Taylor Swift re-records her past albums after legal dispute over the ownership of her songs

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Vivian Rong ('23)

Taylor Swift will re-record her past albums.

Taylor Swift fans were not “(Mr.) Perfectly Fine” on April 9, 2021. Overjoyed fans took a trip back to 2008 as Swift released her first re-recorded album, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version).”

Along with “Fearless,” Swift plans to re-record “Taylor Swift,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989”, and “Reputation” in the future.

Swift decided to re-record her first six albums because she currently does not have full ownership of her old songs and cannot use or perform them. Swift was previously signed with Big Machine Records from 2005 to 2018. As her contract ended in 2018, Swift decided to move to Republic Records, planning to take full ownership and rights to her songs.

Unbeknownst to her, the CEO of Big Machine Records, Scott Borchetta, sold her songs to the founder of RBMG and Schoolboy Records, Scooter Braun, for $330 million.

Starting in November 2020, Swift’s contract allowed her to re-record her first five albums (she won’t be able to re-record “reputation” until late 2022 because this album was released a few years later than the others). Now that “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” is out, Swift currently owns four out of her nine albums (“Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” “Lover,” “folklore,” and “evermore”).

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” features 27 songs: 20 from “Fearless,” one bonus track (“Love Story” (Taylor’s Version) – Elvira Remix), and six new “From The Vault” songs. The “From The Vault” songs include “You All Over Me” (featuring Maren Morris), “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” “We Were Happy,” “That’s When” (featuring Keith Urban), “Don’t You” and “Bye Bye Baby.”
Although the re-recorded songs include the same melody and lyrics, Swift’s 31-year-old voice sounds much more mature than her 18-year-old voice from “Fearless.”

Fans have been anticipating the arrival of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” since Swift announced on her Instagram account on February 11, 2021, that her “…new version of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is done and will be with [them] soon.”

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” has been sitting at the top of the music charts since its release almost a month ago.

As fans listen to “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” an intriguing question always seems to arise: which album will be next?

It appears that Swift has started dropping hints that “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” will be the next re-recorded album. A few weeks ago, a preview of “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” was used in the trailer for the upcoming movie “Spirit Untamed.” This follows the same pattern of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” as “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” was also used in a commercial (for Match) prior to its release.

Although fans continue to search for hints on which album will be next, Swift still has not confirmed the order of the re-recordings, so fans will have to be on the lookout for what’s next.