On Thursday, Feb 11 Taylor Swift dropped yet another shocking message to fans, announcing that the re-recording of her album “Fearless” would be released on April 9th, including six never-released songs. The first glance into the new album was released just hours later, with the new version of her hit song “Love Story” – this time, “Taylor’s Version”.
Swift, who was signed to Big Machine Records for the majority of her career, signed a new deal to Universal Music Group in 2018 – granting her the ownership to any new music she produces but leaving the master records to her old songs under ownership of Big Machine, who then sold them to a company owned by Scooter Braun.
Swift spoke out about the struggle with owning her music and her conflicts with Braun, calling it her “worst case scenario.”
Now, these new recordings allow Swift to take ownership of her music, a huge symbol of strength not only for her but also as a message advocating for women in the music industry to have greater autonomy over their work.
For the fans, this new initiative means an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often – we get to hear our favorite songs for the first time all over again.
From an artistic perspective, the news of re-recordings creates an interesting dynamic; we get to hear the same songs lyrically, but with all the technical and vocal growth from years of learning the trade. “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” though lyrically identical to its original counterpart, is not the same as “Love Story” – at an entirely different place in her life than she was in when writing that song, Swift’s new version has instilled a new meaning to the lyrics and is redirecting that love story towards her fans.
Few – if any – artists can boast the kind of longevity that Swift has maintained through the years, with a musical portfolio spanning 14 years and hundreds of songs.
Swift’s music career has been defined through the years in different “eras” of reinvention, in which she would rebrand her aesthetic both musically and promotionally to represent the album. Swift spoke about this phenomenon in her documentary “Miss Americana”, pointing out the pressure to always be changing.
“Reinvent yourself but only in a way that we find to be equally comforting and a challenge for you. Live out a narrative that we find interesting enough to entertain us, but not so crazy that it makes us uncomfortable,” she said, to illustrate the pressure she’s felt to maintain relevant to the public eye.
With her entire discography laid out in front of us, we get to watch Swift grow up from a bird’s eye view. Through the different albums, she progresses from a young girl writing idyllic (albeit sometimes naïve) love songs, through stages of growth and rebellion, until we eventually come to the present phase – the folklore and evermore era, defined by serenity and wisdom.
But for many of us, myself included, we don’t just get to track her growth in retrospect, we were right along with her for the ride. So while the most jarring difference we hear when we listen to “Taylor’s Version” is how we see that she’s changed, it also shines a light on the differences in our own lives.
It’s a new sort of nostalgia, to hear songs from your childhood released again thirteen years later. Swift has grown, we have grown, and these songs that defined our lives so long ago will be growing right along with us.
This is not a new era. This is the old Taylor, all grown up – and I can’t wait to hear what she has in store.