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Beautiful Eyes is the second extended play (EP) by American singer Taylor Swift. The EP was released on July 15, 2008 by Big Machine Records exclusively to Wal-Mart stores in the United States and online. The limited release EP has a primarily country pop sound and features alternate versions of tracks from her debut album, Taylor Swift (2006), and two original tracks, "Beautiful Eyes" and "I Heart Question Mark", songs which she had previously written; a DVD, featuring music videos of singles from Taylor Swift, is also included on the physical release of the EP.

Beautiful Eyes peaked at number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200 and topped Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, succeeding her self-titled debut album. "I Heart ?" was released as a promotional single in June 2008. Though the EP was not heavily promoted, Swift performed the title track at a few venues.

Background

Swift received much success with the release of her self-titled debut album Taylor Swift (2006), and began working on her second studio album, Fearless (2008), in 2007. During that time, she received a number of e-mails from fans requesting for new material to be released, which drove Swift into releasing Beautiful Eyes: "I thought this might tide them over till the new album comes out in the fall."[1] Beautiful Eyes is musically oriented to country pop and contemporary music.[2] It includes new versions of tracks from Taylor Swift: an alternate version of "Should've Said No", the fifth single from the album, an acoustic version of "Teardrops on My Guitar", the second single from the album, a radio edit of "Picture to Burn", the fourth single from the album, and "I'm Only Me when I'm with You", a promotional single from the album. The EP also features two original songs, "Beautiful Eyes" and "I Heart Question Mark", which she previously wrote in 2003.[1] The EP's DVD features music videos from the singles from Taylor Swift, as well as a music video made for "Beautiful Eyes" from footage from Swift's eighteenth birthday party.

Swift did not want any misconceptions of Beautiful Eyes as her second album and therefore partnered with the American retail company Wal-Mart to make the EP an exclusive release.[1] The album was only made available through American Wal-Mart stores and Wal-Mart's website.[3] Furthermore, it was made a limited release because Swift only allowed Big Machine Records to manufacture a certain number of copies of the EP.[1] She said, "I’m only letting my record company make a small amount of these. The last thing I want any of you to think is that we are putting out too many releases."[1]

Chart performance

On the week ending August 2, 2008, Beautiful Eyes debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 due to sales of 45,000 copies.[4][5] The EP spent a total of twenty weeks on the Billboard 200.[6] On the same week, it debuted at number one on Top Country Albums, replacing her own album Taylor Swift as the chart's number one album. With Taylor Swift charting at number two, Swift became the first artist to hold the first two positions on Top Country Albums since LeAnn Rimes charted in 1997 with Blue (1996) and Unchained Melody: The Early Years (1997).[7][8] The following week, the EP slipped to number two[9] and, in total, it spent twenty eight weeks on Top Country Albums.[6] As of July 2014, the EP has sold 316,000 copies in the United States.[10]

Promotion

"I Heart Question Mark" was released as promotional single from Beautiful Eyes on June 23, 2008.[11] Swift promoted Beautiful Eyes minimally for the reason being she did not want for misconceptions of the EP being her second album, although she did perform the title track at different venues.[1] She first performed "Beautiful Eyes" on January 23, 2005 at the 2005 NAMM Show, an annual music product trade show held in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center.[12] The performance featured Swift, dressed in a red blouse and blue jeans, performing acoustically with a guitar, sitting on a bar stool. "Beautiful Eyes" was later performed as part of Swift's set for Stripped on August 5, 2008; she wore a black, one-shoulder dress and performed with a back-up band while playing a rhinestoned acoustic guitar.[13]

Track listing

CD
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Beautiful Eyes"Taylor SwiftRobert Ellis Orrall2:58
2."Should've Said No" (Alternate version)SwiftNathan Chapman3:46
3."Teardrops on My Guitar" (Acoustic version)
Chapman2:58
4."Picture to Burn" (Radio edit)
  • Swift
  • Rose
Chapman2:54
5."I'm Only Me When I'm with You"
  • Orrall
  • Angelo Petraglia
3:35
6."I Heart ?"SwiftOrrall3:15
Total length:18:06
DVD
No.TitleDirector(s)Length
1."Beautiful Eyes" (music video)
2:56
2."Picture to Burn" (music video)Fanjoy3:36
3."I'm Only Me When I'm with You" (music video)Swift3:47
4."Tim McGraw" (music video)Fanjoy4:00
5."Teardrops on My Guitar" (Pop version) (music video)Fanjoy3:26
6."Our Song" (music video)Fanjoy3:30
7."Making of 'Picture to Burn' Video"Cassetty22:02
8."GAC New Artist Interview" 14:45
9."2008 ACM Awards Performance of 'Should've Said No'" 4:04
Total length:60:46

Charts

Preceded by
Taylor Swift by Taylor Swift
 U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums number-one album
August 2, 2008 		Succeeded by

Personnel

As listed in liner notes.[15]

Musicians

"Beautiful Eyes"
"Should've Said No"
"Teardrops on My Guitar"
  • Nathan Chapman - acoustic guitar, background vocals
"Picture to Burn"
  • Nick Buda - drums
  • Nathan Chapman - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, background vocals
  • Eric Darken - percussion
  • Rob Hajacos - fiddle
  • Jeff Hyde - banjo
  • Tim Marks - bass guitar
  • Scotty Sanders - steel guitar
  • John Willis - mandolin
"I'm Only Me When I'm with You"
  • Steve Bryant - bass guitar
  • Dan Dugmore - steel guitar
  • Tony Harrell - keyboards
  • Dennis Holt - drums
  • Troy Lancaster - electric guitar
  • Lorraine Morrison - background vocals
  • Robert Ellis Orrall - background vocals
  • Curt Ryle - acoustic guitar
  • Wanda Vick - mandolin
"I Heart ?"
  • Mike Brignardello - bass guitar
  • Gary Burnette - guitars
  • Dan Dugmore - steel guitar
  • Shannon Forrest - drums
  • Tony Harrell - keyboards
  • Liana Manis - background vocals
  • Robert Ellis Orrall - background vocals
  • Wanda Vick - banjo, mandolin

Technical

"Beautiful Eyes"
"Should've Said No"
  • Chad Carlson - recording, mixing
  • Nathan Chapman - production
"Teardrops on My Guitar"
  • Nathan Chapman - production, recording, mixing
"Picture to Burn"
  • Chuck Ainlay - mixing
  • Chad Carlson - recording
  • Nathan Chapman - production, recording
  • Scott Kidd - mixing
  • Steve Short - engineering
"I'm Only Me When I'm with You"
  • A. J. Derrick - recording
  • Robert Ellis Orrall - production
  • Angelo Petraglia - production
  • Jamie Tate - mixing
"I Heart ?"
  • Allen Ditto - recording
  • Ben Fowler - mixing
  • Jason Lefan - engineering
  • Chris Rowe - digital editing
  • Clarke Schleicher - recording
  • Robert Ellis Orrall - production

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Wal-Mart "Eyes" New Taylor Swift Project". Great American Country. Scripps Networks Interactive. July 15, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  2. ^ "Beautiful Eyes > Overview". Allmusic. Macrovision Corporation. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  3. ^ "Beautiful Eyes (Wal-Mart Exclusive) (Includes DVD)". Walmart.com. Wal-Mart. Archived from the original on January 6, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  4. ^ Hasty, Katie (July 23, 2008). "Nas Dethrones Lil Wayne Atop Billboard 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  5. ^ "Taylor Swift - Beautiful Eyes (EP)". aCharts.us. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d "Beautiful Eyes - Taylor Swift". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  7. ^ "Taylor Swift Bumps Herself Out of No. 1 Slot". CMT News. Viacom. July 26, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  8. ^ "Taylor Swift owns top of country chart". Great American Country. Scripps Networks Interactive. July 23, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  9. ^ "Top Country Albums - Week of August 9, 2008". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. August 9, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  10. ^ Trust, Gary (8 July 2014). "Ask Billboard: Ed Sheeran & Taylor Swift's Red Reigns". Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  11. ^ "I Heart ? > Overview". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  12. ^ "NAMM Kicks Off Annual Summer Trade Show in Nashville". Namm.org. Nashville, Tennessee: The NAMM Show. July 24, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  13. ^ "Taylor Swift - Beautiful Eyes (Exclusive Performance)". Stripped. Iheartradio.com. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  14. ^ "Best of 2008 - The Billboard 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  15. ^ Beautiful Eyes (CD liner notes). Taylor Swift. Big Machine Records. 2008. BMRATS0140.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)


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