After I Buy Fearless
Taylor Swift is one talented teen! She had a hand again in every song on her highly anticipated sophomore CD - this time she wrote 7, and co-wrote 6. The first single, "Love Story" is a good example of how she can combine great lyrics with a catchy beat - and then produce a smash crossover hit. The most remarkable thing about the album is that it is incredibly balanced...and almost every song is so good that it could be released as a radio single. I think it is now safe to say that she is a rising star who will just keep on rising!
Taylor opens the album with the strong title track "Fearless", and ends the album with the powerful theme song of the summer Olympics, "Change". In the middle is a sure huge hit "The Way I Loved You" - a song that she wrote with John Rich. "Fifteen" is her most personal song, a bittersweet gem where she sings about her freshman year and her best friend for the past 5 years, Abigail. "White Horse" (which has already been featured on Grey's Anatomy) is a well written tearjerker - a heartfelt song that is just waiting to become her next blockbuster hit. A good example of her more acoustic side is "Breathe" - a simple song written with Colbie Caillat who also sings background vocals in the song. Taylor's writing seems to have matured and grown in the past 2 years. Take "The Best Day" for example - which is a completely different but awesome song, which is written about her family. She appeals to a wide audience, and executes this so well here on Fearless.
It's incredible how quickly Taylor crossed over and became not only a big country star, but a huge pop star also. It took only her second single - Teardrops On My Guitar - for her to become amazingly popular in mainstream music! Then she continued to release 3 more hits (two of them #1) off her debut album. Talk about a hard act to follow - but I can't see this trend stopping anytime soon with Fearless - this album is a major home run. She isn't the same country artist who sang "Tim Mcgraw", and I understand that some people will not be happy about that. If there are any flaws here, it would be that many of the songs are pop-country hits which are about the same subject - teens. You can't please everyone, but look for her to just become even bigger and more popular, with more #1's and crossover pop smash hits. Taylor's sophomore CD is very well done...filled with excellent, self-penned, radio-friendly top 40 hits! Overall ~ 9/10 ~
