Taylor Swift: Fearless Poll

I like it! Not better than the original, but it's good as just another version. Drums are more rock than on Fearless, which gives it a slightly bar-band feel, in a good way. Modulation at the end still slays.

I just watched lyric video, which is a compilation of old photos and clips of young Taylor with her fans and to be honest, I had to reach for a box of tissues over here, filled with nostalgia for a very different time.

lmao the rerecording made me cry, i am such a mark

I don’t like this song very much to begin with, but I do think the playing and performance were better on the original. I hope she brings something new & interesting to some of these rerecordings, rather than just delivering “bar band”–style covers.

I was bumping Reputation today; the idea of redoing that album (in particular) is just so bizarre… I wonder if she’ll actually get there.

I don't think her goal is exactly reinterpretation. She wants these to displace the originals as much as possible, so I'd expect more fidelity than not.

If I heard it on the radio when out, I'm not sure I'd notice it was a different version. It's true that the new drums make it sound slightly more like something from 1994 rock radio.

I assume the Swifties will buy/stream the new albums no matter what they sound like, while less hardcore fans will only f with them if they sound like they have a reason to exist (beyond the financial reason). So why not do that? I guess she must know what she’s doing.

Maybe her plan is to eventually convince the streaming services to pull the original versions of the albums altogether.

I'm sure she'd love that but I think for now she's mostly trying to complicate the algorithms. Every stream that goes to a new version is one Scooter doesn't get.

What happened with the re-recordings by her former bandmates Def Leppard? The version of Hysteria on Spotify looks like the original, not the 2013 re-recording, although I didn't listen.

xp Good point; I may still underestimate/ not fully grasp how the streaming ecosystem really works.

I guess it’s a huge advantage just to have hers on top, chronologically. (But still, if those are the ones that people will be clicking on and sticking with default, why do they have to closely imitate the originals?)

I think it's so if someone clicks on "Love Story," it's close enough to what they're looking for that they don't go looking for the other one.

And not all artists could do this at Taylor level, obviously, but those new recordings are going to totally swamp the old ones for plays for months after they come out, at a minimum, because Taylor's fans will do that — both because they will want to support her, but also because they'll genuinely want to hear the new ones.

I wonder how close she’ll try to imitate the original cover art, without running afoul of copyright.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a7ka/why-taylor-swift-re-recording-her-old-music-scooter-braun-explained

Maybe it's my imagination, but I think she sounds a little emotionally flat/ lacking in conviction on the re-recording; she may be singing better technically but she sounds less like she means it.

She probably sees Scooter Braun's face floating in the air as she records every line.

I bet the ones that are already vindictive are going to have some added emotion behind them.

She doesn't sound like she believes she is a scarlet letter anymore.

that is a particularly hard song to pull off singing as an adult, i would imagine.

This new 'Love Song' recording hit #2 on Spotify global so I imagine this re-release thing overall will contribute a ton to her streaming presence this year, re: talks of why she does it and how it could replace old recordings.

https://www.iaspm.org.uk/taylor-swift-eras-narrative-digital-media-and-music/

I look forward to hearing the new "Hey Stephen." Do we know if the rerecording contains all the songs on the "Platinum Edition"?

Decent NYT piece here, about her perspectives shifting as she gets older: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/arts/music/taylor-swift-folklore-youth.html

Despite having once been a teenage girl myself (unlike a lot of music critics), I confess that I am not completely free of these internalized biases. I was initially dismissive of “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” a song that appeared on Swift’s 2019 album “Lover.” The first few times I heard it, I wondered what a grown woman on the cusp of 30 was doing still writing about homecoming queens and teenage gossip.

(maybe not a very clear metaphor, but regardless)

I wonder how close she’ll try to imitate the original cover art, without running afoul of copyright.

Oh, I see – it's already online. Clever:

https://cdn.countrynow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Taylor-Swift-Fearless.jpg

Also, to answer my other question – I see now that "Fearless (Taylor's Version) consists of all of the 19 tracks from Fearless Platinum Edition (2009), her soundtrack single "Today Was a Fairytale" (2010), and six additional songs that were scrapped from the 2008 album."

HI. I wanted to let you know that the first “From the Vault” song I’m releasing from Fearless (Taylor’s Version) comes out tomorrow at midnight eastern. It’s called You All Over Me (From The Vault). pic.twitter.com/0GdNXHvPM0

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) March 24, 2021

One thing I’ve been loving about these From The Vault songs is that they’ve never been heard, so I can experiment, play, and even include some of my favorite artists. I’m really excited to have @MarenMorris singing background vocals on this song!! ☔️

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) March 24, 2021

You All Over Me is produced by Aaron Dessner and co-written by Scooter Carusoe - can’t wait for you to hear it 💛

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) March 24, 2021

ooh so it sounds the vault songs aren't just going to be her recreating the unreleased recordings from the fearless sessions and instead they'll all be newly re-worked which is interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKaMUm7YwZc

it's solid

It’s a solid song, but (as with the new “Love Story”), her performance sounds kind of perfunctory to me. You can compare it with the Dessner–produced tracks from the last two albums... it has a similar sound, but def. not the same feel. Her heart’s not totally in it, right?

I like it

love "you all over me" to death lol

I like it too. It keeps vaguely reminding me of a bunch of songs I can't quite identify, but in a good way. Doesn't sound perfunctory to me in the same way "Love Story" does, maybe just because I don't have an original to compare it to.

She posted some puzzle/riddle thing (about the "vault") - anyone know what it means?

Btw, I've been listening to this (OG) album a lot, in preparation for the new version coming out - it is really good.

Fearless (OG) is still my fave t swift.

I love the Where is this GO-ing? part in "Forever and always" – that song totally hits my 2000s Avril-style pop/rock sweet spot.

("Tell Me Why" has a similar quality... I didn't realize she was working that particular style at this stage.)

I love “Tell Me Why”

gf wandering through the room while I'm listening to You All Over Me: This song is gross.
me: you don't like her voice?
gf: it sounds like she's complaining he came on her and she can't get it off.

Gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean

So the “codes” were titles of the unreleased songs, which I guess Swifties would know:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNNbIrsDkKn/

Yes to Maren Morris & Keith Urban duets

I'm guessing she won't be getting Nathan Chapman to come back to do the backing vocals

Colbie Caillat is back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFjJs6ZjPe8

for the most part i think taylor's b-sides are not great so i'm a little blown away by how much i like the vault tracks. maybe it's bc they allow me to see new angles on an era of her songwriting that i kind of miss

this isn't a mindblowing song or anything but i love everything the chorus melody does