Taylor Swiftis about to drop the first of her re-recorded albums from her time at Big Machine, largely an effort to devalue her previous masters that the label sold to her nemesis, Scooter Braun. Revisiting the 2008 Grammy-winning smash has been a major win for Swift, not just in her quasi-feud with Braun (who has since sold the masters to another firm), but also just for herself. Her re-recordings are here via Republic Records, 13 years (of course!) after their original release. “When I think back on the Fearless album and all that you turned it into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face. This was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed,” she wrote in a message to her beloved Swifties. “So before I say anything else, let me just say that it was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you. This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music. I hope you’ll like this first outing as much as I liked traveling back in time to recreate it.” Dive in and discover the song meanings and Easter eggs inFearless (Taylor’s Version), and why there’s a lot of Joe Jonas infused in the album’s original songs and the songs from the vault.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Easter eggs and songs decoded
1. “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
Believe it or not, Swift says she was totally single when she wrote “Fearless.” “When I wrote ‘Fearless,’ I wasn’t dating anyone. I wasn’t even in the beginning stages of dating anybody. I really was all by myself out on tour and I got this idea for a song about the best first date,” she said. “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. So, this song is about the best first date I haven’t had yet.”
2. “Fifteen (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
Swift wrote “Fifteen” about her high school (and still current!) best friend, Abigail Anderson. She explained that she started with the line “Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind,” adding that she “wrote everything else from that point, almost backwards. I just decided I really wanted to tell that story about our first year of high school because I felt in my freshman year, I grew up more than any year in my life so far.” The lyric video features adorable throwback photos of Swift and Anderson at, you guessed it, 15!
3. “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
The Shakespearean love theme (but with a much happier ending than the actual Romeo & Juliet) was about a romance Swift really had. “This is a song I wrote when I was dating a guy who wasn’t exactly the popular choice,” she said. “His situation was a little complicated, but I didn’t care.” “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” was featured in a Match.com ad from Swift’s pal Ryan Reynolds.
4. Who is “Hey Stephen” about?
Swift wrote “Hey Stephen” about Stephen Barker Liles of the band Love and Theft, who toured with Swift in 2008. He told The Bootof the tune, “I hadn’t heard it yet, so she told me about the song. But she didn’t say like, ‘I wrote a nice song about you,’ so I’m just thinking, ‘What did I do?’ Because she doesn’t really write very many nice songs about guys. So I was very relieved when it turned out to be a nice song, and it’s actually one of the nicest things anybody’s ever done for me.”
5. “White Horse (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
The sad foil to “Love Story,” “White Horse” is about a fairytale romance that went wrong and left Swift with a broken heart. “To me, ‘White Horse’ is about what, in my opinion, is the most heartbreaking part of a break-up–that moment when you realize that all the dreams you had, all those visions you had of being with this person, all that disappears. Everything after that moment is moving on,” she said. “But that initial moment of ‘Wow, it’s over’ is what I wrote ‘White Horse’ about.” Swift also previously revealed that she was going to save “White Horse” for her third album, but included it on Fearless in hopes of getting the song in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, a show so close to her heart that she named her beloved cat Meredith after its title character.
6. “You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
Swift was inspired by a guy friend’s argument over the phone with his girlfriend when she came up for the otherwise fictionalized (but oh-so-relatable) storyline for “You Belong With Me.” In the visuals for the track, Swift is dressed in a marching band uniform, harkening back to the original video. Swift sent the song to Olivia Rodrigo and Conan Gray early and they paid tribute to the original video for the song together:
7. “Breathe (Taylor’s Version)” Feat. Colbie Caillat Easter eggs
Swift cowrote and dueted with Colbie Caillaton “Breathe,” a song Swift says is about saying goodbye to someone when it’s “nobody’s fault.” Aren’t those the absolute hardest goodbyes? Caillat gushed about working with Swift to Insider, telling the outlet, “She knows a lot about every person she’s in the room with and genuinely has an interest. She makes you feel like she loves your work and she has known you forever. I just remember she was so young, and the song she came in with, it was just beautiful.” Caillat called Swift a “brilliant songwriter” and added, “I had so much respect for her. I think [‘Breathe’], it was a really special thing. She was writing about something she was going through with a band member at the time, and she was pouring her heart out about it.” “Breathe” is believed to be about Emily Poe, a violinist who previously worked with Swift before departing for other opportunities. Swift discusses this a bit in a behind-the-scenes video about the making of the song, explaining, “It was total therapy because I came in and I was like, look, you know one of my best friends, I’m gonna have to not see anymore and is not going to be part of what I do and it’s like the hardest thing to go through. It’s crazy listening to the song because you’d think it’d be about a relationship, but it’s really about losing a friend and having a fallout, just the loss.”
8. “Tell Me Why (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
Swift said that “Tell Me Why” was inspired by a guy she wasn’t officially dating, but that would alternately show interest in her and then blow her off. “It bothered me so much because he would say one thing and do another, do one thing and say another. Because he didn’t know what he wanted, he would just play all these mind games,” she said. She met up with co-writer Liz Rose and recalled that she was “just ranting and raving about how this guy is such a flake and such a jerk sometimes, and so cool other times.” She said the first thing she wrote for “Tell Me Why” was the actual beginning of the song: “I took a chance, I took a shot. And you might think I’m bulletproof, but I’m not.”
9. “You’re Not Sorry (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
Another fractured fairytale! Swift previously explained that “You’re Not Sorry” was inspired by a guy who deceived her. “He came across as prince charming. Well, it turned out prince charming had a lot of secrets that he didn’t tell me about,” she recalled. “And one by one, I would figure them out. I would find out who he really was. I wrote this when I was at the breaking point of, ‘You know what? Don’t even think that you can keep on hurting me.’ It was to a point where I had to walk away.”
10. “The Way I Loved You (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
The inspiration for “The Way I Loved You” is all too relatable. “I got this idea for a song about being in a relationship with a nice guy who is punctual and opens up the door for you and brings you flowers…but you feel nothing,” Swift recalled. “The whole time you’re with him, you’re thinking about the guy who was complicated and messy and frustrating.” Swift collaborated with John Rich on the track, and she said it worked because Rich is “that complicated, frustrating messy guy in his relationships.”
11. Is “Forever & Alway” about Joe Jonas?
Swift says that “Forever & Always” was inspired by a boyfriend (who many speculate to be Joe Jonas) losing interest. “I didn’t know why, because I wasn’t doing anything different. I didn’t do anything wrong. He was just fading,” she said. “It’s about the confusion and frustration of wondering, ‘Why? What changed? When did it change? What did I do wrong?’ In this case, the guy I wrote it about ended up breaking up with me for another girl. Guess I know why he was fading.” Jonas famously dated Camilla Bellepost-split from Swift.
12. “The Best Day (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
Swift wrote “The Best Day” about her mom, Andrea Swift, and references her “strong” father and her younger brother, Austin Swift in the song as well, singing, “God shines on my little brother.” Swift surprised her mother with the tune and said Andrea was “bawling her eyes out” when she heard it. The visuals for “The Best Day (Taylor’s Version)” are rife with photos and video footage with Andrea and Taylor through the years, and it’s extra moving knowing the Swift matriarch has been battling cancer.
13. “Change (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
“Change” is about the struggle Swift had being on a smaller label and feeling like she’d been passed up for opportunities that other artists with bigger machines (ahem) behind them received. The song has even more meaning now that she left Big Machine entirely and is re-recording all of her prior work with the label that launched her.
14. Is “Jump Then Fall” about Taylor Lautner?
Originally appearing on the Platinum Edition of Fearless, “Jump Then Fall” was re-released on the soundtrack to the 2010 film Valentine’s Day, in which Swift starred alongside then-boyfriend Taylor Lautner. The song has a distinctly country vibe, especially in its opening notes.
15. “Untouchable (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
“Untouchable” is a cover of a song by Luna Halo. As such, there aren’t too many deep meanings about Swift’s own life in the lyrics! She did, however include this secret message in the original liner notes of this song: “We always want what we can’t reach.”
16. Is “Forever & Always” about Joe Jonas?
Jonas again! Swift explained to The Los Angeles Timesin October 2008 that this song is about the beginning of the end of a romance. “It’s about watching somebody fade away in a relationship. They said they were going to be with you forever, that they loved you, and then something changed in the relationship and you don’t know what it is, but you’re watching them slowly drift.” She added, “That emotion of rejection, for me, usually starts out sad and then gets mad. This song starts with this pretty melody that’s easy to sing along with, then in the end I’m basically screaming it because I’m so mad. I’m really proud of that.” For his part, Jonas told Seventeenin 2009 that the song is “flattering,” adding, “It’s always nice to hear their side of the story.”
17. “Come In With the Rain (From the Vault)” Easter eggs
“Come In With the Rain” was on the Fearless Platinum Edition. Originally recorded sometime between 2007 and 2008, the song is one of numerous Swift tunes with rain imagery. Swift laments about a lost romance, singing, “I could go back to every laugh / But I don’t wanna go there anymore / And I know all the steps up to your door / But I don’t wanna go there anymore.” The common idiom “come in from the rain” usually refers to coming back to reality after fantasizing or romanticizing a situation.
18. “Superstar (From the Vault)” Easter eggs
“Superstar” is speculated to be about Joe Nichols, a country crooner with whom Swift performed early in her career. Swifties pointed to Nichols because an early demo of the track mentions that the object of her affection is from Arkansas, and Nichols is an Arkansas native. Swift sings, “I am no one special / Just another wide-eyed girl / Who’s desperately in love with you / Give me a photograph to hang on my wall / Superstar.” Nichols complimented Swift’s songwriting in a 2011 interview with CMT. When asked if he gets annoyed by traditional country lyrics (think pickup trucks, beer, etc.), he explained, “No, I don’t mind at all. As long as somebody’s singing about what they know, I don’t care. If I had to guess, I couldn’t imagine Taylor Swift singing about being a 40-something guy in a bar. She wouldn’t know anything about that. So she sings about what she knows about—and it works. She’s great at that. Same with me and same with everybody else. If I have experience and I’m able to deliver a song because of that, then it works.”
19. “The Other Side of the Door (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
“The Other Side of the Door” contains two things Swift loves to sing about: a dramatic relationship and rain, as well as a call back to “Love Story” with the mention of “throwing pebbles”: “I said leave but all I really want is you / To stand outside my window, throwing pebbles, screaming ‘I’m in love with you’ / Wait there in the pourin’ rain, come back for more / And don’t you leave ‘cause I know all I need is on / The other side of the door.” The hidden message in the lyrics, which originally appeared on the Fearless Platinum Edition, is “What I was really thinking when I slammed the door.”
20. Is “Today Was a Fairytale” about Taylor Lautner?
“Today Was a Fairytale” was also on the Valentine’s Day soundtrack and is classic Swift: Country-lite guitars, romance and happy endings. It’s speculated to be about Lautner, in part because of the lyric “I wore dress / You wore a dark gray T-shirt” echoing what the pair wore in their first photographed outing together.
21. “You All Over Me (From the Vault)” Feat. Maren Morris Easter eggs
Maren Morrisjoins Swift for “You All Over Me (From the Vault),” a song speculated to be about her breakup from Jonas based on the lyric “The best and worst day of June / Was the one that I met you.” Swift dated the former Disney star from July to October 2008, so the timing adds up.
22. Is “Mr. Perfectly Fine” about Joe Jonas?
This vent session about an ex who moved on very quickly contains a phrase that Swifties will recognize from Red’s “All Too Well”: “casually cruel.” It’s widely speculated that “All Too Well” was written about Jake Gyllenhaal. However, if “Mr. Perfectly Fine” was written around the same time as the rest of the songs from the original Fearless, it would pre-date her relationship with the acclaimed actor and actually be about Jonas. Jonas’ wife, Sophie Turner, complimented Swift’s song as a “bop” in an Instagram story, so it’s clear there are no hard feelings anymore, something Swift herself confirmed in the song “Invisible String,” in which she references buying her ex’s “babies presents.” Eagled-eyed Swifties also noted that she sings “Mr. Perfectly Fine” 27 times within the song, which they believe is a reference to the infamous “27-second phone call” that Jonas used to dump her back in the day.
23. “We Were Happy (From the Vault)” Feat. Keith Urban Easter eggs
Swift goes full country (with Keith Urbanon hand to harmonize) about an ex she feels guilty for not being totally in love with, similar to “The Way I Loved You.” She also evokes waterside imagery like from “Mine” off 2010’s Speak Now: “We used to watch the sun go down on the boats in the water / That’s sort of how I feel right now / And goodbye’s so much harder ‘cause we were happy / When it was good, baby, it was good, baby / We showed ’em all up / No one could touch the way we laughed in the dark / Talking ‘bout your daddy’s farm we were going to buy someday / And we were happy.”
24. “That’s When (From the Vault)” Feat. Keith Urban Easter eggs
In “That’s When,” Swift kisses off an ex who broke her heart and asks when he can come back into her life. Urban delivers an emotive duet with Swift, who penned the song between 2007 and 2008.
25. “Don’t You (From the Vault)” Easter eggs
In “Don’t You,” Swift has a chance encounter with an ex who’s already moved on with someone new. The exchange is almost frustratingly cordial as Swift urges him to let her be: “I heard she’s nothing like me / I’m sure she’ll make you happy / But don’t you / Don’t you smile at me and ask me how I’ve been / Don’t you say you’ve missed me if you don’t want me again / You don’t know how much I feel I love you still / So why don’t you / Don’t you.”
26. “Bye Bye Baby (From the Vault)” Easter eggs
“Bye Bye Baby” brings with it more rain and similar themes to both her 1989 track “Clean” as well as lyrical and stylistic comparisons to Michelle Branch’s “Goodbye to You.” “It wasn’t just like a movie / The rain didn’t soak through my clothes, down to my skin / I’m driving away and I, I guess you could say / This is the last time I’ll drive this way again / When there’s nothing to say and I try to grab at the fray / Cause I, I still love you but I can’t.”
27. “Love Story (Elvira Remix) (Taylor’s Version)” Easter eggs
The pop remix of “Love Story” helped Swift cross over from country to mainstream, and this reworking is reminiscent of that. Next, find out who Taylor Swift was singing about on Lover!
