What does it mean?

Love her or hate her, Taylor Swift is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. She is making history with every move she makes, both as an artist and a businesswoman. In 2021, she announced the release of her very first re-recorded album: “Fearless (Taylors Version)”. It was the catalyst of what would become something of a revolution.

When you see “(Taylor ́s Version)” following the name of an album, it means that Taylor Swift owns the rights to the album and all of the tracks featured on it. It also means that each song has been re-recorded and contains updated vocals, along with the album featuring 4-6 entirely new songs from the time period of the original version that didn’t make the cut of the original album. These songs are known as ´vault tracks.´

Why is it happening?

Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums due to the ownership of the original versions by Big Machine Records, a company which she first signed with in 2005 at only 15 years old. In 2019, the company was purchased by Scott (Scooter) Braun, also known among Swifties as public enemy number one.

“All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,” Swift said of Braun. “Like when… his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy.”

In 2019, shortly after Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Records, Kelly Clarkson tweeted at Swift, saying; “Just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions. I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point.¨ What was a mostly humorous tweet in intention would turn into “(Taylors Version)”, one of the largest cultural phenomena of the last decade.

Review

Swift released a total of 26 vault tracks over four re-recorded albums. I will only be talking about one song from her most recent release; 1989 (Taylors Version) called ´Slut!,´ a name that immediately drew intrigue for long-time swifties.

Over her nearly two decade long career, Taylor Swift has been accused of being a “serial dater.” These are the same accusations that sparked the creation of what is arguably Swift´s most famous song, “Blank Space,” which was first released on the original 1989 album. While “Blank Space” is more of a middle finger to the people who called her a serial dater back in the time of the original 1989 album, ´Slut!´ is about not caring what those people think because being with the person she loves is worth the trouble. The hook of the chorus states; “If I’m all dressed up, they might as well be lookin´ at us, and if they call me a slut, you know if might be worth it for once (worth it for once), and if I’m gonna be drunk, I might as well be drunk in love.¨

The visuals are my favorite thing about this song. Swift paints a vivid picture of the ´perfect´ relationship with tangerine, aquamarine and flamingo pink. The second chorus includes the line “I break down and he’s pulling´ me in, In a world of boys he’s a gentleman,” which might just be the best line in the song. There is overall a very light, airy sound to the instrumentals. Now, I won’t lie to you; my only qualification to be writing this article is being a diehard Swiftie. My musical gifts do not exceed singing off-key on my way to school. I do, however, have ears, and I enjoy the almost surrealist sound laced throughout this track. It feels, disregarding the actual lyrics, like a song that might be used in a live action version of “Alice in Wonderland”. I found that this surreal quality was pretty consistent in all of the album’s vault tracks, though it is certainly most prevalent in this one.

Cultural Impact

This song is just one example of how, time and time again, Taylor Swift has beaten the odds. She has come up on top of so many waves of undeserved hatred, slut shaming, and online bullying. She has taken shot after shot after shot, and, in her words, ¨honey I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time.¨ This sentiment rings true in (Taylors Version), which has not only allowed Swift to take back her music, but also started a movement within the music industry.

During 2023 alone, a year where she released two (Taylor ́s Version) albums and no entirely new ones, Taylor Swift has broken at least six records that I could find evidence of. Following the success of Swift’s re-recorded albums, many other artists have decided to follow in her footsteps. She has paved the way for the next generation of musicians to be in control of their own careers and the current large names in the music industry to take theirs back.