Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Has Finally Arrived, Fans Ready to Re-experience Taylor Swift’s Old Classics
After a two year battle over the rights to her music, pop megastar Taylor Swift decided to take matters into her own hands and re-record all six of her studio albums that fell into the control of the notorious music manager Scooter Braun. On April 9th, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was released to the public as Swift’s first completed re-recorded album, and fans are already gathering their tissues (and their wine) in preparation for the rollercoaster of emotions that this album brings.
For those that may be a little confused as to why Taylor Swift is releasing all of her old music again, here is a little background. From the beginning of her career until her departure in 2018, Taylor Swift was signed as an artist under Big Machine Records. She left her contract with Big Machine and its owner, Scott Borchetta, in favor of one with Universal Music Group. However, all of the master recordings (meaning the original audio files) from Swift’s first six albums (from her 2006 self-titled album up until her 2017 release Reputation) remained under control of Big Machine.
Borchetta then sold the company, including the rights to Swift’s managers, to Scooter Braun. Braun and Swift have been publicly at odds with each other, and the singer was unhappy over the fact that she was not given the chance to buy back her music before being made aware of the deal. After many disputes, Braun sold the rights to Swift’s masters to an investment fund, and in that contract the singer was not allowed to be contacted regarding the deal.
In order to resolve the solution, Taylor Swift decided to re-record all of her old music to circumvent the process of negotiating for her music, and to redirect revenue from her old songs to the newer versions. Thus taking money away from the rights owners of her original masters and putting money into her (and Universal’s) pockets.
The singer first teased the release in February when she revealed the re-recorded version to her hit classic “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)”. Now that Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is out, fans get to re-experience the songs from their childhood and teenage years from a new perspective. While we may not be starting their freshman year of high school like in “Fifteen”, our personal past experiences make Taylor’s classic hits hold much more weight. Listening to the re-release is now so much more emotional and impactful, as we can now relate to these songs so much more than before.
Many Swifties have been a fan since the OG release over ten years ago, and since then, many of us have experienced our first loves and heartbreaks like in “Forever and Always” which was allegedly about Joe Jonas, one of Taylor’s first major heartbreaks. Some of us have grown old enough to drive, and are now capable of belting the bridge of “You Belong With Me” in our cars. Others have come of age to purchase wine and cry about a past toxic relationship with “The Way I Loved You” in their bathtub (as many people on Tik Tok have shown to do).
Just as we’ve grown since the original release of Fearless in 2008, Taylor Swift has also grown immensely as an artist. When comparing both versions of the album at first listen, you may not notice any major differences. However, upon closer inspection you may notice that the sound is much more mature, and Taylor’s vocals are much stronger, as she has been able to improve her breath control and pronunciation of the lyrics. Her fanbase has also definitely grown, as the thirty-one-year-old superstar now has millions of followers across all her social media profiles and garners millions of streams every day.
However, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is not just a copycat of the first release. While it does contain the original twenty songs on the original album, we are being brought six new songs “From the Vault” that were rejected from release the first time around. Prior to the re-release, Taylor dropped “You All Over Me” featuring Maren Morris. Now, we get to hear “Mr. Perfectly Fine”, which fans speculate was another track about Joe Jonas (even Walgreens got in on the decade old drama with a playful tweet about his and Sophie Turner’s vaccination). We also have another collaboration on one of the “vault songs” with “That’s When” featuring Keith Urban. Other never-heard-before tracks include “Don’t You” and “We Were Happy”.
If you have yet to stream Fearless (Taylor’s Version), we highly recommend you get onto your preferred music streaming platform and take a listen to the emotional rollercoaster that is this album. We are excited to see Taylor Swift reclaim her old art and are highly anticipating the re-release of her other five albums.
