On October 10th, 2011, Taylor Swift released the Speak Now deluxe version, exclusively to Target, it included three new songs, two acoustic versions of old songs and one "pop" version of an old songs.
On November 8th, 2011, they became available on Itunes and Spotify,
What was she waiting for?
One of the new songs is among Swift's top tier, just a few degrees behind "Speak Now" and "You Belong To Me". Another new song is close to those heights. And the acoustic versions of SN songs are superior. That leaves an inferior pop mix and a nothing special new song.
How important are these additions? If you took out "Dear John" and "Better Than Revenge" and replaced them with the new ones and the two oldies with the acoustic versions, Speak Now would be almost as good as Fearless. The two goodies are smart additions to the Swift songbook.
"Superman" is an easy going country with as indelible a melody as Swift is capable of, and a sweetness of touch so sincere it is really quite moving: "Superman" is flying away with his briefcase, "You've got a busy day today": her hero, her love, is a Superman of the norm: his eyes, his work ethic, these things are what make him Superman to her. In its inclusiveness this is a truly triumphant number: it makes us all supermen for someone. Also, with its eye on the workplace, it gets Swift out of High School and College and into the real world: she is growing up. That she managed to do it on the third best song on the album is supremely magical, indeed the song itself has a sense of magic, of the storybook in the average lives lived. In this sense, she connects right back to her country roots: if country celebrates an American tradition of love, marriage, family, Swift takes it and more than celebrate she re-imagines it. This is a really important song and a way forward; it singlehanddly expresses why she is far beyond the hayley Williams of the world in songwriting abilities.. She performed this song on stage in mid-September. Let's hope she does it again.
"Ours" is familiar territory, Taylor loves a bad boy and is willing to ignore the strange stares of the straights to stay with him. The chorus is a little lax by Swift's standards but the middle is excellent and "People throw rocks at things that shine" is true pop poetry.