by Patrick T Fuller on February 25, 2021
Arts & Entertainment
by Madison Palmieri ’22 A&E Staff
2021 is shaping up to be quite an exciting year for Taylor Swift fans. Following a year that saw the release of not one, but two surprise albums, in addition to three music videos, a documentary, and a concert film, the singer has somehow found a way to top her 2020 achievements.
On Thursday, Feb. 11, Swift announced live on Good Morning America that she had re-recorded her second studio album, 2008’s Fearless, which is the most-awarded country album of all time. In addition, she shared that one of the re-recorded album’s hit singles, and one of the most popular and beloved songs of her career, “Love Story,” would be available that night.
Swift took to Instagram to reflect how “Fearless was an album of magic and curiosity, the bliss and devastation of youth. It was the diary of the adventures and exploitations of a teenage girl who was learning tiny lessons with every new crack in the facade of the fairytale endings she’d been shown in the movies.”
She then added that, in addition to re-mastered versions of the songs that fans know and love, she plans to include new tracks for a total of 26 songs. Indeed, she wants fans to “have the whole story, see the entire vivid picture,” and to let them “into the entire dreamscape that is my Fearless album. That’s why I’ve chosen to include 6 never before released songs on my version of this album, written when I was between the ages of 16 and 18, these were the ones it killed me to leave behind.”
A hidden message in Swift’s post names April 9 as the date of Fearless’s re-release but until then, fans can enjoy her “Love Story” re-recording and its accompanying music video, which consists of behind-the-scenes pictures and videos from the Fearless era, especially those of her with fans.
Notably, the official name of the re-recorded songs and albums will consist of their original titles and the phrase “Taylor’s version” in a nod to the fact that the singer owns these remasterings, unlike the original versions of them.
Swift’s inability to attain ownership of her original recordings led her to re-record her music in the first place. On Instagram, she insisted that “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. For example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the Fearless album. Songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons.”
Although Swift is legally able to re-record her first five albums, she must wait until 2022 to re-master her sixth studio album, 2016’s reputation. With five other re-recorded albums, in addition to bonus tracks and any other surprises the singer may choose to share, however, fans have plenty to enjoy until then as the love story between them and the artist continues to remain strong.