” when she releases her updated Taylor’s Version of Speak Now on July 7.

The original song, in which Swift lays into a romantic rival who supposedly stole her boyfriend (probably Joe Jonas and Camilla Belle), has been called anti-feminist or straight-up misogynistic over the way it seemingly pits women against each other. It also notably includes the following lyrics: “She’s not a saint and she’s not what you think, she’s an actress, she’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress,” which… yeah. Not great, especially regarding the more feminism-friendly attitude (or maybe “persona,” depending on how cynical you are) that Swift has presented more often in the decade since the old Speak Now.

But back to the Swif-tectives, they noticed that the rerecorded version of “Better Than Revenge” on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is three seconds longer than the old one, implying that something is different about it. By searching specifically for the first line, the “not a saint” one, Swift fans were able to bring up the iTunes page for the new Taylor’s Version release, but by searching the old lyrics, they were only able to bring up the original song—seemingly implying that the old lyrics are not in the new song!

If that’s true, then it follows what seems to be a bit of preemptive damage control from Swift, who seems very aware that this is going to be a particularly spicy era for the Taylor’s Version project (where she’s rereleasing all of her old albums to reclaim to the rights). A few weeks ago, she made a plea to the crowd at one of her tour stops to take it easy on bullying the various famous men she wrote songs about on Speak Now (including, supposedly, John Mayer and Taylor Lautner), noting—without really saying this verbatim—that she’s far more rich and famous than any of them and seems to be doing just fine.

Unless this is all a false flag and Taylor Swift really wants to rally everyone together to take on everyone who ever wronged her? She could probably do it pretty easily.

Updated, 7/6/23, 11:16 p.m.: Yup! Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is out in the world now, occupying the deductive minds of Swift fans everywhere, and it’s been quickly confirmed: The mattress line has been swapped out for the less-perfect rhyme (but superior optics) of “He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.” Great job, gumshoes!