What Taylor Swift Means Now, Five Years After 'Fearless'
Fearless was not Taylor Swift's first album. She released a self-titled full length and two EPs before her sophomore album dropped on November 11, 2008. No, Fearless was not the beginning of Taylor Swift, musician.
But it was the beginning of the Taylor Swift zeitgeist.
Before Fearless, Swift was still an opening act, albeit for some of country music's names. But after, she was not just country music's biggest name — she was a pop culture phenomenon. Fearless opened the floodgates for the curly-haired blonde girl from Nashville by way of Eastern Pennsylvania. Fearless set records for Taylor Swift and won her awards. Fearless made her dating life a national spectacle. Fearless introduced us to the Taylor Swift Experience. Today, the album is five years old, and it means something very different than when it was released. Or rather, Taylor Swift means something very different in 2013 than Taylor Swift in 2008. Maybe it's as simple as her straightening her hair. Maybe not. It's more than just Taylor Swift grew up. Listening to Fearless now — it's a broken promise, an unfulfilled dream.
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The world fell in love with Taylor Swift, and it's not hard to see why. She was talented, charming, and wholesome — the epitome of the girl next door you'd been crushing on. The love songs she sang were the love songs you wanted to sing her (or have sung to you by your own prince charming). At 18, Taylor Swift was gawky perfection. She was the Manic Pixie Dream Girl of top-40 radio. Her awkwardness was adorable, and sellable, before America got tired of the adorkable shtick (there's a reason she was on an episode of New Girl).
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Taylor's songs were addictively personal. When we listened to Fearless, we were listening to her life, an act of pure voyeurism. It was practically a diary set to music, or at least that's how it felt — was supposed to feel. It endeared her to her audience, and so her audience grew and grew. She was honest; we believed her. Taylor Swift peddled a kind of hyper-earnestness that was too true to ignore. Anyone who listened to Fearless became invested in Taylor Swift the person, because there was so much of her on the album that it was impossible not to. We were experiencing the act of being her right along with her. It was performance art. There was no separating the person from the songs. And that's why only now, looking back five years later, do we realize what a mistake that was.
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Which is what makes so many of the songs on Fearless so problematic. When she sings about finding true love, we know now it doesn't happen. It's counter-productive to her career. The bridge of "White Horse" is this idea in plainest terms: "I'm gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well," she sings. In 2008, that line was uplifting — we were rooting for Taylor. In 2013, that line sounds jaded and cynical. We know now that the someones she finds are high-profile celebs that lead to tabloid-fodder break-ups that become emotionally devastating hit songs. Taylor right now has no interest in a successful relationship. She needs the tragic ending.
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There is, though, one lyric on Fearless that is the crux of Taylor Swift's entire career. Toward the end of "Fifteen," she comes to terms with her impending break-up:
"Back then I swore I was going to marry him someday, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine."
That, right there, is Taylor Swift in 19 words. She forgoes a happy relationship for fulfillment somewhere else. She finds satisfaction not with this boy, but with the millions of records she's going to sell using their break-up. It's one hell of a silver lining, and actually a pretty damn good message to send her listeners. They aren't defined by their romantic relationships, but rather what they do with their own lives. The line ends up being one of the most positive moments on the album, for the exact reason so many of the songs on Fearless are now depressing. In 2013, we realize Taylor made the right choice — she has had a career beyond her wildest imagination. While the much of the rest of the album is tragic five years down the line, this is a true bright spot. Taylor won on her own terms.
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Listening to Fearless now isn't the same as listening to Fearless in 2008. We know things now that we didn't know then, we've seen how things played out. And maybe that's OK. Fearless is dynamic. As long as Taylor Swift is around, it'll keep meaning different things. Maybe it's not as hopeful as it once was. Maybe the songs didn't turn out the way we wanted them to. But one thing is for sure: it was, and is, worth experiencing.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/72...after-fearless
