Mean
Single | Speak Now (2010) | Speak Now (Taylor's Version) [2023]
Table of Contents
Background and Lyrical Theme
«When you do what I do, you put yourself out there for a lot of people to say whatever they want about it. I get that not everyone is gonna like everything that you do. And I get that no matter what you're going to get criticized for something. There are a million different opinions from a million different people. But I also get that there are different ways to criticize someone. There’s constructive criticism, there’s professional criticism, and then there’s just being mean. And there’s a line that you cross when you just start to attack everything about a person. And there's one guy, man, who just crossed the line, over and over again. Just being mean and saying things that would ruin my day. This happens no matter what you do, no matter how old you are, not matter what your job is. No matter what your place is in life, there's always someone who's just mean to you. And dealing with that is all that you can control. This song is about how I handle it and sort of my mindset about the whole situation.»
Taylor Swift
As a testimony to its positive message, “Mean” was used for the “Free Falling To End Bullying” campaign in conjunction with the Anderson Center for Autism.
Music Video
Among others, actresses Joey King and Presley Cash are featured in the video. Twelve years later, they also starred in the music video for the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) track “I Can See You” together with Taylor Lautner.
Live Performances
Critical Reception
Rolling Stone ranked “Mean” at No. 24 on their list of the “100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time,” the highest ranking for a song released in the 21st century and only one of three to be released in 2010s after “Springsteen” and “Follow Your Arrow” performed by Eric Church and Kacey Musgraves, respectively. Taste of Country ranked “Mean” as the 15th best country song of the 2010s.
Commercial Performance
Upon its release as an official single, “Mean” re-entered Billboard Hot 100 at No. 90 and No. 17 on the Hot Country Songs. The week of May 14, 2011, Taylor made a record when “Mean” jumped from No. 12 to No. 9 on Hot Country Songs, becoming her 13th consecutive Top Ten hit on that chart. It made her one of two women (the other being Carrie Underwood) to begin her chart histories with 13 consecutive Top Tens since the survey’s 1944 launch.
Two Grammys
«This one really means a lot to me because this is for a song called 'Mean' that I wrote. There's really no feeling quite like writing a song about someone who's really mean to you, and completely hates you, and makes your life miserable...and then winning a Grammy for it.»
Taylor Swift
Taylor's Version
«In my darker moments, I was tormented by the doubt that swirled loudly around my ascent and my merits as an artist. I was trying to create a follow up to the most awarded country album in history, while staring directly into the face of intense criticism. I had been widely and publicly slammed for my singing voice and was first encountering the infuriating question that is unfortunately still lobbed at me to this day: does she really write her songs? Spoiler alert: I really, really do. In the years since, I've developed a thicker skin about public criticism and the cynicism with which some people approach the music I make. At that time, it leveled me. I had these voices in my head telling me that I had the perfect chance and I blew it. I hadn’t been good enough. I had given it all I had and been found wanting.»
Taylor Swift
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me
You have knocked me off my feet again, got me feeling like a nothing
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard calling me out when I’m wounded
You, picking on the weaker man
[Pre-chorus 1]
Well, you can take me down with just one single blow
But you don’t know what you don’t know
[Chorus]
Someday I’ll be living in a big ole city
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Someday I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?
[Verse 2]
You, with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation
You have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don’t already see them
I walk with my head down, trying to block you out ’cause I’ll never impress you
I just wanna feel okay again
[Pre-chorus 2]
I bet you got pushed around, somebody made you cold
But the cycle ends right now ’cause you can’t lead me down that road
And you don’t know what you don’t know
[Chorus]
Someday I’ll be living in a big ole city
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Someday I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?
[Bridge]
And I can see you years from now in a bar
Talking over a football game with that same big loud opinion
But nobody’s listening
Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things
Drunk and grumbling on about how I can’t sing
But all you are is mean
All you are is mean
And a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life
And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean
[Chorus]
But someday I’ll be living in a big ole city
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean, yeah
Someday I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so?
[Final Chorus]
Someday I’ll be living in a big ole city (Why you gotta be so?)
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean (Why you gotta be so?)
Someday I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me (Why you gotta be so?)
And all you’re ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?
Artist | Taylor Swift | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Albums | Speak Now Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) | |||
Released | October 19, 2010 | |||
Re-Released | July 7, 2023 | |||
Written | 2010 | |||
Genre | Country Bluegrass | |||
Length | 3:58 | |||
Labels | Big Machine Records Republic Records | |||
Songwriter | Taylor Swift | |||
Producers | Nathan Chapman (original) Christopher Rowe Taylor Swift | |||
SPEAK NOW CHRONOLOGY | ||||
|