Album Review: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

A nostalgic and powerful revival of an old classic.

As a young, naive Taylor Swift entered the music industry in 2005, she signed a contract with Big Machine which was arguably a bittersweet start for the star in retrospect. The label recorded her first 6 albums as well as promoted her, they helped her achieve her musical dreams. However, they claimed ownership over the masters, changing the course of her journey through the industry. 

Morally bankrupt Scooter Braun acquired the masters in 2019 before re-selling it to Shamrock holdings, making £300 million in the process. This means that Braun profits from every stream of the artists music from her first 6 albums.

This proceed of events is what has lead to the making of Taylor’s version of Fearless, arguably Swifts most iconic album. Bravely taking to Instagram in 2021 she explained, ‘Artists should own their own work for so many reasons. [..] The process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more de-determined to re-record all of my music.’ 

Making it abundantly clear that Fearless is just the start of her journey in reclaiming her own music.Taylor’s version stays almost identically true to the original album except the addition of six songs. From the beginning Swift was clear in her choice to remain faithful to the original sound by hiring the musicians that were originally part of the making of the album. This has aided it to make the sound authentic, but advancements in technology have meant the production has a better quality of sound. 

There is also a difference in the way the artists voice sounds, rid of any nerves and rich in growth on songs like You belong with me, Swift sounds modulated and confident. The album is encased with nostalgia for fans who would say the album of their teenage years was Fearless.Alongside nostalgia however there is also an excitement that came with finding out there were 6 unreleased songs, Swiftie’s have been spoiled with the amount of new music that has came from the artist. 

Tracks like Mr. Perfectly fine and Bye Bye Baby may not have been part of the original album however they fit perfectly into this new version of Fearless.11 years on, the lyrics to iconic Swift track Fithteen seem more poingent than ever ‘Wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now’. Taylor Swift has set a precedent in the music industry with Taylor’s version of Fearless and will inspire many artists to come. 

No longer a country-style princess singing about her freshman year, the artist has grown with her fans and shown that it’s more than a Love story.