
Taylor Swift, acclaimed singer-songwriter and household name, amazed fans and critics alike in 2020 when she released two albums in the same year.
“Folklore,” the first of the two, was released in July and “Evermore” was released in early December. The two albums were intended to be companion records, and both were widely well-received by both fans and critics.
Swift also won album of the year for “Folklore” at the 2021 Grammy’s.
After the impressive schedule of album releases so close to each other, Swift announced another surprise on “Good Morning America” and in subsequent posts on social media that she would be re-recording and releasing the 2008 album “Fearless.”
The main factor that Swift cites for re-recording her songs has to do with the legality surrounding the original recordings of the songs.
Controversy and disagreements with her producer, Scooter Braun, led Swift to claim she was being bullied by Braun, and she was unhappy with him owning much of the rights to her original music.
Re-recording “Fearless” and any songs or albums that she chooses to record in addition to these will give Swift the rights back to her songs, and Swift said she hopes this will help her reclaim her creative work.
In an Instagram post, Swift explained her vision for these songs.
“I’ve spoken a lot about why I’m remaking my first six albums, but the way I’ve chosen to do this will hopefully help illuminate where I’m coming from,” Swift said. “Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really knows that body of work.”
Although it may seem a bit extreme for an artist to re-record six full-length albums to the most people, modern-day working musicians can better understand Swift’s perspective for this unconventional approach. The music industry has vastly changed over the years and the 2010s were no stranger to a massive shift on the business end for artists.
According to Business Insider, a musician makes an average of $4 per 1000 Spotify streams. Compared to the music industry pre-streaming and torrenting, the majority of true music fans were actually purchasing their music.
Brienna Garcia, senior marketing major, said she thinks it is impressive how dedicated Swift has been lately to releasing music.
“She released two albums in one year, and now that she is planning to re-release all her old stuff, this shows that she is one of the most hard-working artists in the industry right now,” Garcia said.
Katie Carson, senior liberal studies major, said she is a fan of Taylor Swift and has been for a long time.
“I have been listening to her songs since fourth grade,” Carson said. “I am so excited for the re-recordings.”
Carson also said that the timing of Swift releasing her re-recordings of old songs could not be better.
“It seems like the perfect time since more people seem to like her and her music now compared to the last couple of years,” Carson said. “It also adds nostalgia to such a chaotic time.”
With fans more eager than ever for more content from her that is similar to her early work, Swift’s new re-recorded version of the “Fearless” 2008 album is set to be released on April 9.