"The Best Day" | |
---|---|
Song by Taylor Swift | |
from the album Fearless | |
Written | 2008 |
Released | November 11, 2008 |
Genre | Folk rock |
Length | 4:05 |
Label | Big Machine |
Songwriter(s) | Taylor Swift |
Producer(s) |
|
Music video | |
"The Best Day" on YouTube |
"The Best Day (Taylor's Version)" | |
---|---|
Song by Taylor Swift | |
from the album Fearless (Taylor's Version) | |
Released | April 9, 2021 |
Length | 4:05 |
Label | Republic |
Songwriter(s) | Taylor Swift |
Producer(s) |
|
Music video | |
"The Best Day (Taylor's Version)" on YouTube |
"The Best Day" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her second studio album, Fearless (2008). Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "The Best Day" is an understated folk rock song with a country rock arrangement, with lyrics dedicated to Swift's parents, most of the verses being to her mother. A music video containing home footage edited by Swift was released on May 1, 2009, as part of a special Mother's Day promotion through Big Machine Records.
Music critics praised "The Best Day" for its understated production and tender sentiments. The song peaked at number three on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, and 56 on Billboard 's Hot Country Songs chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 2018 certified the track gold, denoting 500,000 units based on sales and stream.
Swift released a re-recorded version, "The Best Day (Taylor's Version)", as part of her re-recorded album Fearless (Taylor's Version) , on April 9, 2021. A new music video for "The Best Day (Taylor's Version)", was uploaded onto YouTube on the album's release date. The re-recorded version also charted on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts, and won Best Family Feature at the 2021 CMT Music Awards.
Taylor Swift released her second studio album, Fearless , on November 11, 2008, through Big Machine Records. [1] Swift wrote or co-wrote all tracks and co-produced the album with Nathan Chapman. [2] [3] Although much of Fearless is primarily about the challenges of love from a teenage girl's perspectives, a few songs are about life lessons and family love. [4] [5]
Swift wrote "The Best Day" for Fearless while she was touring in summer 2008 and recorded it in secret. [6] She dedicated the track to her family for their support of her music career, the emphasis being her mother. [6] [7] For the lyrics, she revisited her childhood memories and imagined what language she would use as a child, incorporating the same language into the songwriting. [8] Swift recorded "The Best Day" and edited an accompanying home video without telling her mother Andrea so as to surprise her on Christmas. [6] Swift's mother recalled that when her daughter showed her the song and the video on Christmas Eve, "that's when I lost it. And [...] I've lost it pretty much every time I've heard that song since." [9] The track, as appeared on Fearless, was produced by Swift and Chapman. [10]
"The Best Day" is track number 12 on Fearless, released on November 11, 2008. [11] Swift released her self-edited video for "The Best Day" on May 1, 2009, [12] in celebration of Mother's Day and as part of a special promotion through Big Machine Records. [6] The video features footage of Swift's family and childhood, featuring her parents and brother Austin. [13]
After signing a new contract with Republic Records, Swift began re-recording her first six studio albums in November 2020. [14] The decision came after a 2019 public dispute between Swift and talent manager Scooter Braun, who acquired Big Machine Records, including the masters of Swift's albums the label had released. [15] [16] By re-recording them, Swift had full ownership of the new masters, including the copyright licensing of her songs, devaluing the Big Machine-owned masters. [17]
The re-recording of "The Best Day", subtitled "Taylor's Version", was released as part of Fearless's re-recording, Fearless (Taylor's Version) , on April 9, 2021. [18] The re-recorded version was produced by Swift and Christopher Rowe. [19] On April 30, 2021, Swift released a four-minute music video for "The Best Day (Taylor's Version)", consisting of footage from home movies from Swift's childhood to young adulthood, also starring her parents and brother. [20] The video won Best Family Feature at the 2021 CMT Music Awards. [21]
"The Best Day" is an understated [22] folk rock song. [23] The track originally featured mandolin and Dobro, but Swift told the producing team to mute all of them because she wanted the song to be as simple as possible. The end product, according to the Chicago Tribune , incorporates a "coffeehouse folkish beat". [24] It is built on gentle acoustic guitar strums. [25] Musicologist James E. Perone remarked that "The Best Day" features a country rock arrangement that recalls the music of American rock band Eagles. [26] The song uses the '50s progression, I–vi–IV–V, which is associated with many American pop songs from the 1950s; Perone argued that this quality lended "The Best Day" a timeless feel. [26]
Swift wrote "The Best Day" as a tribute to her parents over the years; the focus of the song is her mother, and her father is mentioned in the middle eight. [27] There is also a mention of Swift's brother Austin with the lyrics saying, "inside and out he is better than I am." [6] In the liner notes of Fearless, the secret message in the song's lyrics is "God Bless Andrea Swift". [lower-alpha 1] Set in fall, the song narrates Swift's relationship with her mother, featuring memories when she was three, five, and 13. The narrator mentions moments they spent together involving paint sets, pumpkin patches, and window-shopping. [29] The lyrics feature many imagery associated with fall, such as "the pumpkin patch", "tractor rides", and "the sky is gold". [30] Consistent with Fearless's frequent references to fairy tales, "The Best Day" mentions Snow White and princesses in the lyrics. [29]
According to Jody Rosen, the "goody-two-shoes" track "The Best Day" is one of a few songs on Fearless not dealing with romantic themes. [31] GQ opined that Swift might have been inspired to write the song by an incident in middle school. Swift was rejected by a group of friends to go to a local mall together, and after her mother took her to the same mall, she saw the said friends at a Victoria's Secret store. Swift recalled that her mother later took her to the King of Prussia Mall to stay away from such friends, "My mom let me escape from certain things that were too painful to deal with." [32] In Pitchfork , Hazel Cills observed that the song is told from an underdog perspective, which continued on many of Swift's later songs. [33]
Perone remarked that "The Best Day" is a Fearless track that demonstrated Swift's talent as "an introspective, real emotion-driven singer-songwriter", contrary to other album tracks that feature a market-oriented production. [26] In The Village Voice , Josh Love picked it as one of the album's great songs that display "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness". [34] James Reed of The Boston Globe called "The Best Day" the best song on Fearless, opining that the understated production highlighting the emotional sentiments makes the track a refreshing listen "after an entire album of wide-open choruses". Reed wrote, "If the melody doesn't stick in your mind, the message at least speaks to the heart." [22]
In a Billboard 2017 retrospective of Fearless, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong wrote that although Swift wrote "The Best Day" when she was 18, the track displayed her songwriting maturity beyond her years, "with the nostalgia, wisdom and sap of a 40-year-old". [29] Paste 's Jane Song wrote: "It's so unfair that people accuse Taylor of only writing songs about boys when one of her most affecting love songs is about her mom." [35] Slant Magazine 's Jonathan Keefe called "The Best Day" one of the most charming songs on Fearless, comparing it to George Strait's 2000 song of the same name. [36] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone described it as a "weapons-grade tearjerker and not to be trifled with in a public place". [37]
After Fearless was released in 2008, "The Best Day" peaked at number three on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. [38] Despite not being released to country radio, it charted at number 56 on Hot Country Songs. [39] In 2018, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified "The Best Day" gold for surpassing 500,000 units based on sales and streaming. [40] Upon the release of Fearless (Taylor's Version) in 2021, "The Best Day (Taylor's Version)" peaked at number 19 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles [38] and number 45 on the Hot Country Songs chart. [39]
Swift included "The Best Day" to the set list of her concerts in Evansville, Indiana (April 2009) and Moline, Illinois (May 2010) as part of the Fearless Tour. [41] [42] She sang the song again as part of an acoustic segment on the Cleveland, Ohio concert of the Red Tour in April 2013. [43] Swift sang the song at the Santa Clara, California concert of her Reputation Stadium Tour in May 2018; it was dedicated to her mother and opening act Camila Cabello's mother. [44] The song was included as a "surprise song" at the May 14, 2023, Philadelphia concert of the Eras Tour. [45]
"The Best Day" (2008) [10]
"The Best Day (Taylor's Version)" (2021) [46]
"The Best Day"
| "The Best Day (Taylor's Version)"
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [40] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Our Song" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the third single from her self-titled debut studio album (2006). Swift wrote "Our Song" for a high school talent show during ninth grade; the lyrics are about a young couple using the regular events in their lives to create their own song. She included the song on the track list because it was popular among her classmates. Big Machine Records released the song to US country radio on September 10, 2007. Produced by Nathan Chapman, "Our Song" is an uptempo banjo–driven country track incorporating fiddles and drums.
"Should've Said No" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her debut studio album Taylor Swift (2006). The song was released to US country radio as the album's fifth and final single on May 19, 2008, by Big Machine Records. Produced by Nathan Chapman, "Should've Said No" combines country rock, pop rock, and post-grunge with banjo and distorted guitars. The lyrics are about Swift's contempt for a cheating ex-lover.
Fearless is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. She wrote the majority of the album while touring in 2007–2008 and produced it with Nathan Chapman.
"Love Story" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released as the lead single from her second studio album, Fearless, on September 15, 2008, by Big Machine Records. Inspired by a boy who was unpopular with her family and friends, Swift wrote the song using William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet as a reference point. The lyrics narrate a troubled romance that ends with a marriage proposal, contrary to Shakespeare's tragic conclusion. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, the midtempo country pop song includes a key change after the bridge and uses acoustic instruments including banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar.
"Fearless" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. She wrote it with Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey while touring to promote her first album Taylor Swift (2006), and she produced the track with Nathan Chapman. Lyrically, "Fearless" sees Swift's character embracing the romantic drive of a thrilling first date, allowing herself to live true to her heart. She picked it as the title track for her 2008 studio album Fearless because she thought it encapsulates the album's overarching theme of being fearlessly oneself.
"You're Not Sorry" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her second studio album, Fearless (2008). She was inspired to write "You're Not Sorry" by an ex-boyfriend who she realized was the contrary to what he had appeared to be. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "You're Not Sorry" is a rock power ballad that incorporates piano and dynamic electric guitars. Big Machine Records released the song for download via the iTunes Store on October 28, 2008. A remix was released for the television episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, in which Swift made an appearance. Some critics praised Swift's songwriting but others took issue with the balladic production as overdone.
"You Belong with Me" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the third single from her second studio album Fearless (2008). Big Machine Records released the song to radio on April 20, 2009. Swift was inspired to write "You Belong with Me" after overhearing a telephone call between a touring band member and his girlfriend; she and Liz Rose wrote the lyrics, which discuss an unrequited love. Swift and Nathan Chapman produced the track, which has a banjo-led country pop production and incorporates fiddle, mandolin, and rock-influenced bass and electric guitars. Although the single was promoted on country radio, some critics categorized it into 1980s pop subgenres such as pop rock and power pop.
"White Horse" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the second single from her second studio album, Fearless (2008). Big Machine Records released the track to US country radio on December 8, 2008. Swift wrote "White Horse" with Liz Rose and produced it with Nathan Chapman. An understated country pop ballad, the song is driven by a finger-picked guitar and includes piano and cello accents. The lyrics incorporate fairy-tale imagery of princesses and white horses: the narrator is heartbroken upon realizing that her boyfriend is not an ideal figure like she thought, and in the end she leaves her town with hopes of finding somebody more worthy.
"Fifteen" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her second studio album, Fearless (2008). Inspired by Swift's high-school freshman year, the lyrics narrate how she and her friend Abigail Anderson, both at 15, experience teenage heartbreak and realize life aspirations. Swift included the track on the album after Anderson consented to the personal references. She and Nathan Chapman produced "Fifteen", a country pop song with a pop melody. Big Machine Records released "Fifteen" to American country radio on August 31, 2009, as the fourth single from Fearless.
"Hey Stephen" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her second studio album, Fearless (2008). It is a country pop, folk-pop, and teen pop song about an unrequited love, inspired by a real-life infatuation. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "Hey Stephen" features drums inspired by girl-group records, an upright bass that propels its groove, and a subdued Hammond B-3 organ. In reviews of Fearless, critics who picked "Hey Stephen" as an album highlight praised its catchy melody and earnest lyrics about adolescent feelings. The song peaked at number 94 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"Breathe" is a song by Taylor Swift featuring Colbie Caillat from Swift's second studio album, Fearless (2008). Swift wrote the song with Caillat and produced it with Nathan Chapman. A pop rock ballad, "Breathe" incorporates strummed acoustic instruments and a string section. The lyrics are about heartbreak from losing a close friend. Big Machine Records released the track onto Rhapsody on October 21, 2008. Music critics found "Breathe" a sentimental song with resonant lyrics, but some deemed it insubstantial. The song was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010.
"Long Live" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her third studio album, Speak Now (2010). Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "Long Live" is a heartland rock song featuring girl group harmonies and chiming rock guitars. The lyrics are about Swift's gratitude for her fans and bandmates, using high-school and royalty imagery to describe the accomplishments in the narrator's life.
Red is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records. Swift designated Red as a breakup album that portrays the complex and conflicting feelings ensuing from lost love.
"Forever & Always" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her second studio album, Fearless (2008). Swift was inspired to write the song by her short-lived relationship with Joe Jonas in 2008. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "Forever & Always" is a country pop and pop rock song with lyrics about a troubled relationship with an ex-boyfriend. Music critics found the song catchy but generic, and they commented that it set the precedent to Swift's songwriting about her highly publicized personal life on subsequent albums.
"Holy Ground" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her fourth studio album, Red (2012). Produced by Jeff Bhasker, "Holy Ground" is an upbeat song combining country rock and heartland rock with insistent drums. In the lyrics, the narrator reminisces about a good moment in a failed relationship; she describes where she and the ex-lover once stood as "holy ground".
Fearless (Taylor's Version) is the first re-recorded album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on April 9, 2021, by Republic Records. A re-recording of Swift's second studio album, Fearless (2008), it is part of her re-recording projects following the 2019 dispute over the master recordings of her back catalog.
"Message in a Bottle" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was her first writing collaboration with Max Martin and Shellback. The song was intended for but excluded from her fourth studio album, Red (2012). Shellback and Elvira Anderfjärd produced the track for Swift's re-recorded album, Red (2021). "Message in a Bottle" is a 1980s-influenced dance-pop, synth-pop, and electropop song with lyrics about the anxiety from falling in love.
"Treacherous" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fourth studio album, Red (2012). Swift wrote the track with its producer Dan Wilson. Blending styles of country and pop, "Treacherous" is a slow-burning ballad that builds up into a finale. Its lyrics are about a narrator's attempt to protect a fragile and dangerous relationship. A demo of the song was included in the tracklist of Red's deluxe edition.
"Dear John" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her third studio album, Speak Now (2010). The title references the Dear John letter, which is a letter written to a man by his romantic partner to inform him that their relationship is over. The lyrics describe a 19-year-old's toxic and inappropriate relationship with an older man. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "Dear John" is a slow-burning power ballad combining soft rock, electric blues, and country pop; the production incorporates electric guitar licks.
"The Way I Loved You" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her second studio album, Fearless (2008). She wrote the song with John Rich and served as a producer with Nathan Chapman. Inspired by an encounter with a guy who seemed ideal to date with, it is about the rumination for an ex-lover despite being in a stable relationship. The song has a dynamic contemporary country production with a pop-oriented country and rock arrangement; it features a marching snare drum, and loud and subtle stringed instruments.
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