BY MELISSA HONG
Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless Taylor's Version’ has reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart, and no, this isn’t the year 2008.
It's the first of a previously released, re-recorded album, Swift has reimagined to regain control of her content after a bitter split with Big Machine Records.
‘Swifties’ are revisiting the album they jammed to in their childhood bedroom after 12 years, playing the same tunes that now come with a mature sound.
Taylor’s version of the ‘Fearless’ album remains faithful to the style of the original, with the addition of extra layers consisting of string accompaniments and harmonies.
While fans were still processing the new tracks on her recent albums ‘Evermore’ and ‘Folklore’, this album also came strumming with six additional songs ‘from the vault’, sweeping listeners off their feet with a pleasant surprise.
The lyricism of these previously unreleased tracks makes clear they could not have been written by any other storyteller than Taylor herself, echoing messages of teen heartbreak and reminiscing on a love once had.
What makes these six songs ‘from the vault’ even more interesting, is hearing the voice of a more experienced and grown-up Taylor Swift sing the lyrics she wrote through the eyes of a teen.
Keeping true to the album’s country pop roots, Taylor featured various country artists on the vault tracks, such as Maren Morris in the country-pop ballad ‘You All Over Me’.
Similar to other songs throughout Taylor’s career such as ‘Back to December’, the heart of ‘You All Over Me’ is of nostalgia and reflection. It's a carefully woven tale, which encloses the beginning and end of a relationship (I lived, and I learned / Had you, got burned / Held out, and held on).
Its authentic and raw lyrics encapsulate a person’s inability to move on from a former romantic interest as everything they see reminds them of the past (The best and worst day of June / Was the one that I met you / Now every breath of air I breathe reminds me of then).
Accompanying the beautiful harmonies between the two singers, the instrumental can best be described as akin to a stripped-down acoustic consisting of the plucking of a guitar, gentle snare drum beats and fiddles for musical texture.
Earlier in April, ‘You All Over Me’ won Taylor a spot in the 25th Hot Country Songs Top 10, but has only garnered 6 million Youtube views since its March 26 release.
Melbourne Swiftie Xanthe Conklin said she avidly keeps herself up to date with all things Taylor and doesn’t think ‘You All Over Me’ made much noise amongst fans.
“It was more of the excitement of an unreleased song, rather than the excitement about the song,” Ms Conklin said.
‘Mr Perfectly Fine’ became an instant favourite among fans like Ms Conklin, who said she sees the track as the vault’s breakout single due to its viral presence on social media.
The mid-tempo country pop track has an energetic sound compared to the other songs from the vault, which consist of stronger drums beats, fills, and the ever-present guitar strumming.
The beauty of only having one released version of this track is that it will forever only be heard with Taylor’s current mature vocals, symbolising the end of her personal journey with the heartbreak of her teens as she reflects on it from the lens of a mature adult in a stable long-term relationship.
‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ came to be after a public feud that was far from a fairytale in 2019 between Taylor and her former label, Big Machine, over the custody of her own masters.
Taylor took to Twitter to call out Scooter Braun, the label owner, for “exercising tyrannical control” over a majority of her work produced earlier on in her career.
According to a report by Variety, Scooter had sold her first six albums to an investment fund, earning him a grand total of $300 million.
“This just happened to me without my approval, consultation, or consent,” the singer-songwriter said in her 2019 Women of the Decade Award acceptance speech.
“None of these investors have ever bothered to contact me or my team directly.”
It’s safe to say ‘Swifties’ are in collective agreement to exclusively listen to Taylor’s Version of ‘Fearless’ from now on and for forever and always.
Feiren Lee, a UK-based Swiftie, has been a lover and supporter of Taylor’s music for as long as she can remember and said Swift deserved to be receiving all of the revenue from her music.
“Streaming any of Taylor’s old songs that are still owned by Big Machine does more harm than good by shifting more revenue to managers who didn’t write, sing or produce songs,” she said.
The “Speak Now” singer is fearlessly re-recording her past works, six in total, one by one in an effort to regain control over her artistic property.
Fans are eagerly anticipating her next release.
