Which Albums Is Taylor Swift Re-Recording? A Guide To The Remake Of Her First Six Albums
21 August 2024, 14:40
Taylor Swift is re-recording six albums after her back catalogue was sold to a private equity firm, but which songs and albums is she heading back into the studio to recreate?
Taylor Swift has a whopping 11 successful studio albums to her name and is re-recording six of them so she owns the complete rights to every single one of her creations.
We’ve already heard the new version of 'Fearless', with six new songs that never made it to the original EP added to the track list, and her re-release of 'Red' took us all back to 2012, this time with a 10-minute version of the heart-wrenching ballad 'All Too Well'.
Meanwhile, the re-release of 'Speak Now', which came out in July 2023 and includes ultimate sad girl tune 'Dear John', had us all up in our feels.
'1989 – Taylor's Version' is the latest, after Travis Kelce's girlfriend – who's been changing her lyrics for her new boyfriend – dropped the re-release exactly nine years after its original release, and fans couldn't wait to hear previously unheard songs about Harry Styles and their short relationship.
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The re-releases haven't stopped Taylor from working on new music; in 2024 she released her 11th album 'The Tortured Poets Department' which included devastating songs and heartbreaking lyrics such as the track 'I Can Do It With A Broken Heart', thought to be about the end of her relationships with Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy.
The Eras Tour has been getting us all nostalgic as Taylor cycles through all of her albums on stage, so – which of her eras are yet to have a renaissance?
Which 'Taylor's Version' album is next and how many is she re-recording all together? Here are all the details you need to know…
Which albums is Taylor Swift re-recording?
Here’s a list of the albums Taylor has already re-recorded/is recording all over again:
- ‘Taylor Swift’, 2006.
- ‘Fearless’, 2008 – ('Fearless – Taylor's Version' was released in April 2021).
- ‘Speak Now’, 2010 – ('Speak Now – Taylor's Version' was released July 7, 2023).
- ‘Red’, 2012 – ('Red – Taylor's Version' was released in November 2021).
- ‘1989’, 2014 – ('1989 – Taylor's Version' released on 27th October 2023).
- 'Reputation', 2017.
'1989 (Taylor's Version)' is the latest album Taylor has re-recorded and released, bringing the track list to 21 songs after including five songs From The Vault.
The album is most famous for 'Style’, ‘Blank Space’, ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Bad Blood’, and Tay confirmed it was the next in her project by, you guessed it, leaving a bunch of Easter eggs in the 'Karma' music video last year.
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Taylor’s self-titled debut album brought us songs such as 'Tim McGraw’ and ‘Teardrops on my Guitar’ while ‘Fearless’ gave us the likes of ‘Fifteen’, ‘Love Story’ and ‘You Belong With Me’.
‘Speak Now’ was nominated for ‘Best Country Album’ at the 54th Grammy Awards, thanks to songs such as ‘Sparks Fly’, ‘Back to December’ and ‘Dear John’.
‘Red’ detailed more of Taylor’s love life with songs like ‘All Too Well’ and ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ – and who could forget the iconic '22’!?
'Reputation' saw the icon pivot towards a darker sound, she launched the unique era with 'Look What You Made Me do', and she continued to make waves with the likes of 'Delicate' and 'Don't Blame Me'! While fans eagerly await news of its re-release, Taylor recently called the Vault tracks on 'Reputation – Taylor's Version' "fire!"
Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her albums?
Taylor is re-recording her albums after her former record label Big Machine Records was sold to Ithaca Holdings, owned by Scooter Braun, in a reported $300 million deal. She’s now re-recording her first six albums so her music “can live on.”
She credits industry pal Kelly Clarkson and her dad for telling her to 'redo' all her old albums.
Taylor explained in an interview with Billboard for their Woman of the Decade cover story: "Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use 'Shake It Off' in some advertisement or 'Blank Space' in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them.
Watch the trailer for Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour
"And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it."
‘Lover’, which was released in 2019, was the first album Taylor fully owned.
Can Taylor Swift re-record 'Reputation'?
As of November 2022, Taylor can officially begin working on the re-recording of 'Reputation', which was released in 2017. She reportedly had to wait until November 2022 to legally re-record the music.
The reason for this is likely due to a common clause in contracts which says songs can’t be rerecorded until “the later of two years following the expiration of the agreement or five years after the commercial release,” according to Rolling Stone.
So 'Reputation' might come sooner than we first thought...
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