Hey guys!
So, long story short, Taylor Swift just released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), and it has 27 songs in total. Most of these songs are re-recorded versions of the songs originally released in 2008. Taylor Swift LOVES surprises, so she decided to add a few tracks to the new version that didn’t make the cut for the 2008 album. For that reason, I’m going to dive in and discuss the vault tracks.
This is not the first time Taylor Swift has released songs from the vault – you may remember Taylor Swift wrote the songs “Babe” and “Better Man” during the Red era, and they were later recorded by Sugarland in 2018 and Old Big Town in 2016, respectively. Swifties, and Red stans specifically, were so excited to get new Red songs years later.
Taylor Swift teased swifties by releasing “You All Over Me” and “Mr. Perfectly Fine” a few days early! Of the six vault tracks, these two were the catchiest and most upbeat in my opinion, so it made sense to release them early.
“You All Over Me [featuring Maren Morris]”
The first thing I thought when I heard this song was that Country Taylor is BACK and much stronger than a 90’s trend. You thought the old Taylor was dead? Well, she rose from the dead and she does it all the time. If I had a dollar for every time Taylor rises from the dead, I’d have enough for a backstage pass.
Let’s talk specifics. So, Maren Morris is a country artist and was a surprise guest for a few shows during the Reputation tour. This song is a country track. This song has been referenced so many times in other eras – “Teardrops on my guitar” from Taylor Swift, “Clean” from 1989, “the one” from folklore and even the song “Fearless” in the Fearless album has ties with the wet pavement. Aaron Dessner, from the National, and Jack Antonoff produced this track after their many collaborations with Taylor during folklore and evermore eras.
The most iconic line for an Instagram caption might be “The best and worst day of June – was the one when I met you.”
“Mr. Perfectly Fine”
This song is so catchy! I love the references to smugness, suits and the greetings! Anytime a song states “Hello” or “Goodbye”, I get so excited! This song would have made a good high school anthem, using it to reference a prom date or high school love. Seriously, we would have had so much fun singing this song at Dallas or high school dances if she had released it with the original album.
If you loved “Forever and Always”, then “Mr. Perfectly Fine” will resonate with you! Despite being sassy and petty, this song makes me smile from ear to ear while I’m singing along.
“We Were Happy”
This song is dramatic and nostalgic. It starts off nice and slow, with Taylor lightly singing and it gets a bit more upbeat throughout the courses. My favourite line is: “We used to watch the sun go down on the boats in the water” because I LOVE sunsets. I found this cover of the song and all I can think of now is how middle school me would have thought this song was a perfect talent show song.
“That’s When [featuring Keith Urban]”
Taylor Swift has a lot of friends in the music industry including Keith Urban, whom she was an opening act for during the Fearless era, and he also was a surprise guest at one of the 1989 Toronto shows in 2015! You can hear Keith Urban distinctly in the second verse and second chorus. I hope this song has a remixed version because I’d like it to be a little more up-tempo.
“Don’t You”
This song is giving me big “Track 5” energy – for those of you who don’t know, Taylor Swift tends to put sad songs as the fifth track on albums. I just want to give Taylor a big hug after listening to this one. Moving on is hard and trying to be friends with an ex feels even harder. This song could be the soundtrack playing when Noah and Ally kiss in the rain in The Notebook.
“Bye Bye Baby”
This one makes me want to squeeze her hands too. She sings about the intangible and physical emptiness of places that used to feel so full. I’m not saying this is the “skip” track of the album, but I probably wouldn’t sing this song at the top of my lungs in a concert scenario.
I hope you all enjoyed the flashbacks to being 13 years young and listening to Fearless. I feel so much nostalgia with this album – here I am on release day, finishing my undergrad classes and flashing back to being in middle school watching music videos in the computer lab at recess. It’s almost as if everything has changed since the original release. Songs like “the Best Day”, “Fifteen” and “That’s the Way I Loved You” made me cry hearing them in 2021.
I hope you get the chance to listen to the album in full because each rerecorded song is magical in its own way and will hit differently 13 years of life experiences later. The lyric videos on Taylor’s YouTube channel include new pictures and clips of Taylor with fans, friends, family and on stage during the Fearless era. The vault songs feel like the missing pages to a book and fit well. The album feels like a scrapbook made just for her fans who have been there the whole time. So, let’s thank Taylor for that by not streaming the original album and only streaming ‘Taylor’s Version’.
Fearlessly,
Loral