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A Place in This World
"A Place in This World" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her debut studio album, Taylor Swift (2006). She wrote it with Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia, while Nathan Chapman handled its production. Big Machine Records released it as the album's fourth track on October 24, 2006. It is a banjo–driven pop song and a sentimental ballad that features country and alternative rock influences. Swift wrote the track at thirteen after pondering if she would achieve success in her career. Music critics generally praised "A Place in This World" for its songwriting and compared it to diary entries. They have retrospectively placed it in low positions in rankings of Swift's discography. She performed it on some dates of the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) and the Eras Tour (2023–2024). Background and releaseIn 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] She collaborated with Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia on two tracks for her self-titled debut album—"A Place in This World" on the standard edition and "I'm Only Me When I'm with You" on the deluxe edition.[4] Near the end of 2005, Swift recorded the album with Nathan Chapman, who produced most of its tracks including "A Place in This World".[4][5] By the time production wrapped, she had completed her first year of high school in Hendersonville, Tennessee.[6] Swift wrote "A Place in This World" at the age of thirteen, while living in Pennsylvania and traveling regularly to Nashville with her mother.[7] Swift's debut album was released on October 24, 2006, through Big Machine Records; "A Place in This World" is the fourth song on the album.[4][8] A performance recorded at an Apple store in SoHo, New York, was released as part of an iTunes–exclusive live extended play on January 15, 2008.[9][10] The live version was later included on an international deluxe edition of Swift's second studio album, Fearless (2008).[11] Production and compositionSwift played acoustic guitar and provided harmony vocals for "A Place in This World". Chapman played acoustic guitar and electric guitar, while contributing harmony vocals with his wife, Stephanie Chapman. Chad Carlson recorded the song at Castle-A Studios (Nashville), and provided additional recording with Chapman at Sound Cottage Studios (Nashville); Steve Short worked as the assistant recording engineer. The track was mixed by Chuck Ainlay at Masterfonics Studios (Nashville), assisted by Scott Kidd. Musicians who played instruments for the track include Nick Buda (drums), Tim Marks (bass guitar), Scotty Sanders (steel guitar), Eric Darken (percussion), Rob Hajacos (fiddle), and John Willis (mandolin).[4] "A Place in This World" is 3 minutes and 19 seconds long.[12] Music journalists identified it as a banjo–driven pop song and a sentimental ballad; it features country and alternative rock influences and a midtempo rhythm.[a] Swift was inspired to write the track by a television special about Faith Hill, who moved to Nashville to become a country singer, and wrote it after contemplating whether she would achieve success in her career.[7][16] The lyrics are about her pursuit of stardom and adolescent uncertainty about the future ("Oh, I'm alone, on my own / And that's all I know / Oh, I'm just a girl / Trying to find a place in this world").[7][14][17] They shift from self-assurance to self-doubt ("I'll be strong / I'll be wrong / Oh, but life goes on") and reassure the listeners ("I'm not the only one who feels the way I do").[18] The musicologist James E. Perone found "A Place in This World" similar to Irene Cara's single "Flashdance... What a Feeling" (1983) in both theme and melody,[19] and Vulture's Nate Jones compared it to Britney Spears's single "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" (2002) and the music of ABC Family shows.[20] Critical receptionMusic critics praised "A Place in This World" for its songwriting and considered it one of the deep cuts in Swift's discography.[21][22] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield thought it contained "seeds of greatness" although she was still making her debut as a country songwriter; he picked "I'll be strong / I'll be wrong / Oh, but life goes on" as his favorite lyric from the song.[23] Billboard's Jonathan Bradley opined that the "searching naivety" of the track was expressed proficiently and drew parallels to the music of Lorde.[14] NME's Hannah Mylrea felt the track was a peek into Swift's diary and thought that the opening line "I don't know what I want, so don't ask me" was a "wonderfully teenage" lyric.[24] Billboard's Bobby Olivier and Andrew Unterberger deemed it a vulnerable song and similarly compared its lyrics to diary entries.[25] "A Place in This World" appeared in rankings of Swift's discography by Paste's Jane Song (148 out of 158),[26] Mylrea (130 out of 161),[24] Jones (236 out of 245),[20] and Sheffield (272 out of 274).[23] Live performancesSwift performed "A Place in This World" on acoustic guitar at the Chicago Country Music Festival on October 12, 2008, and played it at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo on February 10, 2009.[16][27] She sang an acoustic rendition of "A Place in This World" at the Pittsburgh show of the Reputation Stadium Tour on August 7, 2018; Rolling Stone's Andy Greene picked it as one of the ten best acoustic performances of the tour.[28][29] She played the track on acoustic guitar at the second Houston show of the Eras Tour on April 22, 2023.[30] Swift performed "A Place in This World" as part of a mashup with her single "New Romantics" (2016) at the final show of the Eras Tour in Vancouver on December 8, 2024.[31] PersonnelCredits are adapted from the liner notes of Taylor Swift.[4]
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