meta-scriptFor The Record: How 'Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival' Expanded The Boundaries Of Hip-Hop | GRAMMY.com
Wycleff Jean
Wycleff Jean

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For The Record: How 'Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival' Expanded The Boundaries Of Hip-Hop

Released in June 1997, 'Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival' was both distinctly of its time and revolutionary in the way it employed Caribbean musical influences. GRAMMY.com revisits Jean's solo debut in For The Record.

GRAMMYs/Jun 2, 2022 - 11:00 am

Twenty-five years ago, on the heels of one of the most successful, critically beloved hip-hop albums of all time, the Fugees shocked the world by breaking up. The fallout from the romantic relationship between Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean was too much to bear, so the trio went their own ways.

Wyclef was the first to release a solo album, Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival, only months later. Nominated for three GRAMMY awards, it was a stunningly multifaceted solo debut that was both of its time and revolutionary in the way it expanded the boundaries of hip-hop. The uniqueness of The Carnival lay in its many musical influences, almost all taken from the Caribbean. The Score had already made clear how influential Jamaican music was for The Fugees, but Wyclef’s solo debut went deeper, referencing his native Haitian and Cuban music. 

Fortuitously, The Carnival’s release dovetailed with larger musical trends in the mid-to-late 1990s, specifically the exploding popularity of "world music"— a deeply problematic term that lumped together many disparate musical traditions, but has persisted for marketing purposes. Although Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and David Byrne had begun to make inroads in exposing non-Western musical genres to western audiences in the 1980s, things really took off in the 1990s. The decade saw projects such as Buena Vista Social Club (released a few months after The Carnival), which kicked off a rebirth of Western fascination with Cuban music.

The Carnival’s impressive roster of guest stars included Cuban music legend Celia Cruz, who appears on Wyclef’s remake of "Guantanamera"; the Neville Brothers on the throwback love song "Mona Lisa"; and Rita Marley and the I-Threes, singing background vocals on the roots reggae song "Gunpowder" (in which Wyclef channels Bob Marley in sound and message). The inclusion of Cuban music isn’t accidental — Haiti and Cuba have a long history of mutual cultural influence, as is evident on "Guantanamera" when Wyclef raps that his uncle used to play the song on his record player.

This hip-hop version of the quintessential Cuban song features Lauryn Hill on the last verse, outshining Wyclef and demonstrating, once again, that she was the most gifted MC of the three. She guests on five songs on The Carnival — and Pras shows up for two — indicating the album was written and recorded before their falling out. Other supporting players from The Score who show up frequently on this album are producer Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis (Wyclef’s cousin), R&B duo Melky Sedeck (made up of Wyclef’s siblings) and John Forté.

Apart from "Sang Fézi" in the middle of the album — on which Hill croons gorgeously over a sample of "House of the Rising Sun" — Wyclef saved the Haitian portion of The Carnival for the last three tracks, which are sung or rapped in Creole. The placement of these songs suggests he was worried about introducing Haitian music to an English-speaking hip-hop audience and wanted to ease them into it by making an album that relied heavily on familiar hip-hop tropes, replicating much of the production employed on The Score.   

These last three songs feel like an afterthought, appearing after the "Closing Arguments" sketch. "Jaspora," meaning "diaspora" in Creole, and "Yele" are sonically much more tied to Jamaican music, even though they’re sung in Haitian Creole; the latter (featuring Wyclef on guitar) calls to mind "Redemption Song." Thus, it’s really only the final track, "Carnival," that references French Caribbean popular music. One of the best songs on the album, it features Jocelyne Béroard of the zouk supergroup Kassav, and Haitian konpa star Sweet Mickey (Michel Martelly), who was able to parlay his musical fame into a successful presidential run in 2011. In fact, Wyclef tried to run for president in the same year as Martelly, 2010, but his bid was rejected because he didn’t meet the residency requirements in Haiti. 

Much of The Carnival conforms to the 1990s East Coast hip-hop sound, and is a sort of natural extension of The Score. This is most obvious in its reliance on a wide range of samples, as well as the many skits/interludes placed in between tracks. In addition to sampling quite a few classic old school tracks, such as Slick Rick’s "Children’s Story" on "Bubblegoose" and "Rapper’s Delight" on "To All the Girls," there are some truly inventive choices. The opening track, "Apocalypse," brilliantly employs a sample from a 1960s French classical singer, whose haunting voice soars over a dope beat. "Gone Till November" steps outside the usual bounds of hip-hop production by using an original orchestral arrangement by the New York Philharmonic. Despite its lack of samples, the production on "Anything Can Happen" stands out and the instrumentation on the chorus evokes the feeling of the Wild West.

Wyclef is a more gifted musician and producer than MC, and The Carnival is superior sonically than lyrically. That said, "To All the Girls" is an exception that sees Wyclef reflecting honestly on being a "ho"—and the way this word leads into a citation of "Rapper’s Delight" ("Ho-tel, motel, Holiday Inn") is brilliant. Reading between the lines, the song is about him cheating on his wife with Hill and not being mature enough to handle the commitment marriage entails.

Contrasting the wonderfully inventive production of "Anything Can Happen" and the realness of "To All the Girls" is the hackneyed "We Trying to Stay Alive." Borrowing a move from the Puff Daddy playbook, Wyclef samples both the chorus and the background instrumental of the Bee Gees’ hit, a lazy choice that leaves nothing to the imagination. It doesn’t help that Pras, a famously weak MC, is featured on the track. Apparently Barry Gibbs was not a fan of the song.

More egregious, however, are the interludes on "The Carnival," which haven’t aged well and rely on gratuitous ethnic stereotyping. The misogynist and ridiculously entitled "Words of Wisdom" reinforces victim-blaming, warning men off of accepting late-night booty calls because they will inevitably end in (false) accusations of rape. Of course, this wasn’t unusual in 1990s hip-hop (see Tupac and Digital Underground’s "I Get Around" and Nas’ "Dr. Knockboot"), but the skit is wholly unrelated to the songs on the album. Then there’s the orientalism bordering on racism in "Down Lo Ho," featuring a "Chinese" character who first showed up on The Score and whose accent is mocked. Even the mocking of Haitian-accented English — with the lawyer who defends Wyclef pronouncing "bulls**t" as "bishop" — feels over the top. The theme that supposedly connects all the skits — that Wyclef is unjustly accused of some unnamed crime (being a playa?) — doesn’t gel thematically with the album.

Where The Carnival excelled was in introducing new musical repertoires and sounds into hip-hop — an accomplishment Wyclef built on a few albums later, on Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101. This legacy of merging hip-hop and Caribbean music — as well as the fact that Wyclef both sang and rapped — can still be seen in contemporary hip-hop: Young Thug famously paid homage to Wyclef as one of his major influences in 2016, and one could argue that even Drake followed in his footsteps. 

Although Wyclef never duplicated the success of The Carnival, he still will always occupy a unique place in hip-hop’s history as an eclectic multi-hyphenate with a voracious appetite for diverse sounds. 

5 Takeaways From Kendrick Lamar's 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers'

Kendrick Lamar GRAMMY Rewind Hero
Kendrick Lamar

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

GRAMMYs/Oct 13, 2023 - 06:01 pm

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Michaël Brun
Michaël Brun

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Michaël Brun Talks New EP 'Fami Summer,' SummerStage Blowout: "It Feels Like A Little World That We Created"

Michaël Brun just released three sun-scorched new tracks and performed a guest-stuffed blowout at NYC's SummerStage. In this interview, he discusses his connections to Haiti and its diaspora, and goes deep on his collaborators on 'Fami Summer.'

GRAMMYs/Jul 28, 2023 - 07:08 pm

Michaël Brun's new EP has almost three times as many guests as it does tracks. And he's keen on you knowing about them.

The first tune on Fami Summer, which arrived July 21, features SAINt JHN, Charly Black and J Perry, with an uncredited J Balvin verse. "Shut Up & Dance" is augmented by King Promise, Kes and Anthony Ramos. The third and final cut, "Closer," enlists Stalk Ashley and Kojey Radical.

But it's not guests for the sake of guests: the Haitian DJ and producer does everything with keen intentionality. "Everybody has a perspective," Brun tells GRAMMY.com. "The chance, the opportunity, to bring my culture and all these amazing artists from Haiti and around the world in one space was something that I've always wanted to do."

He's referring to his volcanic SummerStage performance in New York's Central Park, a day after Fami Summer's release. But it applies to that EP, and his artistic presence writ large.

Brun was brought up in Haiti, where he was exposed to a multiplicity of sounds and styles; as the years rolled on, he acutely perceived the Caribbean's ripple effects, between its various islands and around the world. Accordingly, "I felt like the EP could really encapsulate all the different things that made me who I am as an artist today," he says.

Read on for an in-depth interview with Brun about his globe-spanning Summerstage performance, his impressive roster of guests on Fami Summer and the complicated and evolving role of Haiti in the global music landscape.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Tell me about your recent Summerstage performance. How did it feel up there?

That was, like, a personal achievement. I've been dreaming about a show like that most of my life. I got to bring out so many iconic artists from Haiti. We had, like, 5,000 people out there.

Tell me about those artists you brought onstage.

I had a really, really big group of artists that joined. For the opening, there was DJ KOLO, a great DJ from Haiti. Right now, he has his own scene that he's been working on in the north. He has a lot of house music influences, Afrotech influences.

And then, Paul Beaubrun, who's a really good friend — one of the original people I started with, like seven years ago. He has an incredible band.

So, they performed, and then during my set, the idea behind this show is: I DJ and MC, but then bring out all these different surprise guests throughout the night. Each of the surprise guests is really meaningful to me in different ways, and some of them are from Haiti.

One example is Naika. There was another artist called Anie Alerte. One more is J Perry, who [worked with me on] my new song, "Jessica," on my EP.

So, those are some of the Haitian artists, but then I also had Saint Levant, who worked on my recent song, "Sak Pase." And Joeboy from Nigeria. Anthony Ramos. So, there's a really interesting mix of all kinds of artists from around the world that I've collaborated with.

For the people who came to the show, they were just hearing the set, and there were surprises every five minutes, which is pretty nuts.

Joeboy was one of the first Afrobeats artists I interviewed when I got hired at GRAMMY.com. What do you take away from him?

I love Joeboy. I've known him for a few years through Mr Eazi, because I worked really closely with Mr Eazi for a while; now, he's become a really close friend.

[Joeboy and I] actually have a new song that's going to come out soon, called "Game Over." We premiered it at the show, and actually shot the music video the day before. So, he came from Nigeria, and that was one of the really big surprises I'm happy we got to make.

**You released three singles earlier in 2023; now, you're back with new music. Tell me about your creative path to this new EP, Fami Summer.**

This year's releases are my first releases with a major. My entire career, I've been indie. I just always felt like I didn't want to do any kind of label partnership until I found partners that really believed in the vision that I had.

As an artist, I've always wanted to make music that builds bridges around the world. So, I felt like with the first three releases, we really focused in on specific areas around the world.

So, "Clueless" was Nigeria, with Oxlade. "Charge It" really felt that confluence. That was with Bayka, who's actually from Kingston; Masego has Jamaican heritage; every time I ever linked with Jozzy, she always talked about how much she loved the dancehall. Then, "Sak Pase" with Saint Levant and Lolo [Zouaï] was very Arabic influenced.

With the EP … I really wanted to bring together my personal heritage as much as possible, which is a mixed Caribbean heritage. There's as much Haitian influence as there is Guyanese influence as there is Jamaican as there is West African, by way of the UK and Europe.

I think because I grew up in Haiti, I was exposed to so many different styles — so many different languages and sounds. So, I felt like the EP could really encapsulate all the different things that made me who I am as an artist today.

Musically, where do all these strains of influence connect for you?

I feel like around Haiti in particular, there's such an interesting history of multiple countries having links to that part of the world. 

So, whether it's European presence, whether it's the incredible West African presence that still exists today … if you even look at the different languages that are spoken throughout the Caribbean, whether it's English or Creole or French mixed with our local languages … In Haiti, we have Creole; but then in Jamaica, there's patois.

All those things are kind of related. If you didn't really know that, you might see them as disparate parts of the world. But really, I think the Caribbean is just as Latin as it is African as it is European as it is local and native. I feel like that diversity of sound is what makes the Caribbean what it is — about diversity of culture.

I grew up traveling to Guyana, and I grew up in Haiti. Sometimes, I would come to the States, and I had a chance to go to Europe and West Africa. All of these different influences, I think, made me appreciate different sounds.

That's how I approached every single song: I wanted this to be the truest version of myself, to the music and the collaborators as well.

Can we do a lightning round where you talk about the special guests on the EP, starting with Anthony Ramos?

Anthony, I linked with a couple of years ago now, and we've been working on music and became such good friends. He's one of the most talented people I've ever met. I think most people know him as an actor, but he's also an amazing dancer and singer. He can rap; he can write. It inspires me a lot.

Charly Black?

Charly Black is such a legend. Like, "Gyal You a Party Animal" is one of the biggest Jamaican hits, I think, in the last decade. And that's one of the songs that truly crosses over, because it's something you can hear at any bar, anywhere in the world.

When I went to Kingston earlier this year and had a chance to work with him — especially on the song "Jessica," to get his voice and perspective — that was so cool.

J Perry?

J Perry is actually my cousin; we grew up making music together. He also happens to be, in my opinion, the best hook maker in the world. So undeniable, so catchy, and I think every time we've ever worked together, there's been only great stuff that's come from it.

Kes?

Kes is from Trinidad, and he has really been my doorway into soca culture and Trinidadian culture. He also has become such a great friend. I feel like the way that he approaches his craft is very similar to my own. It's been so cool with that cultural exchange; we talk a lot about history, actually.

King Promise?

King Promise is, in my opinion, one of the rising stars of Ghana. His hook on "Shut Up & Dance" was so infectious. I remember I sent him that beat a few years ago, and he came back within, like, five minutes. We actually met finally properly in person on Saturday, at my show. He's such a cool guy and really embraced being part of this project.

Kojey Radical?

We linked up last year for the first time, and I was a huge fan of his project. I felt like his artistry, aesthetic and vision are so unique. He's really, really versatile. His voice is really powerful. I'm grateful to see an artist always open-minded to try new things, but also very much themselves the whole way through.

SAINt JHN?

My guy and my brother. We linked up five or six years ago. I feel like he played me his first collection way, way back through a mutual friend. To see his career rise and everything that he's done has been so cool. 

Finally, we have Stalk Ashley.

I actually also met her on my Kingston trip earlier this year, and she is so amazing. Such a sweet person — super, super talented. We actually worked on that song together, maybe the second day that I was in Jamaica, and it just came so naturally. She's really inspiring, and I'm a fan of her music.

Michael Brun - EP Art

From there, can you talk about the role J Balvin plays in the EP, and in your musical world at large?

We've worked on so many projects over the years. We first linked up for the World Cup in 2018, and had a song called "Positivo," and then worked on his [2020] album Positivo

We won a Latin GRAMMY from that, and have also been working on a lot of other projects throughout the years and become really, really close friends. He's been an amazing mentor, and also a great collaborator, and I've learned so much through him.

He also introduced me to so many amazing people, like Ed Sheeran. I think with the song "Jessica," it's our first true collaboration for my project. It couldn't have been a more perfect time, because it was right in the center of where our tastes align. 

We've been working for years and years, and I feel like we're going to keep working, as well, in the future. To hear him sing in Creole on our song is really, really exciting. I'm grateful to him for opening his world to my songs and my audience, and I feel like we've influenced each other quite a bit.

Before we go, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this: as borders continue to evaporate in the music industry, where does Haiti fit into this puzzle?

I think Haiti's impact in music and culture has been around, like, low-key. 

So, even if we go to the most obvious Haitian success story, which, in my opinion, is Wyclef and the Fugees, I think their impact is maybe a little bit understated still today — because The Score is still [one of the top] selling rap albums in history. 

To have a Haitian voice have such a huge impact, and then be such a prolific producer, bringing a Haitian flag on TV on the biggest award shows like the GRAMMYs and all kinds of really incredible places — I think that paved the way for future success stories.

And two more recent ones that I know personally are D'Mile and Kaytranada — two artists that have done such incredible things in their respective spaces.

I think the Haitian success stories have been there, but they're not, I think, going to start becoming way more forward facing, as opposed to being more in the background, just because the world's starting to be more open to different languages and new sounds.

I feel like my place in all this is: I feel like a bridge between the diaspora and Haiti. I feel like I'm super connected to both sides of my heritage. I've worked so hard to create a space that feels very welcoming, that feels like a way for people to reconnect with their culture.

For The Record: How The Fugees Settled The Score 25 Years Ago

Taylor Swift performing in 2010
Taylor Swift performs at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony in 2010.

Photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage for Songwriter's Hall of Fame

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For The Record: How Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' Changed Her Career — And Proved She'll Always Get The Last Word

The third Taylor Swift album to receive the 'Taylor's Version' treatment, 'Speak Now' isn't just a time capsule for the superstar — it was the turning point for her both personally and professionally.

GRAMMYs/Jul 6, 2023 - 10:44 pm

As Taylor Swift began work on her third album, she knew all eyes were on her. The singer had solidified her status as a bonafide country-pop superstar thanks to her sophomore LP, 2008's Fearless, which earned Swift her first four GRAMMYs, including Album Of The Year. Meanwhile, her personal life had become non-stop fodder for the tabloids; critics painted her as a boy-crazy maneater ready to chew up exes for the sake of hits.

While her first two records had largely centered on romantic daydreams and small-town adolescence, Swift's new level of fame meant her next set of music would involve more high-profile subjects. Like, say, the rapper who'd tried to humiliate her in front of the entire world at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Or the Hollywood starlet she was convinced had stolen her pop star boyfriend. Or the critic who had taken a particularly vicious swipe at her on his well-known industry blog. All of those moments pinwheeled around a common theme: speaking up, speaking out, speaking her truth. And the result became Speak Now.

"These songs are made up of words I didn't say when the moment was right in front of me," Swift wrote in the LP's liner notes. "These songs are open letters. Each is written with a specific person in mind, telling them what I meant to tell them in person."

Swift's Speak Now era officially began in August 2010, when she released "Mine" as the album's lead single. The rollout was expedited by two weeks after the song leaked on the internet, but even with an earlier-than-planned release, the star immediately proved she was pushing her songcraft past the high school hallways and teenage fairytales of her first two albums — a level of maturity that rang through Speak Now.

"Mine" told an altogether different kind of love story, one that confronted the daunting realities of adulthood head-on. Instead of the hopeless romantic fans had come to know on past hits like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me," Swift positioned herself as the jaded protagonist at the tale's center, one whose walls are only broken down by this new, grown-up kind of love.

Becoming her fourth top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Mine" also contained a particularly flawless turn of phrase in its chorus — "you made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter" — that remains, to this day, one of the best examples of Swift's razor-sharp talent for crafting the perfect lyric.

The rest of Speak Now — which Swift wrote entirely alone as a mic drop against critics — proved to have the same kind of brilliance. Swift had unleashed a new layer of her songwriting ability; not only did she dive deeper into the unveiled honesty of her diaristic style, but she also hinted at the whimsical storytelling that was to come on future albums, particularly 2020's folklore and evermore. But above all, Speak Now showed that Swift would never leave anything unspoken again.

Swift's evolution as a songwriter mirrored her growing success: Upon its October 2010 release, Speak Now sold an eye-popping 1,047,000 copies in its first week. The seven-digit sales figure nearly doubled Fearless' opening week tally of 592,300, and became the first album to achieve the million-copy first-week feat in more than two years. (The achievement also foreshadowed the records Swift would break with her subsequent releases, most recently her majorly record-breaking 10th album, Midnights.)

Nearly every track on Speak Now had fans and the press hunting for clues about who was on the receiving end of Swift's open letters. There's "Back to December," a break-up ballad written for Taylor Lautner, and "Better Than Revenge," a condescending clapback at Camilla Belle for "sabotaging" her romance with Joe Jonas. She even offered Kanye West a surprising amount of grace after their viral VMAs moment on the downtempo ballad "Innocent."

Arguably the most talked-about Speak Now subject was (and still is) John Mayer, who had two songs aimed squarely at him: pop-punk-fueled single "The Story of Us" and "Dear John," a devastating dressing down of their 12-year age gap. The latter even mimicked Mayer's trademark blues guitar as Swift wailed, "Dear John, I see it all now, it was wrong/ Don't you think 19's too young/ To be played by your dark, twisted games when I loved you so?/ I should've known."

Perhaps the most victorious moment from Taylor's Speak Now era, though, came from "Mean." The banjo-tinged tune served as a deliciously twangy clapback to critic Bob Lefsetz, who had publicly derided Swift's 2010 GRAMMYs performance with Stevie Nicks, just hours before she was awarded Album Of The Year for the first time.

Not only did "Mean" end up winning Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance at the 2012 GRAMMYs, but Swift also got the last word by performing the single during the ceremony. In the final chorus, Swift landed her knock-out punch — the music dropped out completely as she triumphantly declared, "But someday I'll be singin' this at the GRAMMYs/ And all you're ever gonna be is mean."

Nearly 13 years after Speak Now was first unveiled, Swift is now on the precipice of giving her beloved third album its highly anticipated Taylor's Version re-release — appropriately the third project after Fearless and Red to be re-recorded in her history-making quest to own her life's work.

The new edition of Speak Now will contain all 14 tracks on the original LP as well as sixth single "Ours" and fellow deluxe cut "Superman." (Though released in March to celebrate the start of The Eras Tour, "If This Was a Movie" was mysteriously left off the (Taylor's Version) tracklist.) It will also feature six vault tracks from the era, including collaborations with Paramore's Hayley Williams ("Castles Crumbling") and Fall Out Boy ("Electric Touch"), two acts Swift said "influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist" back when she was recording the album in 2010. 

As the lone LP in her now 10-album discography to be written solely by Swift's pen, Speak Now undoubtedly holds a special and solitary place in the superstar's heart. Looking back on the album after announcing the Taylor's Version release at her first Nashville Eras Tour stop, she made clear it has only become more meaningful over the last 13 years. 

"I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20," she wrote in a social media post announcing the album. "The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing…and living to speak about it."

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Lil Nas X Black Sounds Beautiful Hero
Lil Nas X at the 2020 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage

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Black Sounds Beautiful: How Lil Nas X Turned The Industry On Its Head With "Old Town Road" And Beyond

In this episode of Black Sounds Beautiful, relive Lil Nas X's massive debut, "Old Town Road," and learn how he's since been an advocate for Black and LGBTQIA+ communities through his music and his platform.

GRAMMYs/Jun 28, 2023 - 05:00 pm

Lil Nas X became a global sensation practically overnight, but it wasn't an accident.

The American singer and rapper — born Montero Lamar Hill — became fluent in music and pop culture at an early age, becoming a meme aficionado. His love for internet culture cultivated the perfect recipe for his debut single, "Old Town Road," to become one of the most viral hits in music history; the song also prompted a necessary conversation about the bounds of genre. 

"Old Town Road" rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and still holds the record for most time spent at No. 1 at 19 weeks. The single later helped Lil Nas X snag two GRAMMY Awards for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance and Best Music Video. (To date, he's won 2 GRAMMYs and has received 11 nominations overall.)

Aside from his immense musical talent, Lil Nas X — who came out as gay on social media during his Hot 100 reign — has been a fierce champion for LGBTQIA+ and Black communities.

"It's just acceptance of gay people. And they see that as a bad thing, like, They're trying to normalize it. You know what? Yeah. That's actually what I'm trying to do," he told GQ in 2021.

At just 24 years old, Lil Nas X has plenty more history-making and game-changing moves in store. As he revealed during his March 2023 campaign with Coach, "My next big chapter is coming."

Press play on the video above to learn more about Lil Nas X's industry-altering career, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Black Sounds Beautiful.

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