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Post by Admin on Apr 23, 2021 7:15:47 GMT
Taylor Swift is celebrating the massive success of her re-recorded album Fearless by "addressing a very pressing issue." The "issue" was about her beloved cat Meredith. "WELL WELL WELL you all really went out and left my greatest expectations in shambles this week," she captioned the video on April 16. "Word on the street is you made Fearless (my version) the biggest country album first week of the last 6 years and the top release of 2021 so far. Honestly??? How?? Did I get this lucky? I wanted to say thank you to you so today I will be addressing a very pressing issue." http://instagram.com/p/CNu8rybDtrn In the video, Taylor held her cat Benjamin Button to answer the growing concern among her fans that Meredith was missing. "We've been hearing some rumors on the internet recently … I mean they're not about you Benj," she said, "but, they're about your sister." The video quickly cut to screen grabs of comments worrying about Meredith, including one that indicated Meredith hadn't been physically seen for a year. The screen then read: "The truth is, Meredith just HATES having her picture taken."
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Post by Admin on Apr 24, 2021 5:32:09 GMT
As predicted by a flock of forensically-inclined Swifties back in February, Taylor Swift released her first re-recorded album “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” on April 9. In her Instagram announcement about the release, Swift referred to “Fearless” as “an album full of magic and curiosity, the bliss and devastation of youth.” Despite being barely eight years old when the original version of “Fearless” was released on November 15, 2008, I undoubtedly recognized these intonations. As exemplified particularly in her recent sister albums “folklore” and “evermore,” Swift is a remarkable songwriter, and neither she nor her listeners must identify directly with the content of her stories in order to resonate with the profound emotion that pervades them. However, Swift’s public image has been defined largely by her supposed “drama” rather than by her talent. She has most notably discussed this sexist inclination of the music industry along with others in a 2019 interview special with CBS Sunday Morning and in her 2020 Netflix documentary film “Miss Americana.” Often paired with discussions about Swift’s position within the industry is the phenomena around Scooter Braun. In 2019, Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings bought out Big Machine Records, where Swift signed when she was 15 and remained until the sale. When Swift publicly condemned Braun and former Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta for making executive decisions about her music over her head, news outlets at the time indicted Swift as a conniving pop star with a persecution complex. As Swift articulated it in her interview with CBS, “A man does something, it’s strategic; a woman does the same thing, it’s calculated.” Later in the same conversation, Swift declared resolutely that she intended to eventually re-record the six albums now owned by Braun, and thus we arrive at “Fearless (TV)” — the first stretch of a very long road to Swift’s sole jurisdiction over her work. The most notable aspect of the first remastered album is the quality of Swift’s vocals. Her voice is much fuller and more mature than in the original masters — not merely symptomatic of her age, but emblematic of years spent refining vocal control on tour and at her home piano. Swift’s voice in “Fearless (TV)” is distinctively hers, as opposed to that of a young girl imitating the country legends of her time. Nevertheless, despite the drastic shifts in her vocals, Swift by and large stays true to the original melodies of the “Fearless” tracks. The eponymous opening track “Fearless (TV)” is one of those most loyal to its original version. Down to the enunciation and timing of lyrics, Swift emphasizes structural exactitude. Still, her vocal control takes this song from its sharp first iteration to a smooth reproduction — words flowing and inflecting upon each other in stunning cohesion. “Fifteen (TV)” follows with its surprising vibrato and tonal variance, ending with a harmonious series of “la la la”s that take young women like myself right back to sub-par piano performances at family holidays. This re-recording is well-produced and genuinely artistic. Track 3, “Love Story (TV),” essentially broke the internet as the first song released from this album. Fans swooned over Swift’s “huh hoh” in the second verse, which was tastefully dramatized from its 2008 counterpart. It was in this song that I was most struck by Swift’s confident ease. I am partial to the bonus track iteration, though, and I’ll get to why later.
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Post by Admin on Jul 21, 2021 4:54:28 GMT
Taylor Swift has pulled Fearless (Taylor’s Version), her 2021 re-recorded album of her 2008 second studio release, from Grammy and CMA Awards contention.
“After careful consideration, Taylor Swift will not be submitting Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in any category at this year’s upcoming Grammy and CMA Awards,” according to a Republic Records representative. “Fearless has already won four Grammys including album of the year, as well as the CMA Award for album of the year in 2009/2010 and remains the most awarded country album of all time.”
The statement goes on to add that Swift’s ninth studio album, Evermore, released in December 2020, will be submitted to the Grammys for consideration in all eligible categories. Swift’s decision leaves room for voters to focus on Evermore, rather than potentially split their votes between the two projects.
The Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys, and the Country Music Assn. declined to comment.
The surprise album, which came out five months after Swift’s Grammy album of the year winner Folklore, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving Swift eight consecutive No. 1 debuts. Evermore returned to No. 1 this June for a fourth nonconsecutive week, making Swift the artist with the third-most weeks at No. 1 on the all-genre album chart behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley. According to MRC Data's midyear report, released July 13, Evermore is the top-selling vinyl album of the year, with more than 143,000 copies sold, and ranks No. 8 in terms of overall album consumption at 818,000 units.
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Post by Admin on Oct 13, 2021 20:56:04 GMT
Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second nonconsecutive week atop the list. The album surges from No. 157 to No. 1 with 152,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 7 (up 1,931%), according to MRC Data. The set vaults back to No. 1 after the Oct. 1 release of a signed CD available only in Swift’s webstore and its vinyl LP. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) debuted at No. 1 nearly six months ago, on the April 24-dated Billboard 200 chart.
Also in the new top 10: Meek Mill’s Expensive Pain arrives at No. 3, while Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s second collaborative album, Love for Sale, bows at No. 8.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Oct. 16, 2021-dated chart [where Fearless (Taylor’s Version) returns to No. 1] will be posted in full on Billboard's website on Oct. 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
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