If you were wondering what Taylor Swift’s philosophy was during the sessions for the recently released “Taylor’s Version” of her beloved 2008 Fearless album, she assures you that the goal was not to reinvent the (pop) wheel. “In terms of production, I really wanted to stay very loyal to the initial melodies that I had thought of for these songs,” Swift told People (the TV Show!).
“And so we really did go in and try to create a ‘the same but better’ version. We kept all the same parts that I initially dreamed up for these songs. But if there was any way that we could improve upon the sonic quality, we did.” Working with her current production team of Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, Swift, 31, said they wanted to take all the knowledge they’ve acquired over decades of playing music and apply it to the project.
“But yeah, I did go in line by line and listen to every single vocal and think, you know, what are my inflections here,” said Swift, who was 18 when the original album was released. “If I can improve upon it, I did. But I really did want this to be very true to what I initially thought of and what I had initially written. But better. Obviously.”
In addition to the original 20 songs, the revamped version of Fearless also features six bonus tracks that were written, but never recorded, at the time. The impetus for rewinding to her teen years was the 2019 sale of the singer’s former label, Big Machine Label Group, to manager Scooter Braun, which included the rights to her first six albums; Swift has said she intends to re-record her first five albums.
