Taylor Swift: 'You Belong With Me'

The last time Taylor Swift launched an assault on the UK charts, it was with the drippy 'Teardrops On My Guitar'. That song told the unlikely tale of our All-American beauty being passed over by some schmo, and 'You Belong With Me' finds her returning to the same lyrical well, albeit with a bit more energy. "I'm listenin' to the kinda music she doesn't like", she sings about her wanted boy's girlfriend, which gets the mind racing... Death metal? Free jazz? Chiptune gabber? Sadly she doesn't say.

Swift's own track chugs along in much the same power-pop style as Avril Lavigne way back when, with just a hint of her country roots in the verses. She sports Dennis Taylor specs in the video as if to prove her obvious unlovability as she sings lines like: "She wears short skirts/ I wear T-shirts/ She's cheer captain/ And I'm on the bleachers." These emotions are universal enough, but Swift expresses them in such a workaday manner that it's hard to empathise with her. The result is a well-constructed track that doesn't leave much of an impression after it finishes playing.


> Click here to read our review of Taylor's album Fearless