By Maddy Moloney

Staff Writer
A Zac Efron movie, gossip, junk food, prank calls and Taylor Swift:  the  ideal elements of every teenage girl’s sleepover.  The blonde bombshell’s latest album,  “Speak Now”,  delivers the music to accommodate the sugar rush, leaving girls at sleepover parties everywhere to stay up all night singing about everything from a first kiss to a broken heart.
The album sold over a million copies in just the first week after being released on Oct. 25.  No country artist has sold over a million copies since Garth Brooks album from 1998 “Double Live.” But Swiftis country music’s very own trump card,  proving country music’s diverse reach. Just a couple weeks ago, Swift and two other country artists, Jason Aldean and Sugarland, held the top three album spots on BillBoard’s top selling albums of the week.

But it’s not the 20-year-old’s  signature barrel-rolled  curls that are giving her all of her attention –  it’s her truthful and relatable lyrics that created the “Love Story”  between Swift and her fans. If you were a fan of Swift’s last album,  there is no doubt you will enjoy her latest album, since the playlist pretty much mirrors her prior album, “Fearless” causing this album to appear “safe”. There’s that tear jerking mother-daughter ballad “Never Grow up” as well as “Speak Now, ” which easily could be considered a sequel to her smash hit “You Belong with Me.”  There is also the feel-good young-love song “Fearless” which could be the twin sister of “Sparks Fly;” both songs make references to kissing in the pouring rain.
Swift’s album is everything that it was expected to be. But nothing more. The songs were good, enjoyable and catchy – just like her prior albums. Maybe because her last album was so “Fearless,” she decided it was OK to play it safe on this one .
Despite the lack of freshness, Swifty still keeps her songs honest. She has openly admitted that her album was her own tell-all diary. She used her pre-album single “Mean” to take a stab back at harsh critics who criticized her voice. Swift poured her heart out in songs like “Back to December; ” a song she used to apologize to twilight star and ex-boyfriend  Taylor Lautner.  And the fifth song on the album, “Dear John,”  refers to her broken relationship with notorious hump and dump John Mayer .
“Well maybe it’s me and my blind optimism to blame/Maybe it’s you and your sick need to give love and take it away,”  Swift sings in “Dear John.”
Though Swift hasn’t made any big changes to her style with this latest album, it will still likely be adored.
I know “Speak Now” will be playing at my sleepovers.