Taylor Swifthas built her career on breaking the rules and stepping outside the lines, but 16 years ago, she broke an unexpected rule. Swift developed her love for songwriting when she realized it would set her apart from all the other people in Nashville who dreamed of a country music career. Since then, the singer-songwriter has been known for writing all the songs on her albums. Whileshe started working with more co-writersas her career progressed,Swift has at least one solo written songon every album exceptreputation.
At the 2016 BMI Pop Awards,Taylor Swift took home the Songwriter of the Year trophyas well as an award named after her, The Taylor Swift Award. Swift was only the second artist in history to have a BMI award named after her, the first being Michael Jackson. In 2024, Swift took home Songwriter of The Year again, two years after winning Songwriter-Artist of the Decade at the Nashville Songwriter Awards. While she’s a prolific songwriter,Swift loves covering other artists' songs, too. In 2009, she broke her songwriting rule, putting one of these covers on her album.
Taylor Swift Only Has One Song On All of Her Albums She Didn’t Write
The Song Is Untouchable, A Luna Halo Cover
After releasing her sophomore albumFearlessin 2008, Swift went on a sold-out headlining tour, quickly becoming one of the biggest stars of the moment. WhenFearlesswent platinum, Swift celebrated by releasingFearless Platinum Editionin 2009. The album included a few songs that didn’t make it onto the initial record, like “Jump Then Fall” and a piano rendition of “Forever & Always.” However, the album also included a cover of Luna Halo’s “Untouchable.” While the original song is rock,Swift reworked it into a stripped-down country pop hitthat fit with the other songs from theFearlessera.
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Swift also reworked a few of the lyrics to fit her style, changing the second chorus from “In the middle of the night, I wake up from this dream / I wanna feel you in the dark lying next to me” to “In the middle of the night, we can form this dream / I wanna feel you by my side, standing next to me.” However, despite not actually writing the song,Swift managed to get a songwriting credit, since her composition was so different from the original.
How Did Untouchable End Up On Fearless?
In 2008, to promoteFearless,Taylor Swift performed in a program called Live From The Clear Channel Stripped. Swift performed stripped-down versions of songs like “Fearless” and “Love Story” and debuted her cover of “Untouchable” too. According to Luna Halo memberNathan Barlowe, the choice came about when Swift’s former record label president had given her a copy of Luna Halo’s album. Then, before her Stripped performance, he encouraged her to do a cover.
Since she was a fan of the band and their album, she chose to cover “Untouchable.” Afterward, she did a studio recording forFearless Platinum Editionand, 12 years later, rerecorded it as avault track onFearless (Taylor’s Version).Taylor Swiftmight be best known for writing her own lyrics, but her “Untouchable” cover proved she’s also a master of covering songs and making them her own.
