A Place in This World
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| "A Place in This World" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Taylor Swift | |
| from the album Taylor Swift | |
| Released | October 24, 2006 |
| Genre | Country |
| Length | 3:22 |
| Label | Big Machine |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Nathan Chapman |
"A Place in This World" is a song by Taylor Swift. Co-written with songwriters Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia, and produced by Nathan Chapman, it was released on October 24, 2006, as part of Swift's eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift (2006). The song is about uncertainty about the future, especially about whether a long-lasting dream would work out. Critics commended its songwriting, comparing it to a secret diary.
Background and release
[edit]In 2004, Pennsylvania–born Taylor Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at fourteen to pursue a career in country music.[1] She signed with Sony/ATV in 2004 to become a professional songwriter, and with Big Machine Records in 2005 to become a country-music singer.[2][3] Near the end of 2005, Swift recorded songs for her self-titled debut album with producer Nathan Chapman.[4] By the time production wrapped, Swift had completed her first year of high school in Hendersonville, Tennessee.[5]
At the age of thirteen, while travelling back and forth from her home town of Pennsylvania to Nashville, Swift wrote "A Place in This World", claiming that she was "sure that she related to it" around the time she wrote it.[6][7] Swift's debut album was released on October 24, 2006, through Big Machine Records; "A Place in This World" is track number 4.[8][9]
Composition and reception
[edit]"A Place in This World" is a song about not knowing if your dreams will ever work out in the end.[10] It is a mid-tempo ballad set to a plucked banjo line about uncertainty about what the future brings, mixing "Nashville professionalism" with "searching naivety" expressed proficiently.[11]
Rob Sheffield, writing for Rolling Stone, in his retrospective ranking of Swift's discography, ranked "A Place in This World" at 272 out of 274, deeming it as "apprentice work", but acknowledging the "seeds of greatness" the song has.[12] Vulture's Nate Jones, in a similar ranking, ranked it at 236 out of 245, calling it Swift's version of Britney Spears's 2002 single, "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman", as well as comparing it to theme songs of ABC Family shows.[13] Bobby Olivier and Andrew Unterberger, writing for Billboard, compared its lyrics to "a diary entry, glancing back to the very outset of her career".[14] Hannah Mylrea, in a 2020 NME ranking of Swift's discography, ranked it at 130 out of 161, also citing it as a "glimpse into [Swift's] secret diary".[15]
Live performances
[edit]Swift performed "A Place in This World" as part of the Chicago Country Music Festival on October 12, 2008,[16] as well as the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo on February 10, 2009.[17] She later performed it on acoustic guitar as a surprise song during the Pittsburgh show of the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018),[18] and the Houston show of the Eras Tour (2023-4). Most recently, she performed it in a mashup with her 2016 single, "New Romantics", on the final show of the Eras Tour.[19]
References
[edit]- ^ Jo, Nancy (January 2, 2014). "Taylor Swift and the Growing of a Superstar: Her Men, Her Moods, Her Music". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on November 10, 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
- ^ DeLuca, Dan (November 11, 2008). "Focused On 'Great Songs' Taylor Swift Isn't Thinking About 'the Next Level' or Joe Jon as Gossip". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 1. Archived from the original on November 18, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
- ^ Hiatt, Brian (October 25, 2012). "Taylor Swift in Wonderland". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
- ^ Morris, Edward (December 1, 2006). "When She Thinks 'Tim McGraw,' Taylor Swift Savors Payoff: Hardworking Teen to Open for George Strait Next Year". CMT News. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
- ^ Spencer, Liv (2010). Taylor Swift: Every Day Is a Fairytale – The Unofficial Story. ECW Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-55022-931-8.
- ^ "Taylor Swift Just Gave a Very Rare Live Performance of a Song She Wrote When She Was 13". Cosmopolitan. April 23, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Bernstein, Jonathan (August 8, 2018). "Watch Taylor Swift Dust Off 2006 Deep Cut 'A Place in This World'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Boardman, Madeline (August 25, 2017). "Flashback to Taylor Swift's First Album Drop". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 21, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ Swift, Taylor (2006). Taylor Swift (CD album liner notes). Nashville: Big Machine Records. BMR120702.
- ^ "Taylor Swift Sings 2006 Hit 'A Place in This World' — Hear the Emotional Song She Wrote at 13". People.com. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Bradley, Jonathan (November 7, 2017). "Why Taylor Swift's Self-Titled Debut Is Her Best Album". Billboard. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Sheffield, Rob (April 26, 2024). ""A Place in This World" (2006)". Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Jones, Nate (May 20, 2024). "All 245 Taylor Swift Songs, Ranked". Vulture. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Olivier, Bobby; Unterberger, Andrew (February 27, 2023). "20 Taylor Swift Songs That Probably Won't Make The Eras Tour Setlist (But Really Should)". Billboard. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Mylrea, Hannah (September 8, 2020). "Every Taylor Swift song ranked in order of greatness". NME. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- ^ Bonaguro, Alison (October 13, 2008). "Taylor Swift Fans Pack Chicago Lakefront". CMT. Archived from the original on March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
- ^ "What's Up". San Antonio Express-News. February 20, 2009. p. E2.
- ^ Iasimone, Ashley (May 26, 2018). "All the Surprise Songs Taylor Swift Has Performed on Her Reputation Stadium Tour B-Stage (So Far)". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 27, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
- ^ Smith, Katie Louise (December 9, 2024). "Every Surprise Song Performed On Taylor Swift's Eras Tour So Far". Capital. Archived from the original on December 9, 2024. Retrieved December 9, 2024.