Taylor Swift released her first re-recording of her old music, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” on April 9. It quickly topped Apple Music’s charts in the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Swift announced in Aug. 2020 that she planned on releasing six re-recorded albums, from “Taylor Swift” to “Reputation,” in order to own the master recordings of her old music. Her former record label still has control over her first six albums but through the re-recordings, she is finally able to own her music. 

Swift started the release of the re-recordings with Fearless because to her the album was a “coming of age” album and to start with Fearless is to welcome in a new era of her music, one where she owns her own work.

This album features all of the songs off of the original release of “Fearless (2008)” with new songs that Swift wrote in 2008 but never made it on the album. These new songs are referred to as “Vault Songs” or “From the Vault.”

“Mr. Perfectly Fine,” written about Swift’s relationship with singer Joe Jonas, is a vault song and has quickly become a fan favorite with its upbeat yet melancholic lyrics. 

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” isn’t a re-interpretation of “Fearless (2008)” but rather an updated version of the Grammy award-winning album. Swift has a much more mature voice now than in 2008 so to hear an album about teen heartbreak and growing up from her now just hits different. 

Swifties, Swift’s fanbase, were able to catch slight inflection changes throughout the album but there were no drastic changes to the original lyrics or instrumentation.

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” is comforting, nostalgic and her mature vocals make the whole album warmer. Even though the original “Fearless” was released over a decade ago, Swift shows she is capable of taking an amazing album and making it better. This power move of re-recording her albums marks a change in the music industry where artists can own their works.