On June 8, 2008, Taylor performed some songs from
Fearless on Clear Channel’s
Stripped. The album’s first commercial release, “
Change” was made available via the iTunes Store on August 8 as a promotional single. It was included on the
AT&T Team USA Soundtrack, a compilation of songs played during the United States’ participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics. A couple of months later, a digital campaign launched through the iTunes Store, called “Countdown to
Fearless.” It featured one song released each week during the five weeks leading to the album’s release. “
Breathe” was released as a promotional single exclusively via Rhapsody on October 21, 2008.
The thirteen-track standard edition of
Fearless was finally released on November 11, 2008, by Big Machine Records. An international edition, featuring three additional tracks — “
Our Song“, “
Teardrops On My Guitar“, and “
Should’ve Said No” from Taylor’s debut record —was released on March 9, 2009, by Big Machine in partnership with
Universal Music Group.
Taylor made many television appearances to promote
Fearless throughout late 2008, performing on shows including
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (where an entire episode was dedicated to her album release party),
Good Morning America, and
Late Night with David Letterman. A special
CMT Crossroads episode featuring Taylor and rock band Def Leppard singing each other’s songs was recorded on October 6 at the Roy Acuff Theater in Nashville, and aired on CMT on November 7, 2008. Her performances at awards shows that year included the
Country Music Association Awards and the
American Music Awards. One critic wrote: “I don’t say this lightly: Swift’s ability to market both her products and herself as a brand doesn’t recall the media blitzkriegs of past teen idols like Britney Spears or New Kids on the Block so much as Madonna at her peak.”
Besides live appearances, Taylor used her MySpace account to promote to a young audience, sharing snippets of songs for streaming before they were released to radio, as she had done with her debut album. “I owe it to people from letting them in from Day 1.” Eventually, walls would have to be erected. After all, Jakks Pacific had just released a line of Taylor Swift dolls, making her even more of an abstract idol and less of a real person. She was also the face of the
l.e.i. clothing brand, carried exclusively at Walmart, one of many endorsements to come. That she was becoming less accessible was a problem that Taylor was, naturally, very attuned to: