You All Over Me (From The Vault)

Over a decade on from its release, Taylor is re-visiting her second album with the release of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”. As part of her unprecedented battle to regain ownership of her own music, she is re-recording her first six albums, with “Fearless” being the first to see the light of day. Alongside re-working the album, there are a few surprises – including the unearthing of previously unreleased track “You All Over Me (From The Vault)”.

FROM THE VAULT
Songs “from the vault” were written when Taylor was between the ages of 16 and 18 in the run-up to the release of album two. Back when she initially released “Fearless” in 2008, these tunes were held back for various reasons, including the fact that you couldn’t cram that many songs onto a physical CD – how very 2008. But in 2021, with the re-recording of her second album, Taylor wanted to let fans “into the entire dreamscape that is my fearless album.” In a post to social media, she shared her excitement:

“HI. I wanted to let you know that the first ‘From the Vault’ song I’m releasing from ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ […] is called ‘You All Over Me (From The Vault)’. One thing I’ve been loving about these ‘From The Vault’ songs is that they’ve never been heard, so I can experiment, play, and even include some of my favorite artists. I’m really excited to have Maren Morris singing background vocals on this song!!” — Taylor Swift

LYRICAL CONTENT
Listening to “You All Over Me” is a bit like musical déjà vu. It’s filled with country instrumentals: soaring fiddles and lilting guitars, crisp drum lines reminiscent of the album’s “Come In With the Rain” and backing vocals provided by country singer Maren Morris, who described her involvement in the project as follows: “Thank you, Taylor Swift for having me be a small part of your reimagining of the ‘Fearless’ era. And to Aaron Dessner for producing the shit out of it.”

All of this is topped off with Taylor’s vocals – more powerful than they were when “Fearless” was released over 12 years prior but still looking backwards to embrace the country twang splashed across her early record. It was a previously unheard song – but one that immediately felt strangely familiar, and like a time capsule of the “Fearless” era.

The lyrics are typically Swiftian, too. They contain similar thematic elements to Taylor’s song “Clean” that appeared on her fifth studio album, “1989” (2014). Depicting a relationship that you can’t quite shake yourself from, it demonstrates her knack for storytelling, managing to convey a whole relationship in just a handful of short sentences while also including the characteristically Swift putdown: “The best and worst day of June / Was the one that I met you”.

PRODUCTION
There is evidence, though, that “You All Over Me” wasn’t just plucked from an old demo tape, but instead got the full re-record treatment after 13 years of learning and growing in between. Produced by The National‘s Aaron Dessner, the production whizz behind large chunks of previous year’s “evermore” and “folklore”, it runs the “Fearless” soundscape through a delicate “folklore”-era filter. Aaron Dessner has said the following on the song:

“In addition to the work we did together on ‘folklore’ and ‘evermore’, I recently had the pleasure of helping Taylor Swift rediscover and reinterpret some of her past work. As always, it was an honor to be able to collaborate with her….I produced the first unreleased ‘From the Vault’ song Taylor is releasing — ‘You All Over Me’ is from ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ and features the incredible Maren Morris on background vocals. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making it!” — Aaron Dessner

Overall, “You All Over Me” transport listeners right back into the world of “Fearless”. A country-pop song that adds a new chapter to the story of her second album, it began Taylor’s journey of allowing the world to join her on a fascinating walk down memory lane.