Meaning of “Mine” by Taylor Swift
On the 7th of July 2023, the “Taylor’s Version” of Swift’s 2010 album “Speak Now” was released through Republic Records. So this now marks the third of her albums that she originally released through Big Machine Records which have been re-recorded and re-released by Republic under the “Taylor’s Version” brand.
The first was 2008’s “Fearless”, which Swift redid in 2021. Then came 2012’s “Red”, which was re-issued in 2021. And by the looks of things, the songstress will be re-recording all six of the albums (including 2006’s Taylor Swift, 2014’s “1989” and 2017’s “Reputation”) that she dropped under Big Machine earlier in her career.
The generally-accepted reason that Taylor is doing so is due to a dispute she got into with Big Machine concerning the sale of the master recordings of those six albums. However, it has also been recently pointed out that Swift is also benefiting business-wise from the re-releasing of these old works.
“SPEAK NOW”
All things considered, as of the onset of the 2020’s, Tay Tay can concurrently be counted as the most-successful musician in the United States.
So as a testament to that fact, the “Taylor’s Version” of “Red” and “Fearless”, as with the originals, topped the Billboard 200 and fared even better this time around on some other lists, such as the re-released of “Fearless” also topping the UK Albums Chart (which it didn’t do the first time around). So the same can also be expected of “Speak Now”.
“Mine” was originally released, as the lead single from “Speak Now”, on 4 August 2010. Big Machine originally intended to make it public a couple of weeks after, on August 16th of that year. However, a lower-quality version of the song managed to leak, a phenomenon which Taylor Swift, being relatively new to the game back then, had an emotional reaction to.
THE SUCCESS OF “MINE”
Whereas the re-recorded “Taylor’s Version” of Swift’s past albums appear to have charted just as well as the originals, of course the re-recordings are not selling as much as when the songs first came out.
For instance, it isn’t as if Mine can be released as a single twice. But that said upon its original dropping it was quite the success story, with this track marking the earliest song in Taylor’s discography to achieve multi-platinum status, which it has thus far done in Australia and the US ( thus far going triple-platinum in both cases).
Moreover it topped the US Adult Contemporary chart and appeared on a few other Billboard rankings, including peaking at number 3 on the Hot 100. And besides that, the song was very-successful on the trophy-winning front, as between 2011 and 2012 it took home two BMI Country Awards, a BMI Pop Award and a CMT Music Award.
THE TEAM BEHIND “MINE”
That latter accolade was for Video of the Year, which would be a testament to work of both Taylor Swift and Roman White, as they co-directed the clip. That would mark the third time they officially worked together, as White directed the videos for Taylor’s 2009 tracks “Fifteen” and “You Belong to Me”, as well as serving as director of the video to “Best Days of Your Life” (2009) by Kellie Pickler, in which Swift co-stars.
As for that of “Mine”, it was filmed in the seaside city of Portland, Maine (and more specifically an area called Kennebunkport), which Taylor “absolutely fell in love with” upon first visiting. And Swift also personally chose her co-star, a British actor by the name of Toby Hemingway, to portray her romantic interest in the video.
Taylor wrote this song on her own. She has implied that it was an impromptu writing and one that she did very early in the morning. And she also had a hand in producing the track, accomplishing that task alongside Nathan Chapman, i.e. the producer of Swift’s first five albums.
THE LYRICS OF “MINE”
In traditional Taylor Swift fashion, the lyrics of this love song read like a short story, i.e. possessing a level of descriptiveness which gives the impression that they are based in real life. The songstress has revealed that this piece was directly inspired by one romantic incident and more a number of relationships she had been involved in.
In regard to the singular incident, that was when, according to Taylor, “a guy that (she) just barely knew put his arm around (her) by the water, and (she) saw the entire relationship flash before (her) eyes, almost like a weird science-fiction movie”.
However, she did not go on to state that she and said guy actually went on to become romantically involved. And that fact adds credence, in a manner of speaking, to the theory that this song was inspired by her relationship with Hollywood actor Cory Monteith circa 2010, as Cory admitted that despite what the general public thought at the time, he and Swift were “just friends”.
And secondly the singer had noticed, in her own words, that she developed a “tendency to run from love”. What that meant, more simply put, is that she had been in a number of relationships which did not end as idealized.
As such, young Taylor Swift had developed an aversion to falling in love to begin with. So furthermore, the sentimental backdrop behind this piece finds the vocalist’s appreciation that despite possessing such a tendency, she has found a special someone nonetheless.
VERSES
And all of that is encapsulated in the lyrics. For instance, in the first verse, we see the vocalist celebrating her lover for taking her on despite she being “a flight risk with a fear of falling”, or someone who is more inclined to run away than stay committed. And he too is depicted as possessing his own distractions, not a taboo to love but as someone who, at the time, was hustling his way through college.
But then they had that special moment, “sitting there by the water”, when dude “put (his) arm around” Taylor for the first time. As implied, that was when she melted. And the next thing you know the two of them are a couple, with the vocalist now celebrating the addressee as “the best thing she’s ever had’.
The second verse is then set in the future, where things between them obviously aren’t as gravy as they were in times past. So apparently that experience they shared, as documented in the chorus, is one which the vocalist harps back to in times of trouble.
In other words, it’s as if that episode by the water serves as proof to her, to this day, that this relationship is real.
So whenever Taylor’s in doubt, she recalls the experience to remind her, if you will, why she became smitten with the addressee in the first place.
BRIDGE
And the chorus that comes after the bridge, which highlights both the discontent and dedication that has come to define their romance, also reveals that the addressee thinks the same. For instance, during one particularly notable fight, as noted in the bridge, when it appeared that this relationship was over, it is he who reminded Swift about that time by the water, when they first fell in love. So now he’s using it as a rationale to keep the union intact also.
“You said, ‘I remember how it felt sitting by the water
And every time I look at you, it’s like the first time
I fell in love with a careless man’s careful daughter
She is the best thing that’s ever been mine'”
CONCLUSION
So by the time all is said and done, Mine reads sorta like a real-life romantic fantasy. It doesn’t come off as a fairytale, i.e. a romance in which there’s never any drama. But it is one that has withstood the test of time, being a relationship in which the participants appreciate the genuine love that they share.
