Taylor Swift has finished re-recording Fearless, her second studio album that was originally released in 2008.
The American singer made an unexpected announcement on February 11, that she had completely re-recorded her album Fearless, as Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
Swift’s latest musical maneuver comes in light of her incredibly complicated feud with Scooter Braun after the music mogul bought the rights to Swift’s first six albums.
In 2019, the Swift – Braun feud ensued after Braun purchased Taylor’s former label, Big Machine Label Group for $300 million, ultimately giving him ownership over Swift’s first six studio albums: Self-titled: Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and her 2017 album Reputation.
In June 2019, Swift took to the social media platform Tumblr to express her dismay and disappointment that Scooter Braun had acquired Big Machine Label Group and subsequently gained ownership over her music catalogue.
Swift has always been a big advocate for artists to own the rights to their music. After her battle with Braun, Swift has become a catalyst for musician’s rights and a reckoning in the faces of record labels. Challenging the giants of the music industry and encouraging other artists to stand up for the rights.
Swift stated that she would use her leverage to fight for musician’s rights, claiming that she was never given the opportunity to buy the original recordings of her music.
“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in.
“I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta [CEO of Big Machine Label Group] would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past.
“Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.” Swift wrote in a Tumblr post addressing her millions of followers.
Now in her new record deal with Universal, Swift owns her recordings and has since released three chart-topping albums. Lover, which was released in 2019. A year later, Swift graced fans with a surprise release of Folklore in July of 2020, and in less than 5 months later, she dropped with her ninth studio album Evermore.
Swift’s revelation that she is re-recording her first 6 albums as (Taylor’s Version), has come as a strike back against Braun and Big Machine Label Group, as she dropped an updated version of the lead single from her Fearless album. Upon its first day release, the hit single Love Story (Taylor’s Version) went on to garner 6 million streams in one day.
Swift’s re-recorded version of Fearless, is set to include 26 songs, including 6 never before released songs from the vault. In a post on Instagram, the star made a statement to her 147 million followers: “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 to illuminate where I’m coming from.
“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.
“This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music”. said Swift.
Shauna Burdis
Image credit: Pinterest
Note: This article was reuploaded on 26/03/2021 due to a fault with The College View website.