Still Ingenue But With A Sharp Wit and A Keen Eye for Observing Her Generation’s Love Affairs
For someone who writes and sings her own songs, Taylor Swift’s second album, Fearless aptly describes her approach to songwriting. Only barely 18 years old when she was writing songs for this album, one can see that even at a young age, she already has that keen sense and intuition needed by a successful songwriter. She understands fully the current structure of songwriting, knowing how the verses tell the story, and then swiftly bringing everything into a crescendo through a catchy chorus. She wrote all the 13 songs in this album, sharing co-writing credits in six of them. She also produced this album along with Nathan Chapman. When this album came out, there was a dearth of female representation in country music, least of all – a very young female performer – so her entrance into the country scene was really a breath of fresh air in a milieu dominated by adult male singers in their 30s and 40s. I am also not surprised why she named this album Fearless because she tackles subject matters which younger females are drawn to and she does not hold back in telling their stories, including her own. Much later, Taylor would gain a reputation of writing about her ex-boyfriends and guys she dated, much to the chagrin of those poor fellows. Some of them retaliate through song, the others prefer to be gentlemanly about it and just keep their mouths shut. Even this early in her career, Taylor is already naming names. She’s not subtle at all in “Hey Stephen” and names a girl called Abigail in “Fifteen”. In this album, Taylor Swift is still an ingenue but with a sharp wit and a keen eye for observing her generation’s love affairs. She will do more damage soon but for now, her songs seem to be extensions of her own personal diary – and her stories are interwoven into this Fearless compilation.
