Fearless (Taylor Swift album)

***Fearless*** is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Under Big Machine Records imprint, it was released in the U.S. and Canada on November 11, 2008, and elsewhere on March 9, 2009. Written predominantly by Swift while she was promoting her 2006 self-titled debut album in 2007–2008, *Fearless* features additional songwriting credits from Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Colbie Caillat, and John Rich. Swift wrote seven of the standard edition's 13 tracks by herself and, in her debut as a record producer, co-produced the album with Nathan Chapman.

*Fearless* is a country pop album whose composition incorporates country-associated instruments such as banjos, fiddles, mandolins, and acoustic guitars, that intertwine with dynamic electric guitars and strings. Music critics found the album to feature a crossover appeal brought by the influences of different styles of pop, folk, and rock. Inspired by Swift's teenage feelings, the lyrics explore themes of romance, heartache, and aspirations. The album's title refers to the overarching theme of all of its tracks, as they altogether depict Swift's courage to embrace the challenges of love.

After the release of *Fearless*, Swift embarked on the Fearless Tour, which ran from April 2009 to July 2010. The album was supported by five singles, including "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", which performed well and set records on both country and pop radio. In the U.S., *Fearless* spent 11 weeks atop the *Billboard* 200 and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It peaked in the top five of albums charts and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K., and has sold 12 million copies worldwide.

Music critics lauded Swift's songwriting for offering radio-friendly tunes and an emotional engagement that appealed to not only teenagers but also a broad audience, although some deemed the production formulaic. The most-awarded country album of all time, *Fearless* won Album of the Year at both the Country Music Association Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009, and it won Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the Grammy Awards in 2010. The album featured on *Rolling Stone*'s 2022 list of the 100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time. Following the 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she released a re-recording, *Fearless (Taylor's Version)*, on April 9, 2021.

## Background

Taylor Swift signed a publishing contract with Sony/ATV Tree Publishing in 2004 to become a songwriter; at 14 years old, she became the youngest Sony/ATV signee in its history. After signing a recording contract with Nashville-based Big Machine Records in 2005 to become a country music singer, Swift wrote songs with other Music Row songwriters and recorded her eponymous debut album with producer Nathan Chapman for four months near the end of 2005. Released on October 24, 2006, it was the longest-charting album on the U.S. *Billboard* 200 of the 2000s decade, and established Swift as one of country music's rising stars. Its third single, "Our Song", made Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one song on the *Billboard* Hot Country Songs chart. Her success was rare for a female teenage artist, as country music had been dominated by mostly middle-aged male musicians.

To promote *Taylor Swift*, Swift toured as the opening act for other country musicians, including Rascal Flatts and George Strait, during 2007–2008. While on tour, she continued writing songs for her follow-up album mostly by herself on the road, "at the concert venue ... a quiet place in some room at the venue, like the locker room". In addition to self-penned material, Swift had songwriting sessions with Liz Rose, with whom she had largely collaborated on her first album. She also wrote with musician John Rich and singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat.

## Writing and production

Swift first came up with the direction for her second studio album after writing "Fearless", a song about an imaginary "best first date", while touring with Brad Paisley in mid-2007. Swift's songwriting was influenced by Paisley and Sheryl Crow's approach to expressing emotions. Continuing on the romantic themes of her first album, Swift chose to write songs about her personal feelings and observations of the world around her from the perspectives of a teenage girl, instead of the luxurious lifestyle brought by her newfound fame, to ensure her fans could relate to her songs: "I really try to write more about what I feel and guys and love because that's what fascinates me more than anything else – love and what it does to us and how we treat people and how they treat us. So pretty much every song on the album has a face that I associate with it."

Swift usually started writing by identifying a core emotion she wanted to convey through the melody on guitar. For other songs, she sometimes came up with the title first before writing the hook. While some songs were inspired by Swift's personal relationships, she said that most songs were dramatized observations rather than real-life experiences: "I've gone through breakups and the core emotions behind them, but it doesn't take much to get that sort of emotion out in a song, luckily for me." She explained that certain emotions on her songs such as frustration or heartbreak came easily without her actually going through emotional turmoil. By July 2007, Swift had written as many as 75 songs. She recorded the album within a few months after touring with George Strait. Chapman, who produced Swift's debut, returned as producer, and recording took place at studios in Tennessee, including six in Nashville and one in Franklin During the recording sessions, Swift emphasized the authenticity of the songs' emotional sentiments over technical rigidity: "I think it's the writer in me that's a little more obsessed with the meaning of the song than the vocal technique." By March 2008, Swift had recorded six songs, including one co-written by and featuring Caillat, "Breathe"; Swift had used Caillat's 2007 song "Bubbly" as a reference point during the recording sessions, because of its simple arrangements and honest sentiments. Apart from newly penned songs, Swift recorded a few that she had written for her debut album, believing there were stories that deserved to be put out. Swift made her debut as a record producer, co-producing all tracks with Chapman. The standard edition consists of 13 tracks, which Swift had planned because she considered 13 her lucky number. Of the 13 tracks, Swift wrote seven by herself; the remaining were co-written with Caillat, Rose, Rich, and Hillary Lindsey. Recording took place within eight months and finished in October 2008, when Swift completed the track "Forever & Always" just before *Fearless* was mastered and published

### Marketing

On June 8, 2008, Swift performed songs from *Fearless* on Clear Channel's *Stripped*; the performance was recorded and included in the *Platinum Edition* reissue. Prior to the album's commercial release, "Change" was made available via the iTunes Store on August 8 as a promotional single. It was included on the *AT&T Team USA Soundtrack*, a compilation of songs played during the United States' participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics. A digital campaign launched through the iTunes Store, called "Countdown to *Fearless*", featured one song released each week during the five weeks leading to the album's release. "Breathe" was released as a promotional single exclusively via Rhapsody on October 21, 2008.

Swift made many television appearances to promote *Fearless* throughout late 2008, performing on shows including *The Ellen DeGeneres Show*, *Good Morning America*, and *Late Night with David Letterman*. A special *CMT Crossroads* episode featuring Swift and rock band Def Leppard singing each other's songs was recorded on October 6 at the Roy Acuff Theater in Nashville, and aired on CMT on November 7, 2008. Her performances at awards shows that year included the Country Music Association Awards and the American Music Awards.

Besides live appearances, Swift used her MySpace account to promote to a young audience, sharing snippets of songs for streaming before they were released to radio, as she had done with her debut album. She continued to appear on televised events through 2009, hosting *Saturday Night Live*, and performing at awards shows including the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, the CMT Music Awards, and the Country Music Association Awards. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, rapper-producer Kanye West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video with "You Belong with Me"—an incident known as "Kanyegate", which prompted many internet memes and media coverage.

Five songs were released as singles from *Fearless*. The lead single, "Love Story", was released on September 15, 2008. It peaked atop the Hot Country Songs, and was the first country song to reach number one on the Mainstream Top 40, a *Billboard* chart monitoring pop radio in the U.S. The single peaked at number four on the U.S. *Billboard* Hot 100, and at number two on the UK Singles Chart, and was Swift's first number-one single in Australia. The four remaining singles were "White Horse" (December 8, 2008), "You Belong with Me" (April 20, 2009), "Fifteen" (August 31, 2009), and "Fearless" (January 4, 2010). All four peaked within the top 40 of the *Billboard* Hot 100, with "You Belong with Me" peaking at number two as the highest-charting *Fearless* single, and within the top ten of the Hot Country Songs, with "You Belong with Me" reaching number one. "You Belong with Me", similar to "Love Story", was a crossover success. The song was the first country song to top the all-genre Radio Songs chart, driven mostly by non-country airplay.

### Touring

Main article: Fearless Tour

Swift announced the Fearless Tour, her first headlining tour, in January 2009. The tour started in Evansville, Indiana on April 23, and visited the U.S. and Canada over six months. Prior to the Fearless Tour, Swift headlined three U.S. music festivals: the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo in February 2009, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Florida Strawberry Festival in March. In October, when the first North American leg finished, Swift announced a second North American leg beginning on March 4, 2010, in Tampa, Florida. Outside North America, the Fearless Tour visited Australia and Japan in February 2010. The tour was met with high demand, selling out tickets within minutes. Swift wrapped up the Fearless Tour at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on June 5, 2010. The tour grossed over $63 million and played to over 1.1 million fans.

## Commercial performance

A commercial success in the U.S., *Fearless* set many chart records and catapulted Swift to mainstream prominence. It spent 11 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the *Billboard* 200, the longest run of the 2000s decade. It holds the records for the most weeks at number one for a female country album and the album with the most top-40 entries on the *Billboard* Hot 100 (13 including tracks from the *Platinum Edition*). Five tracks peaked within the top 10: "Fearless", "Love Story", "You Belong with Me", "Change", and "Jump Then Fall"; *Fearless* was the first album since Bruce Springsteen's *Born in the U.S.A.* (1984) to have five top-10 songs with none reaching number one. On the Top Country Albums chart, *Fearless* spent 35 weeks at number one. It became the female album with the second-longest weeks at number one on Top Country Albums, behind Shania Twain's *Come On Over* (1997, 50 weeks).

With 3.217 million copies sold in the U.S. throughout 2009, *Fearless* was the year's best-selling album in the country. The achievement made Swift, then 20 years old, the youngest artist and the only female country musician to have a best-selling album of a calendar year. It was the only album from the 2000s decade to spend its first full year in the top 10 of the *Billboard* 200 and spent a total of 58 weeks in the top 10—a record for a country musician. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified *Fearless* Diamond in December 2017 in recognition of 10 million album-equivalent units based on sales and stream. All singles were certified platinum or multi-platinum; the tracks "You're Not Sorry" and "Forever & Always" were certified platinum; and "Hey Stephen", "Breathe", "The Way I Loved You", "The Best Day", "Change", and "Jump Then Fall" were certified gold. By October 2020, the album had sold 7.21 million copies in the U.S.

*Fearless*'s commercial success extended beyond the U.S. and marked Swift's international breakthrough. In the wider English-speaking world, *Fearless* peaked atop the charts of Canada and New Zealand and within the top five of Australia (number two), Scotland (number four), and the U.K. (number five). It received multi-platinum certifications in Ireland and the U.K. (double platinum), New Zealand (triple platinum), Canada (four-times platinum), and Australia (seven-times platinum). The album reached the top 10 on charts in Japan, and top 20 in Austria, Brazil, Germany, Greece, and Sweden. It was awarded sales certifications across European and Asian markets, including gold certifications in Japan, Germany, Austria, and Norway; a platinum certification in Denmark; a double-platinum certification in Singapore, and a nine-times-platinum certification in the Philippines. As of April 2021, the album had sold 12 million copies worldwide.