Speak Now Universal ****

For such a simple music, pop sure can get complicated. Speak Nowis Taylor Swift's third album, and this embryonic pop princess is only 21. And it is mostly quite brilliant on many levels, and so very smart. As an album that crystalises the competing demands of childhood and adulthood and the space inbetween, it is remarkably candid and articulate; as an exercise in don't-mess-with-me bitchiness, it offers a few well- aimed slaps at those who have crossed the blonde American apprentice diva. As a model of crossover country pop, it would be hard to better its grasp of the conventions involved. This, one senses, is a woman in control of her destiny. Sure, some of the 13 tracks lack the unbridled fire of the slash-and- burn Better Than Revenge, but even the fluffier, more vulnerable stuff (such as the closing Last Kiss)displays good judgment. See taylorswift.com

Download tracks: Dear John, Last Kiss, Better Than Revenge