Taylor Swift, ‘Mean’ – Song Spotlight

Taylor Swift stands up to bullies in her latest single, 'Mean,' which dropped on country radio stations everywhere today.

Swift opens up about a sensitive subject in this from-the-heart single, which kicks off:

"You, with your words like knives / And swords and weapons that you use against me / You, have knocked me off my feet again / Got me feeling like I’m nothing / You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard / Calling me out when I’m wounded / You, pickin’ on the weaker man."

As the song builds up, so does Swift's courage -- she expresses in the chorus, with confidence, that one day she'll be too big to feel the blows that mean people send her way.

The 21-year-old 'Love Story' hitmaker recently gave a more direct explanation of the underdog anthem: "The song, 'Mean,' is about when you do what I do, which is you put yourself out there for a lot of people to say whatever they want about it," Swift says of her latest. "There are a million different opinions from a million different people. I get it that not everyone is going to like what you do, and I get that no matter what, you're going to be criticized for something. But I also get that there are different ways to criticize someone. There's constructive criticism, there's professional criticism and then there's just being mean. And there's a line that you cross when you just start to attack everything about a person. And there's one guy, man, who just crossed the line over and over again of just being mean and just saying things that would ruin my day."

Even though Swift is notorious for laying it all on the line through her song lyrics, she insists that she isn't weak -- and actually had to develop a thick skin to protect herself from the hurtful things people say about her. She adds, "This happens no matter what you do, no matter how old you are, no matter what your job is, no matter what your place is in life, there's always going to be someone who's just mean to you. And dealing with that is all that you can control."

'Mean' is the third singalong single from Swift's triple-platinum album, 'Speak Now,' which churned No. 1 hits 'Mine,' and 'Back to December.' She is currently on a world tour promoting the record.

Listen to Taylor Swift, 'Mean'