Taylor Swift's debut is promising.

Taylor Swift never really caught my eye, or my ear, when she debuted onto the scene with "Tim McGraw," a soft, acoustic ballad with heartfelt lyrics. With so many singles under her belt on only the first album, I still haven't payed any attention to her until "Love Story," the debut single from her astoundingly successful sophomore album, which to me was one of the most organic, orginal, and beautiful pop songs I've heard in a while. After reviewing Fearless and nearly giving it a perfect review, I decided to go out and buy Taylor Swift's debut album, remembering that hit "Teardrops On My Guitar" from the radio would be on there. Here's what I thought.

Taylor Swift quickly seems to make an adventerous choice by beginning the album with the ballad "Tim McGraw," a nice one at that but still an adventerous choice for a young girl who doesn't really have a big voice to deliver it vocally. Her sweet and simple vocals do deliver the song with a sense of anguish but a bigger voice could have made the song bigger than life, which would have made it better than it already was. "Picture To Burn" is a really cheesy yet angry song that lets Taylor roam however she wants vocally and emotionally; however, she decides to use the rampant melody as epic-like, stretching words like "me" and "friends," which makes for a very confusing listen. Although, lyrics like "There's no time for tears, I'm just sitting here planning my revenge" is pure country cheese, sort of like a censored version of Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats."
The best from the debut is extremely obvious. "Teardrops On My Guitar," both the original and the pop remix, are heartbreaking tales of a broken heart and Taylor's voice stretches to new heights. Again, Taylor's lyrics are beyond her age and "Should've Said No" does the same. With an infectious guitar loop and screeching violins, Taylor does what she should have done on "Picture To Burn," which is let loose on her anger and deliver it vocally, which I know she could do. Not only are both songs very catchy but they have integrity to them, a bit of mature audience to them. The closing of "Our Song," with a happy-go-lucky set of loops from guitar to violins, Taylor sounds as if she's having fun, singing about a secret love that sounds like an original version of "Love Story."

The rest of Taylor Swift's self-titled debut is sadly forgettable. "Tied Together With A Smile" is boring beyond belief and "A Place In This World" starts off promising but ends up being repetitive. To be point blank, Taylor gets better with her second album. WAY BETTER!

Bold Tracks Are Best Tracks.

1. Tim McGraw
2. Picture To Burn
3. Teardrops On My Guitar
4. A Place In This World
5. Cold As You
6. The Outside
7. Tied Together With A Smile
8. Stay Beautiful
9. Should've Said No
10. Mary's Song (Oh My, My, My)
11. Our Song
*12. I'm Only Me When I'm With You
*13. Invisible
*14. A Perfectly Good Heart
*15. Teardrops On My Guitar (Pop Version)

RATING: 3/5