Taylor Swift’s second album ‘Fearless’ propelled her into the big music scene in 2008. This album included hits like ‘Love Story’ and ‘You Belong With Me.’ It stayed at the number 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart for 11 weeks and is still her top-selling album. Apparently, it also had a huge impact on Simple Plan’s lead vocalist Pierre Bouvier.
In March 2022, the singer sat down with Spin to discuss the five albums he can’t live without. After choosing Thrice’s ‘The Artist in the Ambulance,’ Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn the Torpedoes,’ Blink-182’s ‘Enema of the State,’ Lagwagon’s ‘Trashed,’ his next pick was Swift’s ‘Fearless.’ Bouvier said the following about the importance of the record to him:
“I’m a sucker for this album. It’s so good and has so many incredible songs on it. It was the album that sparked my interest into country music, which is a big part of my collection now. You can definitely find me singing along loudly to songs like ‘Fearless,’ ‘Fifteen,’ ‘Love Story,’ ‘White Horse’ and ‘You Belong with Me.’ If I was stranded on an island, I’d want to have this album to change it up and get my pop/country on once in a while!”
Although ‘Fearless’ is recognized as a country album, Swift leaned into a more pop style in her follow-up albums. Still, she hasn’t completely abandoned country music. The singer has written songs for other country acts and performed at country music events.
Speaking to Dan DeLuca of Inquirer in 2008, Taylor talked about how she accepted herself as a true country artist, explaining:
“It’s the way I tell stories. When you listen to my record or an Alan Jackson record, you’re going to hear a lot of differences in the melodies. But you’re going to hear a lot of similarities in that we like to tell stories about our lives… And whether you tell stories about how you live on a farm and cherish your family and God, or whether you tell stories about being in high school and being cheated on, they’re stories about your life. That’s what makes me a country artist.”
Swift also paid tribute to her country roots by re-recording ‘Fearless’ with the title ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ in 2021. Re-recorded versions of the original ‘Love Story,’ ‘You All Over Me’ and ‘Mr. Perfectly Fine,’ all did well on the Hot Country Songs chart, making it to the top 10.
You can listen to the full album below.
