''Beautiful Eyes'' is the second

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) by the American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

. It was released as a

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 in the United States and 23 other ...

exclusive on July 15, 2008, by

Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...

. In later years, after the MP3 service got closed down, Walmart transferred the rights to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

for their

Amazon MP3 Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manage ...

service, where it remains exclusively available in the United States. ''Beautiful Eyes'' has a primarily

country pop Country pop (also known as urban cowboy or even urban country) 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 g ...

sound. It consists of alternate versions of tracks from Swift's 2006 debut album ''Taylor Swift'' and two original tracks—"Beautiful Eyes" and "I Heart ?"—which Swift had composed as early as 2006. The physical edition of the EP also features 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 ki ...

including music videos of singles from Swift's 2006 album. ''Beautiful Eyes'' peaked at number nine on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and topped ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'''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 ...

. "I Heart ?", which had been released as part of a

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-exclusive version CD of ''Taylor Swift'', was released as a

promotional single A promotional recording, 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 mu ...

in June 2008. "Beautiful Eyes" was also released as part of Swift's promotional deal with the magazine '' Seventeen''.

Background

Swift earned commercial success in the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

scene with her debut studio album, ''

'' (2006), and began working on her second studio album 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

. 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 the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, originally released as part of her debut studio album, Taylor Swift (album), ''Taylor Swift'' (2006). Big Machine Records released the song to country radio on Fe ...

", 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?", 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 that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

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

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 __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

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 and reception

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 Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and o ...

charted in 1997 with ''

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

'' (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 trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

, an annual music product

trade show A trade show, also known as trade fair, 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

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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 co ...

. The performance featured Swift, dressed in a red blouse and blue jeans, performing acoustically with a guitar, sitting on a

bar stool Bar stools are a type of tall stool, often with a foot rest to support the feet. The height and narrowness of bar stools make them suitable for use at bars and high tables in pubs or bars. Before Prohibition in the United States, bar sto ...

. "Beautiful Eyes" was later performed as part of Swift's set for

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

.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 An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes *

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

, 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, re ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

& 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 Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

& guitar , digital editing * Gary Burnette –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s ,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Chad Carlson – recording , mixing , additional recording * Wanda Vick –

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

* Caitlin Evanson –

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

& 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 The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Rusty Danmyer – steel * Eric Richardson – recording * Ben Clark – banjo * Al Wilson – drums * Amos Heller – bass * Grant Mickelson – electric guitar * Chuck Ainlay – mixing * Scott Kidd – mixing * Steve Short –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* 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 – 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 Country pop EPs