Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is the first re-recorded album from Taylor Swift in a move to gain control of her master recordings.
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about this album.
- Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is the first re-recorded studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
- It was released on April 9, 2021, through Republic Records
- The album was recorded with newer vocals
- Fearless (Taylor’s Version) consists of all the 19 tracks from the platinum edition of her second studio album Fearless (2008)
- Her 2010 soundtrack single “Today Was a Fairytale” is also part of the album
- The album has six additional “From the Vault” songs that were not included in the 2008 album
- The album was produced by Swift, Christopher Rowe, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner
- The first two working on the majority
- Eleven of the album’s 26 songs were written solely by Swift
- Three others feature guest vocals from Colbie Caillat, Maren Morris and Keith Urban, each
- The album’s release was preceded by three singles: “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” was released on February 12, 2021
- It was followed by “You All Over Me” featuring Morris on March 26, 2021
- And “Mr. Perfectly Fine” on April 7, 2021
- Upon release, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) garnered universal acclaim from music critics
- Critics praised the album’s nostalgic sentiment, Swift’s strong vocals, and the crisper but faithful production
- Swift released her second studio album, Fearless, in 2008 to critical and commercial success
- A country pop record, it spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart
- It became the United States’ best-selling album of 2009
- The album spawned five top-10 entries on the Billboard Hot 100
- Including the crossover singles “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me”
- Fearless catapulted Swift to mainstream prominence
- It is the most awarded country album in history
- It won four Grammy Awards at the 52nd ceremony
- Including Album of the Year
- This was her first of her three wins in that category
- Fearless was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America
- It is credited for paving Swift’s way to becoming one of the biggest acts of her generation
- In August 2019, Swift announced her intention to re-record her first six studio albums following the sale of her master recordings to American businessman Scooter Braun
- Braun later sold to Shamrock Holdings
- Swift told People that she did not alter the lyrical content, vocal melodies and instrumental arrangements of the 2008 recording
- However, she changed the sonic textures in the re-recording
- She added that she studied Fearless thoroughly to replicate the country inflections of her early vocals
- Swift recruited members of her older touring band, who played the instruments on the 2008 recording, to do the same for Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
- The standard edition of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is one hour and 46 minutes long, consisting of 26 songs, the last six of which are noted as “from the Vault” tracks
- The deluxe edition adds an extra track, “Love Story (Elvira Remix)”
- The album features guest appearances from American singers Colbie Caillat and Maren Morris, and New Zealand singer Keith Urban, on “Breathe”, You All Over Me” and “That’s When”, respectively
- Eleven of the tracks on Fearless (Taylor’s Version) were written solely by Swift
- The rest credits Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Scooter Carusoe, John Rich, The Warren Brothers, and Tommy Lee James as co-writers
- Cary Barlowe and Nathan Barlow, songwriters of American band Luna Halo, were are also credited on “Untouchable”, which is a cover of the band’s song
- The album was produced by Swift, Christopher Rowe, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner
- The first two of which produced the majority
- While the latter two were involved only in the vault tracks
- On comparison with the 2008 version, there are no lyrical alterations on the re-recorded album
- The lyrics explore the beginning of Swift’s adolescence, teenage romance, infatuations, and heartbreaks, including themes of empowerment and familial love
- Replicating the former sonically as well
- Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is a country and country-pop record with pop rock tendencies
- Making use of the original keys, tempos, vocal styles, such as the twang, vibrato and grain, and traditional instruments like guitar, drums, banjo, fiddle and strings
- However, critics noted that her singing voice is stronger, more controlled, and deeper in the re-recorded album, discarding the nasal tone of her early vocals
- Tracks 21-26 constitute “from the Vault” songs
- These were the songs that did not make the final cut of Fearless (2008)
- Swift released these songs as part of the re-reocording
- “Mr. Perfectly Fine” is a midtempo country pop song with elements of rock, such as energetic guitars
- Its lyrics find Swift navigating the tumultuous feelings ensued post-breakup, using witty wordplay
- The song mentions the phrase “Mr. casually cruel” in its chorus, which has been associated with Swift’s 2012 song “All Too Well”
- “You All Over Me” is an acoustic country pop song with “soaring” fiddles and “lilting” guitars
- Lyrically, the track details not being able to get over a former lover, while trying to find acceptance and peace
- Fearless (Taylor’s Version) received widespread acclaim from music critics
- On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received a weighted mean score of 87
- Based on 11 reviews,
- Indicating “universal acclaim”
- It surpassed the 2008 album’s metascore (73)
- This marks Swift’s second highest-rated album on the site
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