| Fearless | ||||
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&sq=&lang=&file=File:Taylor_Swift_-_Fearless.png) Standard North American cover | ||||
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| Released | November 11, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | 2007–2008 | |||
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| Genre | Country pop | |||
| Length | 53:26 | |||
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| International edition cover | ||||
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| Singles from Fearless | ||||
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Fearless is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. She wrote the majority of the album while touring in 2007–2008 and produced it with Nathan Chapman.
Inspired by Swift's adolescence, Fearless explores love and heartbreak using references to her personal life and fairy tale–inspired lyrical imagery. It features co-writing credits from Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Colbie Caillat, and John Rich. A country pop album, Fearless features acoustic arrangements driven by a wide variety of string instruments such as banjos, fiddles, mandolins, and electric guitars. Its songs follow the standard verse–chorus–bridge form with dynamic bridges and choruses. The elements of pop, folk, and rock of Fearless led to some critics arguing against its categorization as a country album.
Under Big Machine Records' imprint, Fearless was released in North America on November 11, 2008, and elsewhere on March 9, 2009. To promote the album, Swift embarked on the Fearless Tour from April 2009 to July 2010, and five songs were released as singles. The songs "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" were commercially successful on both country and pop radio. In the United States, Fearless spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and it has sold 12 million copies worldwide.
Music critics lauded the album's radio-friendly tunes and emotional engagement that appealed to not only teenagers but also a broad audience, although some deemed the production formulaic. The most-awarded country album of all time, Fearless won Album of the Year at both the Country Music Association Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009, and it won Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the Grammy Awards in 2010. The album featured on Rolling Stone's list "100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time" (2022). Following the 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she released a re-recording, Fearless (Taylor's Version), on April 9, 2021.