Taylor Swift – Fearless: Platinum Edition (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

October 28, 2009 by Dennis Amith 

“Taylor Swift’s songwriting and vocal skills are just top notch.  You want to  embrace her music and just want to listen to each song as it’s told in a storytelling fashion.  A true talent and ‘Fearless: Platinum Edition’ is just a fantastic album worth listening to! ”

ARTIST: Taylor Swift

ALBUM: Fearless: Platinum Edition (Digital Version)

LABEL: Big Machine Records, LLC

DURATION: 1:19:25

RELEASE DATE: October 26, 2009

1. Jump Then Fall
2. Untouchable
3. Forever & Always (Piano Version)
4. Come In With the Rain
5. Superstar
6. The Other Side of the Door
7. Fearless
8. Fifteen
9. Love Story
10. Hey Stephen
11. White Horse
12. You Belong With Me
13. Breathe
14. Tell Me Why
15. You’re Not Sorry
16. The Way I Loved You
17. Forever & Always
18. The Best Day
19. Change

Taylor Swift, the young Country vocalist/songwriter who has been topping the charts and a performer recognized for her talents and her album “Fearless” was announced in July 2009 as the top selling album of the first half of the year with close to 4 million copies sold in the United States and internationally, over 10 million.  Needless to say, Taylor Swift has had such a fantastic year even despite the MTV VMA debacle via Kanye West.  If anything, I hoped the debacle introduced people to Taylor Swift’s magnificent music as she is able to capture genuine feelings and experiences through her songwriting and communicates the song through her beautiful vocals.

But these type of experiences of love and breakups have been an instrumental part of Swift’s life because she manages to take these good and bad experiences and like a painter who can grab the attention of the viewer through creativity, the same can be said about Taylor Swift’s music.

Needless to say, with the popularity of “Fearless”, a new Platinum Edition of the album was released featuring six new songs.  For those who purchase the physical CD, the album features 50 new photographs from her “Fearless Tour 2009″, a new collector’s cover, all of her music videos from her hit singles and new video footage of the starlet.

I’ve listened to this album a good number of times already and I have to admit that I’m quite impressed by her ability to craft these lyrics and literally grab the listener because each track is almost told in a storytelling fashion.

In fact, there is not one song I didn’t like. The theme of “Fearless” for the most part is about love and where Pink’s “Funhouse” is a good example of an album that features emotions after a bitter breakup and thus her album is quite dark, Swift’s “Fearless” is an album with tracks of those emotions that one would have when they are in love whether it’s a teenage crush, in a relationship or after a breakup.

Swift’s hit song “Love Story” is just an awesome track that showcases her songwriting skills but songs such as “Hey Stephen” is one of those songs that feature that storytelling style. In this song, Swift writes about a boy named Stephen that she has a crush on but other girls also like him. And it’s almost like reading a page from Swift’s diary about innocent feelings towards a person she likes.

Then there’s a track like “Fifteen” in which she writes about starting the first day as a freshman in high school and getting in a relationship with someone at the young age at 15.

Or a song like “The Way I Loved You” which is another well-written song (which she co-wrote with John Rich) about the pain of love and loving someone but a love that is over and looking back at the relationship.

Then you have her musical side in which she performs the acoustic guitar driven track “Breathe” with another popular and talented young artist Colbie Caillat.

And then there is the track “Forever & Always” which Swift wrote about her then boyfriend Joe Jonas (Jonas Brothers) and with their somewhat breakup that has been featured recently in the media, it will be interesting to see what kind of song Swift will pen for that.

As for the new songs on the Platinum Edition, we are treated to a positive acoustic-guitar driven track with “Jump Then Fall” and followed with another acoustic guitar track which is a slower-paced track but is quite beautiful love song.  Included is a piano version of “Forever & Always” and is followed up with three new upbeat tracks “Come In With the Rain”, “SuperStar” and “The Other Side of the Door”.

“Fearless” is just a fantastic album! Taylor Swift, she definitely stands out among the many young music artists out there and also, for the Country music genre, the ability to crossover and become a Country/Pop star in America.

Although we have seen someone like Carrie Underwood, Faith Evans and Shania Twain to do this, for someone as young as Taylor Swift to really come out so strong and able to attract listeners who typically may not have listened to Country music. Also, Swift is just not the average artist with good looks and a great voice, she’s also a talented songwriter and musician. Definitely a true talent and you can only wonder how this young woman will develop over the years.

The songwriting skills and the creativity behind the lyrics and her ability to take those lyrics and sing them sweetly and convincingly in a storytelling fashion is what I have enjoyed about “Fearless”. Beautifully written lyrics, songs that feature catchy melodies, elegant vocals and just overall, well-done!

For Taylor Swift fans who have been waiting for newer material, we may have not received a brand new album just yet but it’s great to know that her label cares about the fans to release a new version of “Fearless” via a Platinum Edition featured with six new songs, music videos, photos and definitely a great collector’s edition for Taylor Swift fans.  Otherwise, digital listeners get six new tracks in addition to the wonderful songs on the album.

Overall, “Fearless” was an awesome album released in 2008 and with this new 2009 release of “Fearless: Platinum Edition”, the album continues to be… fantastic!