When Emma Falls in Love

Taylor Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now, on October 25, 2010, under Big Machine Records.[2] Swift released three more studio albums under Big Machine, as per her recording contract, which expired in November 2018. She hence withdrew from Big Machine and signed a new deal with Republic Records, which secured her the rights to own the masters of any new music she would release.[3] In 2019, American businessman Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine;[4] the ownership of the masters to Swift's first six studio albums, including Speak Now, transferred to him.[5] In August 2019, Swift denounced Braun's purchase and announced that she would re-record her first six studio albums so as to own their masters herself.[6] Swift began the re-recording process in November 2020.[7]

On May 5, 2023, at the first Nashville date of the Eras Tour, Swift's sixth concert tour, she announced Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and its release date on July 7.[8] She subsequently revealed in social media posts, "I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing ... and living to speak about it".[9] Swift emphasized the hardships she faced in her life during the time she wrote the record, among them "brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness".[10] On June 5, 2023, Swift announced the track-list of Speak Now (Taylor's Version). It contains twenty-two tracks, including six new "From the Vault" songs that were written for the 2010 album but never included.[11]

Upon the tracklist's announcement and the song's release, fans speculated "When Emma Falls in Love" was about American actress Emma Stone, a close friend of Swift's since 2008; this was furthered when Swift, while performing on the Eras Tour, confirmed that the song was inspired by a close friend.[12][13][14]

"When Emma Falls in Love" is four minutes and twelve seconds long.[15] Swift wrote the track and produced it with Aaron Dessner, who plays instruments including acoustic, bass, electric guitars, piano, and synthesizer. Other musicians on the song includes Benjamin Lanz (synthesizer), James Krivchenia (drums, percussion), James McAlister (synthesizer, drums, percussion), and Josh Kaufman (electric guitar, banjo, organ). Christopher Rowe and Mike Meadows provides background vocals, and Rowe engineered the vocals. Dessner and Jonathan Low engineered the track, with assistance from Lans, McAlister, Bella Blasko, and Thomas Bartlett. Low mixed the song and Randy Merrill mastered it.[16]

"When Emma Falls in Love" begins as a gentle ballad alongside a "lilting piano that lends the song a childlike spirit". It builds up to an "explosive chorus".[17][18] The song has a "classic Nashville pop-country backing" and crossover elements between country and pop, including the use of the banjo and a piano melody.[19][17] The lyrics details the narrator's experience of watching a friend fall in and out of love.[14][19] The happy ending of the song, in which the friend and a boy begin a relationship, has been compared to that of "Love Story" (2008).[18] In the last verse, the narrator sings how she has learned from her friend's experiences with love and remarks how she "wish [she were] her".[14] Journalists observed that "When Emma Falls in Love" underscores the narrator's admiration for her friend.[14][17] Elle Australia described it as "a friendship song showing all her friend's best qualities".[1]

Speak Now (Taylor's Version) was released on July 7, 2023, by Republic Records; "When Emma Falls in Love" sits at number 18 on the track-list.[20] On the same day, Swift performed the track as a "surprise song" at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, as part of the Eras Tour.[21] Commercially, the song debuted on the US Hot Country Songs and the overall Billboard Hot 100, with peaks of number 15 and number 34 respectively.[22][23] Elsewhere, it reached the countries of New Zealand (37),[24] Canada (40),[25] and Australia (43),[26] and peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Global 200.[27]

USA Today picked "When Emma Falls in Love" as the best "From the Vault" track from the album.[17] Will Hodgkinson of The Times gave the song four out of five stars, describing it as "catchy and uplifting".[19] Jonathan Keefe from Slant Magazine called the song "spectacular" and said it brings "some much-needed outside perspectives" to the album.[28] Kate Solomon of i considered it "extremely mediocre".[29]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes[16]