"Fifteen" | ||||
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Single by Taylor Swift | ||||
from the album Fearless | ||||
Released | August 31, 2009 | |||
Recorded | 2008 | |||
Studio | Blackbird (Nashville) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:54 | |||
Label | Big Machine | |||
Songwriter(s) | Taylor Swift | |||
Producer(s) |
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Taylor Swift singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Fifteen" on YouTube |
"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.
Swift partnered with the electronics retailer Best Buy for "@15", a charity initiative for teenagers. "Fifteen" charted and received certifications in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Music critics lauded Swift's songwriting for creating a catchy sound and using storytelling with vivid details to earnestly portray teenage experiences; many picked it as an album and career highlight. The single won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Country Song. Some feminist authors criticized the lyrics mentioning Anderson's disappointment after she "gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind" as sex-negative.
Roman White directed the music video for "Fifteen", which uses a green screen and features Swift reliving high-school memories with Anderson in a garden. It received a nomination for Best Female Video at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift performed "Fifteen" at the 2009 Grammy Awards, at the 2009 Country Music Association Awards, on TV shows in the United States and England, and on the Fearless Tour (2009–2010) and the Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012). After a 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she released a re-recorded version, "Fifteen (Taylor's Version)", as part of her re-recorded album Fearless (Taylor's Version) (2021).