There is something poetic about the penultimate track of the regular edition of Fearless: 'Change' is a song entirely written about Swift’s dreams of making it in music. Although we all know how that worked out, it’s imperative to think about 'Change', both the song and the concept of it, as an undercurrent throughout Swift’s work and the eventual re-recording of the album it’s featured on.

'Change', the 13th track on 'Fearless', is a song about perseverance and learning to get back up despite being knocked down over and over again. When discussing the track, Swift notes how she slowly began to realise how difficult it will be to get to places and accomplish certain things by being on a smaller record label, knowing that on a bigger label with bigger artists, she’d likely be able to get some favours. “It was going to be an uphill climb and all that I had to encourage me was the hope that someday things would change, that things would be different. After so many times of just saying that to myself over and over, I finally wrote it down in a song.” The track was left unfinished for a few years, getting lost in the shuffle as Swift wrote handwritten notes to every radio station she could and met every fan after her opening slot on random country tours. It wasn’t until she won the 2007 Horizon Award at the CMAA awards, and saw the head of her now-ex record label crying, that she remembered the unfinished song, thus prompting her to finish it.

With better insight into the future, fresh eyes and the rose-coloured glasses completely off, comparing the original Fearless with 2021’s re-recorded version is somewhat jarring in the absolute best way...for two reasons. The first is knowing the 2008 Taylor who stayed awake at night hoping and praying that she’d make it in music did just that - and you can hear not only the growth in her vocals, but the power behind it as a woman in charge of her career. The second is knowing how much faith Swift had in her then-label, knowing she essentially built them to where they would be when she left a few years back. The secret message of the song — “You made things change for me” — was assumed to be about the now ex-label exec and his loyalty to her.

The song has always been a call-to-arms (so much so the USA Olympic team used it as a theme in 2008), but the re-recorded version gives it a new meaning. In a way, it encapsulates everything Swift has been through since the song first came out in 2008 — from the sexist relationship-driven headlines to dealing with the aftermath of being “cancelled” and called a snake.

 

Rather than putting her faith in other people to help make things change, she did it herself with the loyalty of her devoted and passionate fans. Throughout the song, Swift is constantly looking at the future (“Because these things will change/Can you feel it now?/These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down”) with the final chorus shifting to recognise the accomplishments the then 18-year-old Swift achieved.

 

With new context, the song both feels and sounds bolder, as if you’re standing on the frontlines with Swift herself ready to declare victory, knowing that the walls they (the media, the men who tried to push her around, and every other naysayer) fell down. It is an ode to the career she’s built herself and the fans that helped her get to where she is. To that, I say: “And we'll sing hallelujah, we sang hallelujah.”