''Beautiful Eyes'' is the second

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

. The EP was released on July 15, 2008 by

Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by fo ...

exclusively to

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

stores in the United States and online. The limited release EP has a primarily

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

sound and features alternate versions of tracks from her self-titled debut album (2006), and two original tracks ("Beautiful Eyes" and "I Heart ?"), which Swift had composed as early as 2006. "I Heart ?" was previously released for digital download with the purchase of the Best Buy-exclusive version CD of Swift's self-titled debut album in 2006. A

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, featuring music videos of singles from her self-titled debut album, is also included on the physical release of the EP. ''Beautiful Eyes'' peaked at number nine on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and topped '' Billboard'''s

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

chart, succeeding her self-titled debut album. "I Heart ?" was released as a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

in June 2008. Though the EP was not heavily promoted, Swift did perform the title track at a few venues.

Background

Swift received much success with the release of her self-titled debut album ''

'' (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." ''Beautiful Eyes'' is musically oriented to

and contemporary music. 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 "Teardrops on My Guitar" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her self-titled debut album (2006). Swift wrote the song with Liz Rose, and Nathan Chapman produced it. Big Machine Records released "Teardrops on My Gui ...

", the second single from the album, a radio edit of "

Picture to Burn "Picture to Burn" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her self-titled debut studio album (2006). Swift and Liz Rose wrote the track, which was produced by Nathan Chapman. The song was released as the album's four ...

", 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?", which she previously wrote in 2003. The EP's DVD features music videos from the singles from ''Taylor Swift'', as well as a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

made for "Beautiful Eyes" from footage from Swift's eighteenth

birthday party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

. Swift did not want any misconceptions of ''Beautiful Eyes'' as her second album and therefore partnered with the American

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

company

to make the EP an exclusive release. The album was only made available through American Wal-Mart stores and Wal-Mart's website. Furthermore, it was made a limited release because Swift only allowed Big Machine Records to manufacture a certain number of copies of the EP. 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."

Commercial 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. The EP spent a total of twenty weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200. On the same week, it debuted at number one on

, 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 Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

'' (1996) and '' Unchained Melody: The Early Years'' (1997). The following week, the EP slipped to number two and, in total, it spent twenty eight weeks on Top Country Albums. As of July 2019, the EP has sold 359,000 copies in the United States.

Promotion

"I Heart ?" was released as a

from ''Beautiful Eyes'' on June 23, 2008. 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. She first performed "Beautiful Eyes" on January 23, 2005 at the 2005

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

, an annual music product

trade show A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

held in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

at the

Anaheim Convention Center The Anaheim Convention Center is a major convention center in Anaheim, California and is the largest exhibition facility on the West Coast of the United States. It is located across from the Disneyland Resort on Katella Avenue. The original com ...

. 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 iHeartRadio.com's ''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.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes *

– lead vocals * Ken Love – mastering * Nathan Chapman –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

& acoustic guitar , harmony vocals , mixing &

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

& additional recording *

Robert Ellis Orrall Robert Ellis Orrall (born May 4, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene ...

– production & background vocals , additional recording * Chris Rowe – mixing, shaker, synthpad, organ & guitar , digital editing * Gary Burnette –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s , bass * Chad Carlson – recording , mixing , additional recording * Wanda Vick – mandolin , banjo * Caitlin Evanson – fiddle & harmony vocals * Paul Sidoti – electric guitar & harmony vocals * Tony Harrell – keyboards *

Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying Bur ...

– steel * Ken Lewis – drums * Rusty Danmyer – steel * Eric Richardson – recording * Ben Clark – banjo * Al Wilson – drums * Amos Heller – bass * Grant Mickelson – electric guitar *

Chuck Ainlay Chuck Ainlay is an American record producer and audio engineer. He has worked with Mark Knopfler on much of Knopfler's solo work, in addition to some Dire Straits material. He has 4 Grammy Awards and 5 nominations. Along with Knopfler and Bob ...

– mixing * Scott Kidd – mixing * Steve Short –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

* Nick Buda – drums * Eric Darken – percussion * Rob Hajacos – fiddle * Jeff Hyde – banjo * Tim Marks – bass * Scotty Sanders – steel * John Willis – mandolin * Angelo – production * Jamie Tate – mixing * A.J. Derrick – recording * Steve Bryant – bass * Dennis Holt – drums * Troy Lancaster – electric guitar * Lorraine Morrison – background vocals * Curt Ryle – acoustic guitar * Ben Fowler – mixing * Jason Lefan – engineering * Allen Ditto – recording * Clarke Schleicher – recording * Mike Brignardello – bass *

Shannon Forrest Shannon Forrest (born August 22, 1973 in Easley, South Carolina) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a pr ...

– drums * Liana Manis – background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

''Beautiful Eyes'' at Taylor Swift official site
includes lyrics of all tracks. {{Good article 2008 EPs Taylor Swift EPs Albums produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer) Big Machine Records EPs Albums produced by Robert Ellis Orrall Albums produced by Angelo Petraglia