Background
In Swift's words: "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 for Billboard, 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 ; 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."[3]The song is a mid-tempo, backed by . In the lyrics, the narrator alludes to Romeo and Juliet and 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," a parody of "Love Story," with for the . In October 2009, Swift performed "Love Story" on .
Critical reception
The song received a mostly positive response from critics. Jim Malec of The 9513 gave "Love Story" a thumbs-up 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."[4]Nick Levine from the UK website 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 rom-com, this is completely corny but hard not to like".[5]
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 Award for "Country Song of the Year."[6]
Both the pop and original country versions of the song were used in the trailer for the 2010 film .
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