“Untouchable” by Taylor Swift

The Taylor Swift Wiki cleverly described the hidden meaning of this song as being about the human tendency to pretty much want what we can’t have or ‘reach’. And whereas that idea may be a lot more philosophical than the lyrics actually read, to some extent it is head on, however being put into a romantic context.

The featured narrative is based on the singer addressing what can most easily be defined as a romantic interest. Why she is so attracted to this individual is not specified. Or put differently, the nature of her attraction to him – or even if it is a he for that matter – is never mentioned.

Who really is the addressee?

But again, all wording considered, logic would dictate that it is someone she wants to get with, in an amorous fashion, very, very, very much. For instance, a girl isn’t likely to say that she ‘becomes undone’ when she’s around, say, a family or friend. Moreover the singer dreams of the addressee at night, in a romance-connoting kind of way. And she also promises that if he does give in to her callings, she will give him a “little taste of heaven”.

And we can consider that, i.e. the singer’s desire for the addressee, as both the premise and the conclusion of the story. Or stated otherwise, as the aforementioned wiki implied, the matter of her want is left unresolved. For as the title suggests, this person has proven “untouchable” to the narrator.

And in that regard again, i.e. as to why that is so, no specifics are given. And the fact that the matter is not elaborated on gives it an extra sense of finality.

This song is very good at sticking to those two exact points – the singer’s desire for the addressee, but the addressee proving unreachable to her nonetheless.  So at the end of the day, it is her shall we say unresolved desire that is most pronounced.  And the song for the most part concludes with her still inviting him to her love.

Facts about “Untouchable”

This song is actually the cover of a track a Nashville-based rock band called Luna Halo originally dropped in 2007. So the writers of the original are also acknowledged as such on Taylor Swift’s cover, as is Swift herself. The composers of the original are:

• Cary Barlowe
• Nathan Barlowe
• Tommy Lee James

And reportedly, “Untouchable” marks the only time that Taylor, still up until the writing of this post in early-2021, has ever put a cover on one of her own studio albums.

Said cover was released on 26 October 2009 as part of Fearless Platinum Edition. That is actually the deluxe edition of Fearless which Big Machine Records put out about a year after the standard edition was released in November of 2008.  They likely decided to do so because the project sold like hotcakes, proving to be the best-selling album stateside for the entirety of 2009.

Taylor also produced her own version of “Untouchable”. She did so alongside Nathan Chapman, who likewise worked on all other Fearless tracks.

Re-recorded Version of “Untouchable”

Fans of Taylor Swift’s were treated to a re-recorded version of this song in 2021. That came about as a result of Taylor’s reaction to a well-publicized beef she got into with the abovementioned Big Machine Records.

Basically they sold the master recordings of her first six albums, including Fearless, against her wishes to another party. And Swift has set about re-recording all six of them so that she can own her own version of these songs. In other words, there are two official versions of this track. And the 2021 edition is known as “Untouchable (Taylor’s Version)”.

And for the record, Taylor’s first six albums, whom Big Machine Records sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019, are:

• “Taylor Swift” (2006)
• “Fearless” (2008)
• “Speak Now” (2010)
• “Red” (2012)
• “1989” (2014)
• “Reputation” (2017)

And even though they all have succeeded in a manner which any music star would be proud of, out of the lot “Fearless” has proven to be the most-successful. That is to say that it is the only one as of 2021 which has been certified diamond by the RIAA.

And just to note, as it stands now, in total Taylor Swift has managed to sell in excess of 200,000,000 records. According to Wikipedia, this puts her in the second tier in terms of the most commercially-successful artists in music industry history. And this is despite the fact that everyone else in her category had been active for at least a decade prior to her. (The most recent being Eminem, who got started in 1996 compared to Swift’s 2006).