Taylor’s ‘You All Over Me (From The Vault) feat. Maren Morris’, got High-Score 6.3 point

Background and release

Further information: Taylor Swift masters controversy

After the sale of the masters of Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums to talent manager Scooter Braun in 2019, Swift announced that she had the intention to re-record the albums. The first of these re-recordings, her second studio album, Fearless, is set to be released on April 9, 2021. Initially released in 2008, the re-recording, dubbed Fearless (Taylor’s Version), was announced on February 11, 2021, by Swift on Good Morning America. The day after, February 12, the re-recorded version of her 2008 hit “Love Story”, dubbed “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)”, was released as the lead single. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) includes all the songs on the platinum edition of Fearless, along with her 2010 single “Today Was a Fairytale”. In addition, Swift included six songs that were scrapped from the original album, all dubbed “from the Vault”.

On March 24, 2021, Swift announced that one of the scrapped songs, titled “You All Over Me” featuring vocals from American singer Maren Morris, would be released on March 26 as the second single from Fearless (Taylor’s Version). On the next day, March 25, a snippet of the song was played on Good Morning America.

“You All Over Me” had previously been leaked online in 2017.

Composition and lyrics

“You All Over Me” was written by Swift and Scooter Carusoe in 2008, and was intended for the original version of Fearless, before being scrapped. The song was produced by Aaron Dessner, who previously collaborated with Swift on her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore. Musically, it is an acoustic country-pop song with “soaring” fiddles and “lilting” guitars. Lyrically, the track details not being able to get over an ex. The song also sees Swift sing about acceptance and making peace. The lyrics of the song are speculated to be about American singer Joe Jonas, who Swift dated in 2008.

Critical reception

“You All Over Me” received critical acclaim, with critics praising its authenticity and Swift’s return to her country roots. Ellie Bate, writing for BuzzFeed News, called the song a “cozy, nostalgic trip down memory lane”, highlighted the similarities between the opening line and the opening line of the title track of Fearless, and noted the fact that both lines reference rain on a sidewalk. Writing for NME, Hannah Mylrea gave the song a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and described it as “a time capsule of the Fearless era” and “musical déjà vu“, comparing the song to other Fearless tracks “Come In with the Rain” and “Forever & Always“. Mylrea mentioned that Dessner’s production of the song “runs the Fearless soundscape through a delicate Folklore-era filter”, going on to compare the opening line of the song to Swift’s “The Last Great American Dynasty”, while also saying the song would “feel at home on one of Swift’s lockdown records”. Tanvi Dhote of Republic World described the song as “a tale as old as time, but from a modern perspective”, and added that the song is an homage to her “country roots”. Dhote described Morris’ feature on the song as “add[ing] maturity through the fall”, and went on to highlight the “sweet reminiscence” in the song by Swift “revisiting [the song] a decade later”.