Taylor Swift - Mine

Taylor Swift is due to release her new album 'Speak Now' in the coming week, and has revealed 'Mine' to be the lead single from the LP. Now we know that Swift is a multi-million selling, multi award winning artist, but the question arises...does 'Mine' sound like all of her other releases?

The single does, of course, feature the familiar sound of country style guitars and it would seem that Swift's voice has become even more country sounding, well it is her niche after all...In general, if you heard just a snippet of this on the radio, you may find it difficult to distinguish this from any of her previous releases, especially if you're not a die hard fan.

A negative note to add is that this is yet another idyllic love song from the young star, the danger being that as most of her releases have been on the same kind of subject, it becomes ever more effortless to generalise her music, as one song can easily blend into another. The subject is, as you've probably guessed, very soppy and a little sick inducing, as she talks of a lifelong relationship with the childhood sweetheart.

Despite this, we think this is probably better than her other releases, and as the song progresses it would appear that it has a little more edge to it, especially in the backing music, with the introduction of some poppy drums. Furthermore, Taylor's vocals are a little more powerful than we're used to, whilst still maintaining their delicate petal quality.

The video, on the other hand, is somewhat ridiculous, showing Taylor pregnant and celebrating 'her' children's birthdays. We know this track is all about a lasting love etc but still...the girl is 20 and is acting 40. Perhaps it's meant to encourage better values in her fans? Whatever the case may be, we can't help but find it a little unbelievable.

'Mine' definitely suits Swift's wholesome image, but we really want her to release something a little different, and definitely something that's not about how in love she is. Whilst Taylor is evidently popular with millions, she is eternally predictable and this track only serves to cement that. This is possibly a grower of a song and will no doubt succeed in the US, but we beg of you Taylor, please try out something else next time. Although seeing as she's sold over 13 millions albums and holds the record for the most digital tracks sold, with 24.3 million, what do we know?

6/10 - Needs some Spice