What is (Taylor’s Version)?
by Lilli Newhouse | July 11, 2023
With the recent re-release of Taylor Swift's 2010 record Speak Now you may be asking yourself “why is she doing this?”, “what does this mean”, and “what happened to cause this?”
Photo By Natasha Moustache | Getty Images
Let’s start from the beginning, in June of 2019 Swift’s record label at the time Big Machine Label Group and its CEO Scott Brochetta sold Taylor’s original masters to Scooter Braun. Braun is an American entrepreneur, music executive, and business magnate. Known as the manager for artists such as Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, J Balvin, and Demi Lovato. Swift had worked with BMLG for nearly 13 years before all of this happened.
When Taylor asked Scott if she herself could buy her masters she was told “no.” For the following weeks Swift took to social media to explain what was happening and ask for help from not only her fans but other musicians as well. Whilst Swift was fighting to buy back her masters Braun was selling them to a private equity group called Shamrock Holdings. Later this group offered to allow Swift to buy her masters back from them but only if she agreed to not say anything negative about them or Scooter Braun, to which she chose not to as it was unfair to her.
Photo By Beth Garrabrant
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) cover
This is when (Taylor’s Version) begins. Taylor Swift decided that she would re-record her first six albums and own her artwork. In February of 2021 Swift announced that her first re-recorded album would be Fearless (Taylor’s Version) which included 6 never heard before songs, which she marketed as (From The Vault). Vault tracks are songs that Taylor wanted to include on the original albums but for various reasons they didn’t make it. This caused fans all over the work to go crazy! The album was released on April 9, 2021 and broke all kinds of records. Love Story (Taylor’s Version) was released alongside the album as the lead single and peaked at number one on the hot country songs chart and made Swift the second artist after Dolly Parton to have both the original and re-recorded versions of the song at the top of the chart.
Photo By Beth Garrabrant
Red (Taylor’s Version) cover
Later that same year on June 18, 2021 Swift announced the next re-recording she would release would be Red (Taylor’s Version). This album included 9 Vault tracks including Babe (Taylor’s Version), which was originally written by Taylor but performed by Sugarland and Better Man (Taylor’s Version), also originally written by Taylor but performed by Little Big Town. Swift announced that the album would be released on November 19, 2021, but was later changed to November 12, 2021, in order for Adele to release her newest album on November 19. In September of 2021 Swift released her version of her hit “Wildest Dreams” and in May of 2022 she released her version of “This Love” from her 2014 album 1989!
Throughout the next few months Swift was Silently recording her 10th studio album “Midnights” which was later on announced at the MTV VMAs on August 28, 2022 and would later come out on October 21, 2022. Only 11 days later Swift would announce the North American leg of The Eras Tour set to begin in March of 2023. This later on caused many controversies between Ticketmaster and Swift’s fans. Since the beginning of the tour Swift has broken many records including Ten albums on the billboard charts within the top 100, nine of which fell in the top 50, eight fell in the top 40, and three fell in the top 10! This is Swift's first Tour since 2018 when she toured her hit album Reputation. The Eras Tour is set to become the biggest grossing tour of all time beating herself and Madonna out.
Photo By Beth Garrabrant
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) cover
On May 5, 2023 after many easter eggs and anticipation Taylor Swift announced the next re-recording she would be releasing was Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) which was set to be released on July 7, 2023 “Just in time for July 9th, iykyk.” About one month later on June 5 Swift released the track list for the album which included songs featuring Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams of the Grammy winning band Paramore. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is now the most-streamed album in a single day so far on Spotify in 2023 and the most-streamed country album in a single day in Spotify history.
Be sure to keep up with Taylor on all Socials @TaylorSwift13, @TaylorSwift, and @TaylorNation
