Fearless (Taylor's Version)
Fearless is the first re-recorded album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on April 9, 2021, through Republic Records, as part of Swift's re-recording project following the 2019 dispute over the master recordings of her back catalog. The album is a re-recording of Swift’s second studio album, Fearless.
A country pop album, Fearless, includes re-recorded versions of the songs from Swift's 2008 studio album Fearless and the soundtrack single "Today Was a Fairytale" for the 2010 film Valentine's Day. These re-recorded tracks replicate the original arrangements consisting of acoustic instruments like guitars, banjo, and fiddle. Fearless additionally includes six previously unreleased "From the Vault" tracks, which feature indie and electronic elements brought by synthesizers and drum programming. Maren Morris and Keith Urban featured as guest vocalists. Swift produced the re-recorded tracks with Christopher Rowe and the vault tracks with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. The lyrics are about her adolescent reflections and feelings on love and heartbreak.
Three songs were released for download and streaming prior to the album's release: "Love Story ", "You All Over Me", and "Mr. Perfectly Fine". Fearless became the first re-recorded album to reach number one on the US Billboard 200, and it topped the charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. It was later certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Most critics who praised the album highlighted the enhanced production quality with sharper instruments and stronger vocals of the re-recorded tracks, which brought a refreshing listening experience and a nostalgic feel. Although some reviews complimented the vault tracks for showcasing Swift's songcraft at a young age, others considered them insubstantial to the original album.
Background
signed a publishing contract with Sony/ATV Tree Publishing in 2004, at 14 years old, to become a songwriter, and a recording contract with Nashville-based independent record label Big Machine the next year to become a country singer. Her self-titled debut studio album was the longest-charting album on the Billboard 200 of the 2000s, and it established Swift as one of country music's rising stars. Her second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008. A country pop album, Fearless, followed the country styling of Swift's debut and incorporated radio-friendly pop crossover and pop rock elements. It spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and, supported by the pop-radio hits "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", catapulted Swift into mainstream prominence beyond the country-music scene. Critics lauded Swift's songwriting for portraying earnest teenage feelings, and musicologist James E. Perone commented that Fearless transformed her status from a prodigy to a "singer-songwriter superstar". The most-awarded country album in history, it won Album of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, and the Grammy Awards.As part of Swift's contract, Big Machine released her next four studio albums, from Speak Now to Reputation. She parted ways with the label after her contract expired in 2018 and thereafter signed a new contract with Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group. In 2019, the talent manager Scooter Braun and his company, Ithaca Holdings, acquired Big Machine Records. The masters of Swift's Big Machine-released albums, including Fearless, were effectively transferred to Braun, which resulted in a public dispute between Swift and Braun. Swift denounced the purchase and began re-recording her first six studio albums, including Fearless, in November 2020. By re-recording the albums, Swift had full ownership of the new masters, which enabled her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use and therefore substituted the Big Machine–owned masters. On February 11, 2021, she announced on Good Morning America the re-recording of Fearless, to which she added the subtitle Taylor's Version. It was the first of her four re-recorded albums.
Production
Fearless comprises re-recordings of all 19 tracks on the original Platinum Edition release from 2009, 13 of which were first released in 2008, and six were Platinum ''Edition bonus tracks. Swift wanted to replicate the original production on the re-recording and thus examined the original tracks line by line and her vocal inflections. She revisited some parts with the aim of creating a "same but better" version in mind. She worked with members of her touring band who played in the 2008 sessions. For instance, on the re-recording of Fearless lead single "Love Story", those who reprised their roles included Jonathan Yudkin on fiddle, Amos Heller on bass guitar, and Caitlin Evanson on harmony vocals. Colbie Caillat returned as a featured artist on the re-recording of "Breathe". Caillat said she agreed to Swift's invitation and went to Nashville to re-record her vocals the same day that Swift invited her to. The re-recorded album also features "Today Was a Fairytale", a soundtrack single Swift first recorded for the 2010 film Valentine's Day.In addition to the re-recordings, Fearless contains six unreleased tracks that Swift wrote when she was in her teenage years and intended to include in, but ultimately left out of, the original Fearless release. These tracks are subtitled "From the Vault" in the physical releases and " " on streaming platforms. Swift said by including these unreleased tracks, which she "absolutely adored" but "were held back for different reasons", the re-recorded album proved that "the artist is the only one who really knows that body of work". Maren Morris appears as a featured artist on "You All Over Me", and Keith Urban on "That's When". Urban played electric guitar and contributed harmony vocals, but was uncredited as a featured artist on "We Were Happy". Swift toured as an opening act to Urban's 2009 Escape Together World Tour, and Urban agreed to record with Swift after she contacted him via text message.
Swift and Christopher Rowe produced the 20 re-recorded tracks, which are all subtitled "Taylor's Version". David Payne recorded them at Black Bird and Prime Recording Studios in Nashville, and Rowe recorded Swift's lead vocals at Kitty Committee Studio, which is Swift's home studio in London. Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner respectively co-produced four and two vault tracks; both had produced Swift's 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore. Antonoff and engineer Laura Sisk recorded them at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, Electric Lady Studios in New York, and Rough Customer Studio in Brooklyn. Dessner and Bella Basko's contributions were recorded at the Long Pond Studio in Hudson Valley. In total, Fearless '' comprises 26 tracks, and Swift is credited as the sole writer on 11 of them. Serban Ghenea mixed the album at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Music and lyrics
Composition
Fearless is a country pop album that features country-music instruments such as guitars, banjo, and fiddles. They incorporate prominent pop and pop-rock elements; Alexis Petridis of The Guardian found them to have "indelible melodies and choruses with the efficiency of a Nordic pop factory". Written during Swift's teenage years, the lyrics explore her coming of age and the feelings and reflections ensuing from love that many teenagers could relate to: heartbreak, first kisses, frustrations, and dreams.The 20 re-recorded tracks feature the same arrangements and lyrics as on the original recordings, which led many critics to comment that a casual listener might not catch any differences. The production has a clearer fidelity, a clearer mix, and more defined instruments—Pitchforks Dani Blum said "each peal of guitar is sharper". Michael A. Lee, a professor in commercial music, said the re-recorded album has a much richer sound because it was recorded with more use of the outside environment, which allows the mixes to "spread a lot wider". According to Lee, the engineers equalized the instruments with a fuller range of frequencies, incorporating mid- and low-frequency elements, which made the instruments sound "more like themselves," whereas the original's sounded thin because of their "bright high ends". Some critics identified certain tweaks: Blum said the re-recorded "Love Story" features an "invigorating blast of fiddle", and according to Jon Pareles from The New York Times, the title track "Fearless" omits the original's 10-second organ intro, and "Tell Me Why" scraps the fiddle echo. Lee wrote each re-recorded track prioritizes certain parts—the tambourine is clearer and the guitar solo is less distorted in "Change", the cymbals in the break of "Hey Stephen" are louder, and the guitars and strings on "Breathe", "You're Not Sorry", and "Today Was a Fairytale" are more prominent because they were recorded at a closer vicinity to the microphones.
A multitude of critics said that Swift's vocals were the most significant change; although she sang the same notes and retained a light country-music twang, they became richer, deeper, and more controlled. Clashs Lucy Harbron attributed this change to Swift's artistic evolution encompassing country, pop, and indie styles. The drums are occasionally tuned a degree lower than the original to match Swift's deeper vocal tones. Lee pointed to "You're Not Sorry" as the re-recorded track where her voice most improved: it sounded "less nasal and more from the chest". Paula Clare Harper, an assistant professor in musicology, agreed that Swift performed with more chest-driven vocals but also said she retained some "signature aspects" of country music. Many critics remarked how Swift's matured vocals brought forth a different listening experience: Blum felt they had an air of melancholy, and Pareles said they reflected Swift's wisdom at 30 years when she looked back at her teenage experiences. Slate's Carl Wilson wrote that although Swift managed to recreate her once-teenage vocal inflections and mannerisms, her matured voice made the album sound nostalgic. For Lee, the re-recorded tracks lose the original's sense of earnestness because Swift seemed more hesitant on some of the lyrics which, "she maybe was able to sing in a little more unmitigated way".