Taylor Swift has recently dropped two sister albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore.” But Swift has more new music coming this year, as she announced on Feb. 11 that she will be re-recording her first six albums, due to her former record label selling her existing catalog in a reported $300 million deal.
Swift revealed in 2019 that her previous manager, Scott Borchetta, the founder of Swift’s former label, the Big Machine Label Group, would not sell her control of her masters and she severed ties with the label in November. Scooter Braun, the manager of popstars Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, bought the master recording of six of Swift’s multi-platinum albums. Swift has vowed to re-record her first six albums after music manager Scooter Braun announced that his Ithaca Holdings company had acquired Big Machine Label Group. He then sold Swift’s catalogue without giving her a chance to acquire her masters.
“Fearless: Taylor’s Version” is finished and is a re-recorded version of her second album “Fearless” which was released in 2008. The album will contain re-recorded versions of “Fearless” and its deluxe edition’s 19 original tracks, plus six never-before released songs that almost made the original album. The re-recorded album is set to be released on April 9.
The first song released from the album is her iconic single “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” and was brought back with a new music video. The song begins with the line “We were both young when I first saw you,” and plays over a picture of Swift with her fans back in 2008, making the song a love letter to her fans. The video is a slideshow of photos from the “Fearless” era of Swift’s career and shows her signing autographs and posing for photos with fans. The new version of “Love Story” is almost indistinguishable from the original release. The instrumentals are crisper, but the vocals are so similar that the track is extremely nostalgic for Swift fans. The video ends with a simple message from Swift: “With love to all my fans.”
Following the release of “Love Story,” Swift shared “You All Over Me (Taylor’s Version)” on March 26 and features country singer Maren Morris. In a series of tweets before the release of “You All Over Me,” Swift explained that the track is the first release in her “From the Vault” series of unreleased songs. The song is filled with beautiful country instrumentals and backing vocals gracefully provided by Morris and topped with Swift’s powerful vocals. It’s a previously unheard song but feels strangely familiar and is laced in the time capsule of Swift’s old country era. “You All Over Me” demonstrates Swift’s undeniable skill for storytelling and conveying the feeling of a relationship that you can’t shake off.
Swift’s decision to re-record her old albums give her the rightful ownership to her discography. But it also allows lifelong fans of Swift to take a walk down memory lane with the singer and re-experience hearing these songs for the first time.