Selling over 10 million copies worldwide and winning the 2008 Grammy for Album of the Year, Taylor Swift’s original release of Fearless captivated the world and kick-started her unbelievable singing career.
Swift originally signed a contract with Big Machine Labels when she was just 16 years old. After 13 years of working with Big Machine Labels and releasing five albums, Swift decided to sign to a different label, Republic Records. Despite being signed to another label, in June 2019, Big Machine Labels sold the masters, or original recordings of her previous songs, to Scooter Braun, a popular music manager. In November 2020, Braun then sold Swift’s masters to a private equity firm in a deal said to be worth $300 million. Now, that firm currently owns the rights to her music and continues to profit off of it. As a result, in an interview with Good Morning America, Swift announced that starting in November 2020 she would begin to re-record her first five albums. Although it would be a long process, Swift believes that “artists deserve to own their work.”
Despite the numerous feuds, arguments, and accusations leading up to her re-release of Fearless, Swift persevered through the legal and social challenges and came out on top with almost 20 million people around the world supporting her through this project. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) has revived the nostalgia from her original album all while implementing slightly different paces and Swift’s much stronger voice. Although lacking the country accent used in her earlier albums, Swift’s vocal improvements and growth are obvious. Swift’s most popular songs from the Fearless album, “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me,” “Fifteen,” and “White Horse” have once again captured the hearts of Taylor’s fans.
Henry Morrissey, class of 2022 and Taylor Swift enthusiast, shares his opinions on Fearless (Taylor’s Version). “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” a song “from the vault,” is Henry’s favorite song from Fearless (Taylor’s Version). He says it “has a beautiful bridge and catchy chorus that is able to be sung to.” Henry has also recognized, as most of Taylor’s fans have, that Swift’s voice “has developed over the 13 years since she first released Fearless.” Her transition from country, to pop, to alternative/pop has ” Since becoming a true Taylor fan after the release of her album 1989, Henry is most excited about its possible re-recording. Henry agrees with the reasons behind Swift’s Fearless project, saying that artists not owning their music “is far too frequent in the music industry. Swift has enough power to re-record her music, and she has brought a lot of light to this issue.” He finishes: “The artists do not control [their] music. Unbelievable.”