14. Januar 2009
Taylor Swift und das Nr. 1 USA-Album Fearless – Die neue Country Stimme aus Amerika

Das Album “Fearless” der US-amerikanischen Country-Sängerin Taylor Swift wurde bisher schon zweimal mit Platin ausgezeichnet und vier Singleauskopplungen daraus haben es in die Top Ten der Genrecharts Hot Country Songs geschafft. In die Billboard Hot 100 schafften es immerhin drei ihrer Songs. Zur Zeit führt das Album in den USA als Nr. 1 die Spitze der Billoard Charts an.

Hier ist eine Trackvorschau ihres derzeitigen Erfolgsalbums:

Taylor Swift “Fearless” Album (Track Previews)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0iwrx0T4k&feature=player_embedded

Fearless is the second studio album by American country pop artist Taylor Swift, released on November 11, 2008 (see 2008 in country music) on Big Machine Records. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums, Canadian Albums Chart, and Canadian Top Country Albums, and has been certified two-time platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Its lead single “Love Story” had reached number one on both the Canadian and US country charts, and several more digital-only singles from the album were all Top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Release

“Change”, the first song from this album to chart, was also included on the AT&T TEAM USA Soundtrack, although “Love Story” is the first official single.

The music video for “Love Story” made its premiere on Friday, September 12 at 8:30 P.M. EDT on CMT.

Another track from this album, “White Horse”, was played during the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday, September 25, 2008. Swift also performed this song at the 2008 American Music Awards to promote this song as her second official single.

Reception

Fearless has received positive reviews from music critics, and according to the music review aggregator Metacritic, it has received an average score of 81, indicating universal acclaim.

Newsday gave the album an “A” rating, calling it “[w]ise beyond her years”. James Reed of the Boston Globe gave the album a strong positive review saying the “Young country star’s ‘Fearless’ proves she’s just that, and more”. Allmusic quote the way Swift writes her music and how she matured into her new album: “Swift’s gentle touch is as enduring as her songcraft, and this musical maturity may not quite jibe with her age but it does help make Fearless one of the best mainstream pop albums of 2008.”

Rolling Stone magazine said that her “music mixes an almost impersonal professionalism – it’s so rigorously crafted it sounds like it has been scientifically engineered in a hit factory – with confessions that are squirmingly intimate and true.” Fearless is listed as the 39th best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone.

The album was released in Australia on November 15 as well as the UK on the 9th March 2009, and Swift will tour in March 2009 to support the album, with Morgan Evans opening for her. Kellie Pickler will be opening on the American leg of the tour. The album will also be released in Spain and Brazil in March.

Chart performance

Four digital only singles were released from the albums and all hit top 20 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100: “Change” (#10), “Fearless” (#9), “You’re Not Sorry” (#11) and “You Belong with Me” (#12). The song “White Horse”, without a single release and no promotion, due to high popularity, debuted at #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. With “White Horse”, Swift made “a calendar-year record for any artist in the 50-year history of the chart [...for...] she is now tied for second place with Mariah Carey and the Beatles for the most top 20 debuts in a career. One more new entry inside this elite tier will put her in a three-way tie for first place with Janet Jackson and Madonna.”

Her first-day sales alone totaled at 217,000. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at #1 with sales of 592,304 copies, making it the best sales week for a country record since The Eagles’ Long Road out of Eden in November 2007 and the best first-week sales for a female artist this year, earning Swift a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The album shifted 129,000 copies digitally, the fourth biggest-week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004.

In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Hannah Montana for the most by a female artist in a single week. With “White Horse” charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100.

On the country charts, “Change” reached #57 based on unsolicited airplay, overlapping with the first country release, “Love Story”, which became her third Number One hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Following it on the country charts was “White Horse”.

In its second week of release, the album was at #4 and sold 217,209 copies. In its third week of release, the album jumped up to #2 and sold 267,371 copies for a total of 1,077,041 copies in three weeks. In its fourth week, it stayed at #2 with sales of 193,495 copies, coming in behind Britney Spears’s Circus which sold 505,100 copies. In its fifth week in release, the album was the greatest gainer, reclaiming the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 with 248,841 copies sold. The album remained the greatest gainer and stayed at #1 in its sixth week, selling 329,732 copies. It remained at #1 in its seventh week after selling 262,399 copies. In its eight week of release the album remained at #1 shifting 89,607 copies. Thus bringing it’s total to 2,201,786 copies sold in the U.S in two months.

Till its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 244,000 paid downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history.

Fearless has been at number one on the Billboard 200 for five non-consecutive weeks, making it the longest-running album among the releases that topped the chart in 2008. According to Nielsen Soundscan, Fearless is the third best-selling album to be released in 2008 with 2.11 million copies sold, behind only Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III and Coldplay’s Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Taylor Swift except where noted.
# Title Length
1. “Fearless” (Taylor Swift, Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey)
2. “Fifteen”
3. “Love Story”
4. “Hey Stephen”
5. “White Horse” (Taylor Swift, Liz Rose)
6. “You Belong with Me” (Taylor Swift, Liz Rose)
7. “Breathe” (Taylor Swift, Colbie Caillat)
8. “Tell Me Why” (Taylor Swift, Liz Rose)
9. “You’re Not Sorry”
10. “The Way I Loved You” (Taylor Swift, John Rich)
11. “Forever & Always”
12. “The Best Day”
13. “Change”
14. “Our Song (Brazil & UK bonus track)”
15. “Teardrops On My Guitar (Brazil & UK bonus track)” (Taylor Swift, Liz Rose)
16. “Should’ve Said No (Brazil & UK bonus track)”
64:08

For the stories behind each song, read Taylor Swift’s Fearless Cut By Cut

Personnel

As listed on backing card.

* Nick Buda – drums
* Colbie Caillat – background vocals on “Breathe”
* Nathan Chapman – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, keyboards, Hammond B-3 organ, accordion, steel guitar, percussion, background vocals
* Eric Darken – percussion, vibraphone
* Caitlin Evanson – background vocals
* Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar
* Rob Hajacos – fiddle
* Tony Harrell – keyboards, Hammond B-3 organ, accordion
* Amos Heller – bass guitar
* Claire Indie – cello
* John Keefe – drums
* Tim Lauer – keyboards, Hammond B-3 organ, accordion
* Tim Marks – bass guitar
* Grant Mickelson – electric guitar
* Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar, mandolin
* Taylor Swift – lead and background vocals
* Ilya Toshinsky – banjo
* Al Wilson – percussion

Strings composed, performed and arranged by Jonathan Yudkin.

Finger snaps on “Hey Stephen” by Andrew Bowers, Nicholas Brown, Carolyn Cooper, Burlas Cox, Lauren Elcan, and Martina McBride’s two daughters, Delaney and Emma McBride.