Swiftmas Review: Fearless (Taylor's Version)

Hey there, and welcome back to my Swiftmas series where I review each Taylor Swift album during this month. In this post, I will be reviewing Fearless (Taylor’s Version) which probably made Taylor skyrocket to fame. I know her debut album got her into the door of the music industry, but Fearless made her knock it down. Because there is an original and a “Taylor’s Version,” I will be reviewing the latter since it is the most recently released one, and there is an explanation about her re-recording process I will get to in the post.

        Taylor Swift’s second album, Fearless was released on November 11, 2008 by Big Machine Records at 18 years old where she also made her debut as a record producer. Several years later on April 9, 2021 a re-recorded version of this album, known as Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was released as an initial start to getting the rights back to all her masters. The reason for naming the album Fearless was that it meant getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again even if you have fears and doubt which is a theme that will carry on in her future albums. Similar to her debut album, it does touch upon themes of relationship problems and being a teenage girl, but it gradually transitions to becoming a woman as Taylor Swift said this album is not just for teenage girls. It is considered to be a country album, but there is more of a pop music element which is why two of her hit songs are considered crossover hits (“Love Story” and “You Belong with Me”).

The reason why Taylor Swift started re-recording her albums was that she left Big Machine after recording Reputation which was her 6^th album at the time. She then signed on to Republic Records in 2018. When departing from Big Machine, she was unable to get the rights to her masters at the time after certain agreements couldn’t be met. The rights were then sold to Scooter Braun, who Taylor had a huge feud with, and then to Shamrock Holdings for around $300 million dollars. That was really devasting for Taylor because she at the time she was unable to own the rights to the music she wrote and created, and the producer was also problematic in a toxic way. But now she has brought back all her masters, and she owns everything she has created from her music to her concert films. That is why for four of these albums they say “Taylor’s version) next to it because it solely her album and music.

This album was a big success having won several awards and accolades. It won 4 Grammy’s, including Album of the Year making Taylor Swift the youngest artist to win at the time, 5 American Music Awards (AMA) including Artist of the Year, BillBoard 2009 Artist of the Year, the youngest artist to be named “Entertainer of the Year” by the CMA, a MTV VMA for Best Female Music Video (also known for that Kanye West incident), and an American Country Music Award for Album of the Year. The five singles from this album were also massive hits on their own. “Love Story” was one of the best-selling singles of all time internationally and best-country song, “You Belong with Me” was Taylor’s second best-selling single, and highest position on the US Billboard Hot 100, “White Horse” won two Grammy awards for “Best Country Song” and “Best Female Vocal Performance,” and “Fifteen” and “Fearless” both achieved a platinum certification from the RIAA. It debuted at #1 in the United States becoming the best-selling album of 2009. It was even certified diamond in the US on Dec. 11, 2017 having sold over 10,000,000 copies. Now when the “Taylor’s version” of this album was released, Taylor chose not to submit it for awards consideration based on the original’s numerous accolades already received. However, it was nominated for Top Country Album at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. This was also the first album where Taylor Swift had her first ever tour called Fearless Tour where it made over $63 million dollars. Fearless (Taylor's Version) gained over 50 million global first-day streams on Spotify and made 291,000 in album-equivalent units with 179,000 in pure album sales. Overall, this was the album that made her a huge star, and is the first actual “era” in Swift’s music career.

There are a total of 20 songs in this album which are listed below, but in the “Taylor’s Version,” there are 5 songs from the hidden vault which are unreleased songs that were not included in the original version. Because Taylor now owns the master recording of this album, she was able reproduce and release the songs from the vault.

1.    Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

2.    Fifteen (Taylor’s Version)

3.    Love Story (Taylor’s Version)

4.    Hey Stephen (Taylor’s Version)

5.    White Horse (Taylor’s Version)

6.    You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)

7.    Breathe (Taylor’s Version) ft. Colbie Caillat

8.    Tell Me Why (Taylor’s Version)

9.    You’re Not Sorry (Taylor’s Version)

10. The Way I Loved You (Taylor’s Version)

11. Forever and Always (Taylor’s Version)

12. The Best Day (Taylor’s Version)

13. Change (Taylor’s Version)

14. Jump Then Fall (Taylor’s Version)

15. Untouchable (Taylor’s Version)

16. Forever and Always (Piano Version) (Taylor’s Version)

17. Come in with the Rain (Taylor’s Version)

18. Superstar (Taylor’s Version)

19. The Other Side of the Door (Taylor’s Version)

20. Today Was a Fairytale (Taylor’s Version)

21. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK You All Over Me (ft. Maren Morris)

22. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Mr. Perfectly Fine

23. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK We Were Happy

24. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK That’s When (ft. Keith Urban)

25. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Don’t You

26. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Bye Bye Baby

Fearless: Taylor’s Version has the same instrumental country music elements, but because there is more of that pop music element, you will also start to hear electric guitars and drums mixed in. There is also an added theme of fantasizing life and relationships through fairy tales and Shakespeare references which does foreshadow Swift’s next album. Once again most of the songs do touch upon Taylor Swift being in a relationship (with a fantasy element), but many of them have Taylor wanting to get back into the relationship after breaking up. There are also a few songs about having the courage to move on which ties back to the title of the album, Fearless. Even after it was re-recorded under Taylor’s Version, it is still a timeless classic with catchy tunes and vivid imagery. Going back to what Taylor said about this album being not just for teenage girls, it is perfect for women of all ages no matter what their relationship status is. The album can also be interpreted as a confidence booster for life as this is how Taylor Swift continues to have the courage to create great music and having a growing fanbase despite everything she has gone through.

This second album continues the trend of having the 5^th song of the track-list be the most emotionally vulnerable. That song would be, “White Horse” where it talks about how we fantasize falling in love with a person being a fairy tale until you realize that reality hits hard when that certain someone is not the one. It sounds so heartbreaking and emotional especially when you read the lyrics. The music video for the original version is also very devasting as you see the story play out about Taylor getting her heartbroken, and it really sucks to see her cry about her relationship ending. No wonder why this song won two Grammys at the time. When listening to the “Taylor’s version” of this song, it sounds like Taylor is more mature and ready to move especially now that she has finally “found someone who might actually treat [her] well.” Overall, this song reminds us that life isn’t a fairytale and eventually we do need to find/make our own happy ending.

My two favorite songs from this album are obviously going to be one of the hit songs,“Love Story” and the title track of the album “Fearless.” “Love Story” brings that nostalgia factor once again from my early days. I remember listening to that song so many times on the radio, and memorizing all the words in the song. I also love the fact that there is an actual story woven into the song even though I was too young to be in a relationship that time (and I am currently not in one now). “Fearless” is a song that I got to hear more of when Taylor Swift did her Eras tour, and there is something about it that makes me happy for some reason. It could be the lyrics being very empowering, or it could also be seeing Taylor so happy when she is dancing around while playing her guitar during the tour. I don’t consider the theme of this song to be about relationships as anyone can live their best life in a fearless way.

My favorite song from the hidden vault from “Taylor’s Version” of the album is Mr. Perfectly Fine. It is clever how Taylor gives a bunch of nicknames for this guy she ended her relationship with in the form of Mr. and how she was Miss Misery. If a music video was made for this, I would have several guys named after each of the Mr. in each of the lyrics and it be in the style of The Bachelor, and the twist is that Taylor chooses none of them because they all wronged her. The last part of this song is especially a huge win because she is no longer Miss Misery today, but it also hits hard because this song was really about her relationship ending with Joe Jonas who recently got divorced (maybe someone should go check on him).

My personal thoughts on this album are that this was a major step up for Taylor Swift. She sounds more confident, and a little bit more sure of herself compared to her first album. I don’t mind if it leans more towards pop than country which is partially what made this album successful. Even today, fans still love the songs as you can tell by their enthusiasm when singing along to them at the Eras Tour. The “Taylor’s Version” of the album still stays true to the original despite her vocals sounding more mature. To be honest, this was actually the first era that I became interested in Taylor Swift’s music, and just like the first album it gives me a sense of nostalgia. Overall, this album sends a message to fans to be bold and fearless even when you aren’t.

My overall rating of this album is an 8.5/10. Most of the songs are catchy, but some are forgettable. Again, I know I am being bias, but some Swiftie die-hard fans might like/know the other songs on the album that weren’t hits. However, Taylor knew what she was doing when creating this album, and it deserved all the awards and accolades it has received. The hidden vault songs also improved the album itself since they were brought back after being hidden because it is sometimes disappointing when a song gets cut from an album and we never get to hear it similar to how some scenes don’t make the final cut of the film. As for the overall ranking, I would definitely put this above her debut album as listed below:

Ranking of Taylor Swift Albums:

1.    Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

2.    Taylor Swift (Debut)

Once again, I am going to end these Swiftmas reviews by crocheting a symbol of each album. For Fearless (“Taylor’s version”), I crochet a mini guitar which what Taylor Swift was playing during her Fearless tour and the Eras tour for that portion. I even made it yellow to match the color of the album.

Crochet "Fearless" Guitar

That is it for this second album review of Swiftmas. Don’t forget to follow @presssure.shock on Instagram for the rest of the Taylor Swift album reviews this month. And always remember to be FEARLESS!