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"Love Story" is the third track from American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift's second studio album, Fearless, released on September 15, 2008, through Big Machine Records. A re-recording of the song is also the third track from her debut re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor's Version), released on February 12, 2021, through Republic Records.

Background[]

Swift said of the song:

This is a song I wrote when I was dating a guy who wasn't exactly the popular choice. His situation was a little complicated, but I didn’t care. I started this song with the line, 'This love is difficult, but it's real.' When I wrote the ending to this song, I felt like it was the ending every girl wants to go with her love story. It's the ending that I want. You want a guy who doesn’t care what anyone thinks, what anyone says. He just says, 'Marry me, Juliet, I love you, and that's all I really know.' It's sort of told in a character kind of thing, where it's Romeo and Juliet, and it's not me saying that I'm getting married or anything... but I think it's fun to write about it.

Swift has said things that imply that this was written about the same person "White Horse" was written about.[citation needed]

Composition[]

"Love Story" was first released as the debut single off Swift's second album, Fearless, in 2008. In an article from Billboard Magazine, Swift described "Love Story" as "a love that you've got to hide because for whatever reason it wouldn't go over well. I spun it in the direction of Romeo and Juliet; our parents are fighting. I relate to it more as a love that you cannot really elaborate on — a love that maybe society wouldn't accept or maybe your friends wouldn't accept."[1]

The song is a mid-tempo, backed by banjo and guitar. In the lyrics, the narrator alludes to Romeo and Juliet and The Scarlet Letter to describe a lover whom her father will not let her see. In the end, however, the father reconciles and the lover proposes to the female narrator. The proposal is accompanied by a modulation in key up a tone, from D to E. Swift has repeatedly mentioned in interviews that the song was written around the lyrics, "This love is difficult, but it's real."

The Pop Mix replaces the Country-style instruments (i.e. the banjo) and adds a heavier bassline, a drum loop, and heavier electric guitars.

The International Radio Mix is a hybrid mix of the album version and pop edit, keeping the storybook theme of the original song with a pop overtone arrangement.

In June 2009, Swift performed "Thug Story" with T-Pain at the CMT Music Awards. In October 2009, Swift performed "Love Story" on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Critical reception[]

The song received mostly positive response from critics. Jim Malec of The 9513 gave "Love Story" a positive rating. Although he said that the song had a "wonderful, idealized ending" and that it seemed to comprise too much of a plot line for a four-minute song, he nonetheless made note of the lyrics, saying, "the complications and difficulties surrounding her affair are just as grave as Juliet's... the fact that Swift, arguably the genre's biggest star at the moment, has done so here is a breath of fresh air, even if the song does otherwise follow a disappointingly unoriginal pattern." He added, "None of these criticisms, however, will have a major impact on the song’s effectiveness, or on its ability to strike a resonant chord with its intended audience... what's more, 'Love Story' shows an artist willing to take chances by venturing from the format’s standard song structure, and to let her personality shine through–even if the lyric generally follows a well-worn path."[2]

Nick Levine from the UK website Digital Spy gave the song 3 stars and praised Swift for knowing her "way to a radio-friendly chorus" and stated she "has enough charm to pull off lyrics that essentially rewrite Romeo & Juliet with a happy ending". He concluded his review of the song by saying "Like a Meg Ryan rom-com, this is completely corny but hard not to like".[3]

However, the story of Romeo and Juliet is intended to be considered a tragedy as opposed to a love story. There are some who feel the song misrepresents the original ideals of the story and creates a widespread miseducation of classic literature.

On November 10, 2009, Swift was awarded with the BMI Award for "Country Song of the Year".[4]

Both the pop and original country versions of the song were used in the trailer for the 2010 film Letters to Juliet.

Chart performance[]

"Love Story" was released as a single on September 12, 2008. For the chart week of September 27, 2008, it debuted at number 25 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs, becoming Swift's highest debuting song on that chart in her career. For the chart week of November 22, 2008, it became her third number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, although it only spent thirteen weeks on that chart. On the Billboard Hot 100, the song debuted at number 16 making it Swift's fifth-highest debut on that chart in her career behind "Today Was A Fairytale", which debuted at number 2, "Fearless", which debuted at number 9, "Change", which debuted at number 10 and "You're Not Sorry", which debuted at number 11 and peaked at number 4. It has also become her second biggest airplay hit peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart and number 1 on the Billboard Pop 100 Airplay chart. As of February 20, 2009, "Love Story" was the first country crossover to reach number one on the Top 40 pop chart.[citation needed].As of October 21, it has sold 3,977,000 legal digital downloads in the United States.[5]

The single had massive success internationally. On February 22, 2009, "Love Story" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 22 on downloads alone. On 1 March 2009, "Love Story" climbed to number two, behind Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You". Swift is the first country singer to have a top 10 hit in the UK since Shania Twain's "Party for Two", which charted at number ten in 2004, and Faith Hill was number ten in 2008 with "There You'll Be" on a re-entry. "Love Story" spent 32 weeks inside the UK top 100 singles chart, with six of those in the top ten.[6] It is to date Swift's most successful single in the UK.[7]

The song proved to be hugely successful in Oceania as well. In Australia, it spent two non-consecutive weeks at number-one on the ARIA Singles Chart (the weeks ending March 23 and April 6, respectively) and a record of eleven weeks at number two on the same tally. In New Zealand, it peaked on the RIANZ Singles Chart at number three; however, it did reach number one of the Top 10 Radio Airplay Chart, and held that place for eight weeks, which has been the longest any single has been at the top in 2009. It was also certified Platinum on August 30, 2009, selling over 15,000 copies.[8] The song hit top 3 in Japan the week of release.

The song also spent 29 consecutive weeks on the Venezuelan charts and peaked at #3 on the year-end charts for the most played singles of 2009. During the week of June 6, 2009, the song reached number one on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts, becoming Swift's first number one single on this chart.

Swift also sang "Love Story" on the show for the UK charity campaign Children in Need 2009. After the performance, Swift donated £13,000 to Children in Need.

Charts[]

Chart (2008–2009) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 1
Austrian Singles Chart 40
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia) 39
Canadian Adult Contemporary Singles 1
Canadian Radio & Records Country Singles 1
Canadian Hot 100 4
Czech Singles Chart 4
Danish Singles Chart 16
Dutch Singles Chart 13
French Singles Chart 14
German Singles Chart 22
Greek International Airplay Chart 14
Irish Singles Chart 3
Japan Hot 100 Chart 3
New Zealand Singles Chart[9] 3
Norwegian Singles Chart 7
Spanish Singles Chart 47
Swedish Singles Chart 10
Swiss Singles Chart[10] 50
UK Singles Chart 2
US Billboard Hot 100 4
US Billboard Hot Country Singles 1
US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) 1

Year-end charts[]

Chart (2009) Position
Australian Singles Chart[11] 3
New Zealand Singles Chart[12] 13
UK Singles Chart[13] 29
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 5

Music video[]

The music video premiered on Country Music Television on September 12, 2008.[15]

The video begins with Swift seeing a guy sitting under a tree in the present day, played by Justin Gaston.[16] Then, there are some video scenes alternating flashbacks and present scenes, which appear to be an allusion to Pride and Prejudice. Swift, dressed in a ball gown, is seen singing outside a castle while she is waiting for her version of Mr. Darcy. She is singing and some scenes alternate with the past, where she is dancing during a gala with a gentleman. The "love story" ends with the gentleman's arrival and the video comes back to the present. The boy is seen getting up and they approach each other. The video won CMA Award for Music Video of the Year on November 11, 2009.

The present-day scenes were filmed at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, while the performance shots were shot at Castle Gwynn, just outside of Murfeesboro, Tennessee.

Hidden message[]

Hidden message: Someday, I'll find this.

Taylor wrote this song in a very short amount of time after her parents had told her that she couldn't be with the person she wanted to be with, around 27 minutes. She presumably wrote this in a notebook, and it ended up on the album.

Lyrics[]

[Verse 1]
We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I'm standing there, on a balcony in summer air
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns
See you make your way through the crowd
And say, "Hello", little did I know

[Pre-Chorus 1]
That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you, "Please, don't go"
And I said

[Chorus]
"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting, all that's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story, baby, just say, 'Yes'"

[Verse 2]
So, I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet, 'cause we're dead if they knew
So, close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while
Oh, oh

[Pre-Chorus 2]
'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"
But you were everything to me
I was begging you, "Please, don't go"
And I said

[Chorus]
"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting, all that's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story, baby, just say, 'Yes'"
"Romeo, save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel
This love is difficult, but it's real
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess
It's a love story, baby, just say 'Yes'"
Oh, oh

[Bridge]
I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town
And I said

[Breakdown]
"Romeo, save me, I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you, but you never come
Is this in my head? I don't know what to think"
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said

[Chorus]
"Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.
I love you, and that's all I really know.
I talked to your dad - go pick out a white dress
It's a love story, baby, just say... 'Yes'"

[Outro]
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
'Cause we were both young when I first saw you

Lyric video[]

Audio[]

Taymoji pack[]

Expand/collapse gallery

Awards and nominations[]

"Love Story" received 8 awards from 13 nominations.

Year Organization Award Result Ref.
2009 Academy of Country Music Awards Video of the Year Nominated [17]
BMI County Awards Song of the Year Won [18]
Publisher of the Year Won
Country Music Association Awards Music Video of the Year Won [19]
CMT Music Awards Female Video of the Year Won [20]
Video of the Year Won
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Song Nominated [21]
People's Choice Awards Favorite Country Song Nominated [22]
Teen Choice Awards Choice Love Song Nominated [23]
2010 APRA Awards (Australia) International Work of the Year Nominated [24]
BMI Pop Awards Award-Winning Songs Won [25]
Song of the Year Won
Myx Music Awards Favourite International Video Won [26]

Release history[]

Region Date Format Version Label Ref.
United States September 15, 2008 Country radio Original Big Machine Records/Republic Records [citation needed]
October 14, 2008 Contemporary hit radio Big Machine/Republic
January 6, 2009 Digital download Pop Mix Big Machine [27]
February 6, 2009 Stripped [citation needed]
February 27, 2009 Digital Dog Radio Mix
United Kingdom March 2, 2009 Original Mercury Records/Universal Music [28]
Germany April 24, 2009 CD single Universal Music [29]

Track listing[]

Promo CD Single

  1. "Love Story" (International Radio Mix)
  2. "Love Story" (U.S. Pop Mix)
  3. "Love Story" (U.S. Album Version)

Promo Remix CD Single

  1. "Love Story" (Radio Edit)
  2. "Love Story" (J Stax Full Mix)
  3. "Love Story" (J Stax Edit)
  4. "Love Story" (Digital Dog Remix)
  5. "Love Story" (Digital Dog Edit)
  6. "Love Story" (Digital Dog Dub)

United Kingdom CD Single

  1. "Love Story" (Radio Edit)
  2. "Beautiful Eyes"
  3. "Love Story" (Digital Dog Radio Mix)

Trivia[]

References[]

  1. Cohen, Jonathan (2008-09-12). "New Taylor Swift album set for November". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003849577. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  2. Malec, Jim (2008-09-16). "Taylor Swift - "Love Story"". The 9513. http://www.the9513.com/taylor-swift-love-story/. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
  3. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a145668/taylor-swift-love-story.html
  4. BMI.Com | News | BMI Country Award 2009 Big Winners
  5. Week Ending Oct. 18, 2009: Taylor Swift's Minor Miracle. Oct 18, 2009. Retrieved Oct 21, 2009.
  6. "Chart Stats - Taylor Swift - Love Story". Chart Stats. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  7. "Chart Stats - Taylor Swift". Chart Stats. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  8. http://www.radioscope.net.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=61
  9. "RIANZ - Top 40 Singles Chart". Monday 6 April 2009. http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart.asp.
  10. [1]
  11. "ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 2008". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-100-singles-2008.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
  12. "RIANZ Annual Top 50 Singles Chart 2008 (see "2008 – Singles")". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart_annual.asp. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
  13. John, Alan (2010-01-30). "Bad Romance is back on top". Music Week. http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storyCode=1039511&sectioncode=22. Retrieved 2010-02-06. "Total sales for 2009 was 882,059"
  14. "Charts Year End: The Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2009-12-19. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts-year-end/hot-100-songs?year=2009. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
  15. "Taylor Swift Premiering New Video on CMT". CMT.com. September 12, 2008. http://www.cmt.com/news/news-in-brief/1594680/taylor-swift-premiering-new-video-on-cmt.jhtml. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  16. Westmark, Jan (September 16, 2008). "Taylor Swift Releases New Music Video For Song "Love Story"". Celebrity News Service. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7012317170. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
  17. https://web.archive.org/web/20150629222532/http://www.cmt.com/acm-awards/2009/nominees.jhtml
  18. https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/kris_kristofferson_taylor_swift_bobby_pinson_and_more_honored_at_2009_bmi_c
  19. https://web.archive.org/web/20150201051132/http://www.cmaworld.com/initiatives/international/international-awards/
  20. https://web.archive.org/web/20150329220129/http://www.cmt.com/microsites/cmt-music-awards/archives/2009.jhtml
  21. https://web.archive.org/web/20150630043636/http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2009/09/2009-kids-choice-awards-nominees.html
  22. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2008/11/10/nominations-announced-for-the-35th-annual-peoples-choice-awards-to-be-hosted-by-queen-latifah-jan-7-2009-on-the-cbs-television-network-29456/20081110cbs02/
  23. https://web.archive.org/web/20150630060545/http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Winners-2009-Teen-Choice-Awards-3904879
  24. https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/apra-2010-nominations-list-20100525-w9az.html
  25. https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/pop_placeholder
  26. https://web.archive.org/web/20150119153121/http://myxph.com/features/1551/the-myx-music-awards-2010-winners/
  27. https://www.discogs.com/release/6084395-Taylor-Swift-Love-Story-Pop-Mix
  28. https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/love-story-mr0003722233
  29. https://web.archive.org/web/20130401102854/http://www.7digital.com/artist/taylor-swift/release/love-story-2
Fearless
"Fearless" • "Fifteen" • "Love Story" • "Hey Stephen" • "White Horse" • "You Belong With Me" • "Breathe" • "Tell Me Why" • "You're Not Sorry" • "The Way I Loved You" • "Forever & Always" • "The Best Day" • "Change"
Platinum Edition
"Jump Then Fall" • "Untouchable" • "Forever & Always" (piano version) • "Come In With The Rain" • "Superstar" • "The Other Side Of The Door"
Taylor's Version
"Today Was A Fairytale" • "You All Over Me" • "Mr. Perfectly Fine" • "We Were Happy" • "That's When" • "Don't You" • "Bye Bye Baby"
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