Taylor Swift — Taylor Swift’s career has had substantial challenges in recent years, notably with her former record label. The singer’s ownership of her first six studio albums was exposed, sparking enormous media attention and speculation.
Taylor’s battle in 2019 prompted her to re-record all six albums, granting her entire control of the rights. Despite the fact that the songs are mostly covers, the musician was able to get new masters that she now owns.
Taylor Swift has subsequently released two re-recordings, with a third only hours ago made accessible to fans.
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Re-recordings
Taylor Swift began re-recordings as “Taylor’s Version” in 2021. Fearless was the first album of the year, and it received applause for the singer’s decision to re-record, which was seen as a defense of creative rights.
Later that year, Swift released Red (Taylor’s version), increasing the overall number of tracks to 30. The new tracks were supposed to appear in the 2012 edition, but their absence allowed the most recently launched version to set sales, streaming, and chart records. Taylor Swift’s best-selling album was Red (Taylor Swift’s Version).
In late 2022, Taylor began disclosing details about her future re-recordings. Earlier this year, she released two tracks as part of her Eras Tour. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), an album of old and new songs, is now complete.
Speak Now
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift came out on Thursday, taking millennials back to 2010. She went on to discuss her choosing process in a contemplative Instagram post, writing:
“I had to be ruthless with my choices, and I left behind some songs I am still unfailingly proud of now. Therefore, you have 6 From the Vault tracks.”
The new tracks on the latest re-recording includes:
- Electric Touch
- When Emma Falls in Love
- I Can See You
- Castles Crumbling
- Foolish One
- Timeless
Taylor outlined her album as an assemblage of music she wrote within the ages of 18 and 20 about “whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas, and tragedies.” Taylor also discussed how long it took her to find the right foundation for her third original music album, Taylor Swift and Fearless, which was released after Taylor Swift and Fearless.
“I remember making tracklist after tracklist, obsessing over the right way to tell the story.”
Taylor Swift also spoke to her fans, stating that re-recording the album at the age of 32 brought back memories and warmth, and that she intends to distribute it “for life, for you, for the fact that I get to reclaim my work.”
“Thank you a million times, for the memories that break our fall.”
Album conception
Taylor Swift’s third studio album, Speak Now, was released in October 2010. Her personal and artistic maturity encouraged her to compose and sing in new ways as she grew older.
“I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20,” the musician revealed in an Instagram post upon announcing the release of the re-recording.
“The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying, and crashing… and living to speak about it.”
Speak Now was a preliminary draft of an album about times when she wished she had spoken something. According to Taylor’s interview with Songwriter Universe magazine, each song originated as a confession to a different individual. Despite songs that convey thankfulness to her family and dedicated fans, the album is mainly known for the musician’s public depression over breakups.
Dear John
The song “Dear John,” in particular, has stirred the greatest debate, with many thinking that it is about Taylor Swift’s brief relationship with John Mayer. Mayer, the title clearly speaks to the subject matter of the song. The lyrics strengthened this concept by emphasizing their age disparity. Taylor was 19 years old at the time, and Mayer was 31. Despite earlier acknowledging that the song was difficult to create, Taylor Swift has yet to confirm the reports. Meanwhile, Mayer told Rolling Stone that he felt humiliated since he was the John mentioned in the song.
“Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do,” said Mayer in 2012.
“I never got an email. I never got a phone call. I was really caught off-guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down. I mean, how would you feel if, at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?”
Swift played the song live for the first time in nearly a decade in June 2023 in Minneapolis as part of her Eras Tour. While the album was being readied for release, she encouraged her fans to continue to practice kindness.
“I was hoping to ask you that, as we lead up to this album, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities. Right? So what I’m trying to say is, I’m putting this album out because I want to own my music and I believe that [those] who have the desire to own their music should be able to. That’s why I’m putting out this album.”
“I’m 33 years old, I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 except the songs I wrote,” Taylor continued. “So what I’m trying to tell you, is that I am not putting this album out so you should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I wrote a song about 14 million years ago.”
