More about: Taylor Swift

It takes a damn good song for Taylor Swift to cover it in general, but for Swift to record it (and have it as the only cover recorded in her entire studio discography) must make it astounding. After being given a copy of American rock group Luna Halo’s 2007 self-titled album by her then-label president and listening to it, Swift chose to cover 'Untouchable' on the now-defunct TV show Stripped.

It wasn’t originally meant to be something Taylor pursued to properly record and release, but in a previous interview, the members of Luna Halo stated that because so many people were watching it on YouTube, she decided to record it professionally. 

Until someone has the context of what the original sounds like, it’s hard to really understand (and hear) how much Swift changed 'Untouchable'. On Luna Halo’s version, the sound is incredibly in-your-face; it’s clearly meant to be played in stadiums with gig-goers hands being punched into the air as they sing along. When Swift approached the song, she didn’t just casually cover the track – she completely reinvented it. Two versions of the song by Taylor exist: the Stripped version could be perfectly defined just as its namesake and the studio-backed version, the latter of which is when compared to Luna Halo’s punchy original, a much more poignant, hazy, and softer version.

Although it is a cover, it wouldn’t be an early Taylor Swift studio album without a hidden message, with the secret message to 'Untouchable' being: “We always want what we can't reach”. Taylor has never come out and said why this song in particular resonated with her, but it’s obvious that she interprets it in a much different way than her counterparts in Luna Halo. When thinking back to the hidden message, it seems as if Swift interpreted the song differently and chose to encapsulate that feeling — the feeling of longing — and contain it within a tender, quiet ballad rather than it being this all-consuming, larger-than-life sound. 

Further, in a way only Taylor could, in addition to changing the sound entirely, Swift changed up the verses on her version as a way to make it unique to what she was going through at the time. Instead of the lyrics from Luna Halo’s version (“It's hurtful and I won't wait here all day/I know you think that I'll be here anyway” and "in the middle of the night when I'm in this dream"), Swift did what she does best and reworked both into: “It’s half full and I won't wait here all day/I know you're saying that you'd be here anyway” and "In the middle of the night waking from this dream". Knowing the themes and experiences Swift went through both before and during the making of Fearless, these minuscule differences in lyrics really tie into the heartbreak, longing, and unrequited love Swift was going through… even if the song wasn’t written by her.

Fearless (Taylor's Version) is out now.

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More about: Taylor Swift