I still remember the day my mom brought home Taylor Swift’s third studio album, “Speak Now,” on CD. It was a warm day, even for Texas, in November of 2010.
“I picked up this new Taylor Swift album at Target for you,” she told me.
It was my first CD! I took our family CD player into my room and hit play. I fell in love instantly, but the sixth track, “Mean,” changed the trajectory of my life. This was the first time I felt seen and understood by music, a precedent that Swift set in 2010 and has upheld for the past 11 years.
After two years of listening to “Speak Now” on repeat (and I mean that, I listened to it every night before bed, so God bless my family for tolerating that), I learned that Taylor was about to release “Red.” The night it dropped, I was in a cabin with my sister and mom out in West Texas. I stayed up until 11 p.m. to listen to it. That was the first album I ever owned on MP3, and let me tell you, trying to get it downloaded was quite the feat (I still struggle with this).
I have spent the past 11 years of my life counting down to her album releases, learning the lyrics at the speed of light, and analyzing songs and albums with the proficiency that only someone with a Ph.D. should be capable of.
In June 2019, Scott Borchetta had sold the rights to her music to Scooter Braun, a man who has actively attacked her and her career for years. Not only that, but Swift was denied the opportunity to buy back her masters. I was furious. I am furious.
In a Tumblr post explaining her side of the story in June of 2019, Swift said, “This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value,’ he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.”
However, in August 2019, Swift announced that her contract would allow her to re-record her old albums starting November 2020.
Which (more or less) brings us to today. As I’m writing this, it is November 12, 2021. “Red (Taylor’s Version)” was released eleven and a half hours ago, and I am filled with pride. She now owns rights to five of her nine albums, including the fan-favorite song “Ronan,” which tells the true story of a mother who lost her 4-year-old son to cancer.
With the release of this album, we gained 30 Swift-owned songs, nine of which have never before been heard. We now have the 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” which Swifties have begged for for years, and a matching short film with actors Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink. It has, by all means, surpassed even our Wildest Dreams. We now have songs featuring Phoebe Bridgers (which, by the way, made me sob), Chris Stapleton, and one more with Ed Sheeran.
Bob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said, “‘Red’ wasn’t her first masterwork, but it’s the one that established the Swiftian universe as a place where every lost scarf is a ticking time bomb that can take years to explode into a classic song.”
Swift’s re-recording of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” is nearly identical to the original, and this is what we expected for “Red (Taylor’s Version).” But in the words of my dear friend, Isla Stewart, “The production of this album is different. It’s less pop princess; it’s more her. Somehow, she made her perfect album better.”
Of course, the release of her re-recordings is monumental for Swift, but it is also huge for artists and women. She has fought for artists to own their music, their art. She even took all of her music off Spotify from 2014-2017 to protest how little Spotify was paying artists. She has paved the way for other musicians to fight to own their music and get paid fairly for it. Likewise, she has been the most outstanding role model I could’ve asked for growing up. She actively fights for women’s rights and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. She has taught me that it is okay to speak out about injustice as a woman.
Swift’s music has been a comfort in hard times and a dance party soundtrack when I’m on top of the world. The release of “Red (Taylor’s Version)” is not simply an album release. It is the victory of a friend that has been with me through thick and thin. Each album she releases feels more and more personal as she and I have grown up a generation apart.
