Fearless is the second studio album by Taylor Swift which was initially released on November 11th, 2008. Since then, Taylor has rerecorded this album as part of her project to re-record the albums in her discography that she does own. 

     Before I talk about this album, I think it is important to talk about why Taylor is re-recording all of her songs on the albums that she does not own. Swift believes that all artists deserve to own their work – which, if you think about it,  is not exactly a mind blowing concept. I completely agree that there is no one other than the artist themselves that truly knows the body of work they create and put out into the world. Although the label provides artists with startup cash to brand and promote themselves, artists should be allowed to own their work. 

     Swift set out to buy her masters back from Big Machine, but the offer that the record label offered her was almost laughable. She was told that she could “EARN” one album back for each new album she put out. She walked away from this deal because she realized that she would be stuck in an endless cycle where she would never own all of the work she made. It was then she learned that her label, owned by Scott Borchetta, was sold to Ithaca Holdings, a business management and consulting company owned by Scooter Braun. The handing over of the label to Braun involved the passing of ownership of Swift’s masters to him as well – without her knowledge. After learning about this devastating sale, Taylor and her team tried to enter into negotiations with Scooter Braun to buy her masters back from him. Even before they entered negotiations, Scooter’s team wanted her to sign an NDA stating that she would never say another word about Scooter unless it was positive. This was NOT a normal course of action in the business transaction that Taylor was currently trying to undertake. Scooter wouldn’t even quote a price for her own work unless she signed this NDA. The message that Scooter was sending was clear to Taylor – the master recordings were not on sale for her. The second shocking announcement appeared when Taylor received a letter from Shamrock Holdings, a private equity group, stating that Scooter Braun had sold all of her masters, album art, music videos, and basically any creative art that Taylor created to them for 300 million dollars. This was the second time Taylor’s life’s work was sold without her knowledge. Even worse, as part of the deal, Scooter had required that Shamrock Holdings make absolutely no contact with Taylor or her team – otherwise the deal would be off. However, Taylor tried looking at Shamrock Holdings reaching out to her in a positive way because they did reach out to her even when Scooter threatened them not to. She started to plan ways that she and Shamrock could work together on her music in the future. However, during these talks, it became apparent that Scooter would still be profiting from her masters, music videos, and album artworks. Taylor refused to go into business with someone that tried to silence her, so she embarked on her journey to re-record her older music. 

     People had a myriad of reactions to Taylor announcing that she would be re-recording her old discography. However, I think it is safe to say that most, if not all of Taylor’s fanbase supported her in her undertaking this major personal project. Something that Taylor introduced before she released her re-recorded tracks were tracks “from the vault”; these are songs that she wrote for the album, that she did not put on the album at the time. This gave fans an incentive to buy the new re-recorded album. Most artists do not listen to their old albums once they put them out and tour them; however, fans do. This makes it a huge gamble for any artist to re-record their songs as fans will be listening for the nuances of the old song in the new recording. Although Taylor has taken creative license to modernize some of the production of the songs off of the Fearless album, everything else about the songs has stayed true to the essence of the album. Taylor knows that her voice has matured, and that her vocal technique has gotten better, which is why one thing that I love about the re-recordings is that she does not try to imitate her 18 year old voice. For example, there is a laugh that she does in between a song (which is something she often does) called “Hey Stephen”. In the original track, it is more of a shy giggle, but in the re-recording she unapologetically lets out a knowing laugh. Upon listening to the new record, instead of getting mad at Taylor, fans absolutely loved how Taylor chose to change that part of the song. Additionally, like many of the songs from her debut album, most of the songs on Fearless are about love, heartbreak, and aspirations. However, unlike when she released these albums, Taylor has gone through life changing experiences that she has learned from and can now look back upon. For example, in the song “White Horse,” fans love how Taylor’s current vocals give the song a more reflective tone talking about the failed relationship, rather than a disappointed and depressed tone. 

     As a woman in the music industry, Taylor Swift’s every move has been scrutinized ever since she started her career. Taylor talks about how men and women have different vocabulary in the music industry in an interview with Jane Pauley. In this interview she says that after she stated her intentions to re-record her albums, many people called it a “calculated move” and how she was overreacting to the entire situation, whereas if a man were in her shoes doing the same thing, it would have been a “strategic career move” and his reactions would be justified.  With a fanbase that genuinely supports her through everything she does, Taylor finds herself in a unique situation where she can prove everyone wrong and reclaim what rightfully belongs to her. Through her actions, Taylor has inspired the new generation of singer/songwriters to advocate for themselves, take ownership of their work, and to do it with grace.