Cheryl Craigie breathes new life into a Taylor Swift deep cut with "I’m Only Me When I’m With You." By stripping the song to its emotional core, Craigie slows the tempo and constructs a version that feels intimate, reflective and intensely personal.
First written by Swift when she was age 13, "I’m Only Me When I’m With You" has always had a sense of youthful exuberance about it. Craigie, however, has a different take one that embraces the song’s underlying earnestness. By rounding off its corners and replacing a hard delivery with a gentler one, she reconstitutes it into a tender ballad that resonates in the chest long after the last note has died away.
Craigie gives a vocal performance that feels real enough to put each lyric to the test of fire. The arrangement, gentle and expansive, draws everyone into a place of comfortable nostalgia, where the song’s message of intimacy and self-discovery free-float in the foreground. This reinvention is a song’s roots while giving it a new lens.
For those who love Taylor Swift and a freakin’ good cry, Cheryl Craigie’s "I’m Only Me When I’m With You" is a new way to experience an old favorite. It’s a reminder of how a song can grow, unpacking new shades of meaning with every artist it comes in contact with.
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