Fearless

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"Fearless"Single by Taylor Swift
General information
Artist	Taylor Swift
Released	November 11, 2008 (album) January 3, 2010 (single) April 9, 2021 (Taylor's Version)
Recorded	2008 November 2020-February 2021 (T.V.)
Genre	Country pop, pop rock
Length	4:01 (album) 3:38 (single)
Album	Fearless
Label	Big Machine Records Republic Records (T.V.)
Writer(s)	Swift Hillary Lindsey Liz Rose
Producer(s)	Swift Nathan Chapman Christopher Rowe (T.V.)
Singles chronology
Previous	"Two Is Better Than One"
Current	"Fearless"
Next	"Today Was A Fairytale"
Fearless track list
"Fearless"
"Fifteen"
Music video

"Fearless" is the first track from American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift's second studio album, Fearless, released on November 11, 2008, through Big Machine Records. The song became the fifth single from the album on January 4, 2010. It is also the first track from her debut re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor's Version), released on April 9, 2021, through Republic Records.

Background

"Fearless" was written by Swift in collaboration with Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey and produced by Nathan Chapman alongside Swift. Swift conceived the song while touring as opening act in order to promote her debut album, Taylor Swift (2006). While writing the song, she was not dating anyone or "even in the beginning stages of dating anybody." She wrote the song after she analyzed the ideology of what was the best first date. While developing "Fearless", Swift explained the writing process, stating, "I think sometimes when you’re writing love songs, you don’t write them about what you’re going through at the moment, you write about what you wish you had." The song was composed with two concepts in mind. Swift described the song's primary concept to be about "the fearlessness of falling in love", and "no matter how many times you get hurt, you will always fall in love again." The second, is about the best first date, which Swift stated she hadn't experienced at the time of writing "Fearless". After completing the song, Swift deeply deliberated her personal definition of the word "fearless". To her, "fearless doesn't mean you're completely unafraid and it doesn't mean that you're bulletproof. It means that you have a lot of fears, but you jump anyway." That influenced her to title the album Fearless. The song was first released as a promotional single from the album on October 14, 2008, as part of Countdown to Fearless, an exclusive campaign by the iTunes Store; it was later released as the fifth and final single from Fearless on January 4, 2010.

Composition

"Fearless" is a country pop song with a length of four minutes and one second. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described the song's genre as a "kind of orthodontically perfect pop rock". He said the most country part of the song was a lyric that referenced a "one horse town". The song is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute. It is written in the key of F major and Swift's vocals span two octaves, from F₃ to C₅. It follows the chord progression F–C–G–B♭. Tom Ronald of Great American Country interpreted the song's message to be about "taking courage on the dating circuit." Craig Shelburne of CMT News said "Fearless" was about a great first date. In a different perspective, Rob Sheffield of Blender magazine said the lyrics "And I don't know why but with you / I'd dance in a storm in my best dress, fearless" demonstrated how Swift enjoyed making a scene. He added that she would not wear "anything else to go ride around in a storm".

Critical reception

Generally, contemporary critics were pleased with "Fearless" in their reviews. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said Swift's vocals fit the song's melody and instrumentation, which, according to her, is "slick" and "radio-friendly". Heather Phares of Allmusic selected the track as one of best songs on Fearless. Alice Fisher of the United Kingdom magazine The Observer congratulated "Fearless" for being one of Swift's "great songs with perceptive lyrics about universal truths that can be enjoyed at any age." Jim Harrington of The San Jose Mercury News believed "Fearless" contained appeal to different age groups: "Moms and daughters, as well as groups of teens and couples out for a date night, [can sing] along with equal gusto." Contrastingly, Craig Shellburne of CMT News became annoyed at the song, noting that as a male adult, its message was very difficult to relate to. "At such moments, I'd roll my eyes, then look over at the kids next to me and think, 'OK, I get it'," he added.

Chart performance

Upon its release as a promotional single, on the week ending November 1, 2008, "Fearless" debuted and peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 with sales of 162,000 digital downloads, becoming Swift's third consecutive top ten song on the chart. In the succeeding week, the song fell to number thirty-eight and after four weeks of roaming the Billboard Hot 100 it fell off the charts. Following its single release, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety-four on the week ending March 13, 2010. Its highest position on the chart while being released as a single was number seventy-six on the week ending April 10, 2010. "Fearless" spent a total of fifteen weeks ascending and descending the Billboard Hot 100. "Fearless" also peaked at number ten on the Hot Country Songs Chart, making this her tenth consecutive top ten hit but also her lowest-charting single, and number eighteen on the now-defunct Pop 100 Chart. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for the purchase of over 500,000 digital downloads. It therefore became the first single released after being certified gold by the RIAA, as a result of digital downloads. On the week ending November 29, 2008, "Fearless" debuted and peaked at number sixty-nine on the Canadian Hot 100, spending a total of five weeks on the chart. The song peaked at number thirty-two on the Spanish Singles Chart.

Charts

Chart (2008—10)	Peakposition
Canadian Hot 100	69
Spanish Singles Chart	32
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	9
U.S. Hot Country Songs	10
U.S. Pop 100	18

Hidden message

Hidden message: I loved you before I met you.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
There's something 'bout the way
The street looks when it's just rained
There's a glow off the pavement, you walk me to the car
And you know I wanna ask you to dance right there
In the middle of the parking lot, yeah
Oh, yeah

[Verse 2]
We're driving down the road, I wonder if you know
I'm trying so hard not to get caught up now
But you're just so cool, run your hands through your hair
Absentmindedly making me want you

[Chorus]
And I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless
And I don't know why but with you, I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless

[Verse 3]
So, baby, drive slow till we run out of road
In this one horse town, I wanna stay right here
In this passenger's seat
You put your eyes on me
In this moment now, capture it, remember it

[Chorus]
'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless
And I don't know why but with you, I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless

[Bridge]
Well, you stood there with me in the doorway
My hands shake, I'm not usually this way, but
You pull me in and I'm a little more brave
It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something
It's fearless
Oh, yeah

[Chorus]
'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless
And I don't know why, but with you, I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless

'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless
And I don't know why, but with you, I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless

[Outro]
Oh, oh
Oh, yeah

Lyric video

Taylor Swift - Fearless (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video)

Track listings

U.S. Digital Download

1. "Fearless" (Album Version) – 4:01

U.S./EU CD Single

1. "Fearless" (Radio Edit) – 3:42

Taymoji pack

Expand/collapse gallery

Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. I’m serious. One more time and you’re getting the boot. Finally perfected my hand heart. Never, never, never give up. Ain’t pianos grand? I can picture us together. My hat’s off to you. March to your own beat. Box 1/9

Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. I’m serious. One more time and you’re getting the boot. Finally perfected my hand heart. Never, never, never give up. Ain’t pianos grand? I can picture us together. My hat’s off to you. March to your own beat. Box

Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death.

I’m serious. One more time and you’re getting the boot.

Finally perfected my hand heart.

Never, never, never give up.

Ain’t pianos grand?

I can picture us together.

My hat’s off to you.

March to your own beat.

Box

Live performances

Swift performing "Fearless" during a concert included on the 2009 and 2010 Fearless Tour.

Taylor first performed "Fearless" at the 31th Annual Jamboree in the Hills in Morristown, Ohio on July 19, 2007. Swift's first televised performance of "Fearless" was on November 10, 2008, on The Late Show with David Letterman. She went on to perform the song on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Clear Channel Communications's Stripped. Swift performed the song on all venues of her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour, which extended from April 2009 to July 2010. During each performance, Swift escorted a silver sparkly dress and black boots and played an acoustic guitar as floral patterns with a moving butterfly were projected on the stage. Alice Fisher of The Observer attended the May 7, 2009, concert at at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, England and said that while herself drifted off during the performance, it "clearly made perfect sense to the girls in the audience." Jocelyn Vena of MTV News reported that the audience loudly sang along to the performance of "Fearless" at the August 27, 2009, concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Various tour performances were used to comprise a music video for "Fearless", directed by Todd Cassetty. The video premiered on February 17, 2010, on CMT. It begins when Swift tells her band before they step onstage, "You guys, this tour has been the best experience of my entire life." The video intermingles footage from the tour itself with fans excitedly showing off signs to Swift with behind-the-scenes footage of Swift and her band as they travel on the Fearless Tour. It ends with the singer waving goodbye as she exists the stage. Upon watching the video, Vena interpreted it to be "Swift's love letter to her fans", as it showed an "inside view of what it's like to go on tour".

Later performances included a mash-up with "Hey Soul Sister" by Train during the Speak Now World Tour, and surprise performances of the song during every tour since, including surprise song performances on The 1989 World Tour on August 5, 2015, in Edmonton, Canada, August 29, 2015, in San Diego, California, and October 10, 2015, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Taylor Swift - Fearless (First Live Performance in 2007)

Taylor Swift - Fearless Live (High Quality!)

Taylor Swift Performs "Fearless" - Letterman

Taylor Swift - Fearless (Live From The Fearless Tour)

Taylor Swift - Fearless-I'm Yours-Hey, Soul Sister (live at BBC Radio 2011-03-23)

-Remastered 4K- Fearless - Taylor Swift • Speak Now World Tour Live 2011 • EAS Channel

Taylor Swift - Fearless (Live on The 1989 World Tour)

Taylor Swift - Fearless (Live from reputation Stadium Tour)