Songfacts®:

• Here, Jackson Dean outlines his willingness to take risks and face dangerous situations without fear. He'll "jump off the ledges, burn all the bridges, walk on the edge." But his woman is his weakness; Dean is in the palm of her hand because he fears losing her.
• Dean co-wrote "Fearless" on November 6, 2019, with songwriter Jonathan Sherwood (Chase Rice's "I Hate Cowboys") and Luke Dick (Dean's "Don't Come Lookin'") in Dick's home studio.
  
  Dick bought the lyrical concept, a rough drum beat, and guitar arpeggios to the session. He had a clear vision for the song's narrative centered around the theme of "I'm fearless except when it comes to you."
  
  "There's no play on words," Dean told Billboard. "The whole thing is just pounding your chest, and then a moment of vulnerability."
• The song starts with some spooky opening lines.
  
  I believe in ghosts, most people don't
  I swear it on my grandpa's grave
  I've seen 'em in the trees, I've seen 'em in my dreams
  And I still can't stay away
  
  For the opening, Dick posed a question to Dean: "What is the scariest experience you've ever had?" Dean remembered visiting his grandfather's grave when he was 11. His grandfather had a habit of charging people for good advice and used to say, "That'll be 25 cents." When Dean placed a quarter between the headstone and the grass, the coin disappeared; he dug around but couldn't find it. The eerie incident at the cemetery served as inspiration for the ghostly opening lines.
• Dean released "Fearless" as the follow-up single to his breakthrough song "Don't Come Lookin'." Both songs find Dean espousing bravado, but "Fearless" shows a more vulnerable side to the singer.
• Jackson Dean's "Fearless" initially burst onto the scene as a heartfelt banger, replete with a slow-burning intensity that captured listeners' hearts. On January 6, 2023, Dean dropped a revamped version of the tune, titled "Fearless (The Echo)". The updated track sees Dean amplify the original's heat, imbuing it with the raw energy of a live performance.
  
  Dean explained to American Songwriter that "Fearless" has always been a mainstay show starter during his sets, with the overhauled version now allowing him to fully unleash his passion and intensity.
  
  "That's when I really start laying into it," he said. "How we play it live is just a hair faster and a bit heavier. I wanted something that was reflective of that, of what we had been doing out in the world."
  
  "That's why we made 'The Echo' a little bit heavier," Dean continued, "and I came back and re-sang it because I've been singing it since the first half of the record came out... The boy I was then, I could eat alive right now vocally."