"A Place in This World" is a song by the American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

from her debut studio album, ''Taylor Swift'' (2006). She wrote it with

Robert Ellis Orrall Robert Ellis Orrall (born May 4, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene ...

and

Angelo Petraglia Angelo Petraglia (born May 5, 1954) is an American record producer and songwriter. He was a member of the new wave band Face to Face and is best known for his work with Kings of Leon. Early life He was born in the Bronx and grew up in Pelham, N ...

, while Nathan Chapman handled its production.

Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...

released it as the album's fourth track on October 24, 2006. It is a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

–driven

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

song and a

sentimental ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

that features

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

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 The Reputation Stadium Tour was the fifth concert tour and the first stadium tour by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her sixth studio album, ''Reputation'' (2017). It began in Glendale, Arizona, United States, on May ...

(2018) and

the Eras Tour The Eras Tour was the sixth concert tour by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It began in Glendale, Arizona, United States, on March 17, 2023, and concluded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on December 8, 2024. Spanning 149 sh ...

(2023–2024).

Background and release

In 2004,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

–born

moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

at fourteen to pursue a career in

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. She signed with Sony/ATV in 2004 to become a professional songwriter, and with

in 2005 to become a country music singer. She collaborated with

and

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. Near the end of 2005, Swift recorded the album with Nathan Chapman, who produced most of its tracks including "A Place in This World". By the time production wrapped, she had completed her first year of high school in

Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the most populous city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 61,753. Hendersonville is the fourth-most populous city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nas ...

. Swift wrote "A Place in This World" at the age of thirteen, while living in Pennsylvania and traveling regularly to Nashville with her mother. 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. A performance recorded at an

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

store in

SoHo, New York SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall (SoHo), and ha ...

, was released as part of an

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

–exclusive live

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

on January 15, 2008. The live version was later included on an international deluxe edition of Swift's second studio album, '' Fearless'' (2008).

Production and composition

Swift played acoustic guitar and provided

harmony vocals Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical ...

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 An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

. 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 A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

), Eric Darken (

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

), Rob Hajacos (

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

), and John Willis (

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

). "A Place in This World" is 3 minutes and 19 seconds long. Music journalists identified it as a

–driven

song and a

; it features

and

influences and a

midtempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmos ...

rhythm. Swift was inspired to write the track by a

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

about

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American Country music, country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide ...

, who moved to Nashville to become a country singer, and wrote it after contemplating whether she would achieve success in her career. 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"). 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"). The

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

James E. Perone found "A Place in This World" similar to

Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and for recording the film's title song " Fame", which reach ...

's single " Flashdance... What a Feeling" (1983) in both theme and melody, and ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'' Nate Jones compared it to

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

's single " I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" (2002) and the music of

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

shows.

Critical reception

Music critics praised "A Place in This World" for its songwriting and considered it one of the deep cuts in Swift's discography. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Blen ...

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. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Jonathan Bradley opined that the "searching naivety" of the track was expressed proficiently and drew parallels to the music of

Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. She is known for her unconventional style of pop music and introspective songwriting, and has been referred to ...

. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' Hannah Mylrea felt the track was a peek into Swift's

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

and thought that the opening line "I don't know what I want, so don't ask me" was a "wonderfully teenage" lyric. ''Billboard'' Bobby Olivier and Andrew Unterberger deemed it a vulnerable song and similarly compared its lyrics to diary entries. "A Place in This World" appeared in rankings of Swift's discography by ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

'' Jane Song (148 out of 158), Mylrea (130 out of 161), Jones (236 out of 245), and Sheffield (272 out of 274).

Live performances

Swift 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. She sang an acoustic rendition of "A Place in This World" at the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

show of the

on August 7, 2018; ''Rolling Stone'' Andy Greene picked it as one of the ten best acoustic performances of the tour. She played the track on acoustic guitar at the second

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

show of

on April 22, 2023. Swift performed "A Place in This World" as part of a

mashup Mashup may refer to: * Mashup (culture), the rearrangement of spliced parts of musical pieces as part of a subculture * Mashup (education), combining various forms of data and media by a teacher or student in an instructional setting * Mashup (mus ...

with her single " New Romantics" (2016) at the final show of the Eras Tour in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

on December 8, 2024.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

of ''Taylor Swift''. *

– lead vocals, songwriter, acoustic guitar, harmony vocals *

– songwriter *

– songwriter * Nathan Chapman – producer, additional recording engineer, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmony vocals * Chad Carlson – recording engineer, additional recording engineer * Steve Short – assistant recording engineer * Chuck Ainlay – mixer * Scott Kidd – assistant mixer * Stephanie Chapman – harmony vocals * Nick Buda – drums * Tim Marks – bass guitar * Scotty Sanders –

* Eric Darken –

* Rob Hajacos –

* John Willis –

Footnote

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Place in This World, A 2006 songs 2000s ballads Pop ballads Taylor Swift songs Song recordings produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer) Songs written by Taylor Swift Songs written by Robert Ellis Orrall Songs written by Angelo Petraglia