Taylor Swift never goes out of style, and her re-release of “1989” was no exception, as she was able to reclaim this album as her own, by adding the (Taylor’s Version) at the end. This album marks Swift’s fourth re-release, as she has also released “Fearless” (April 2021), “Red” (November 2021), “Speak Now” (July 2023) and most recently “1989” (October 2023). All of these albums were originally released through Big Machine Records, the company she signed with in 2005 at only 15 years old. During her time with Big Machine Records, she recorded six different albums in nine years, all of which are owned by Big Machine Records, which she is no longer a part of due to problems with the rights and ownership of her music.
Swift split from Big Machine Records in 2018, shortly after Scooter Braun’s company acquired Big Machine Records. Before gaining ownership of this label, Braun is best known for his music management, as he managed stars such as Justin Bieber, Ava Max, Zac Brown Band and Carly Rae Jepsen to name a few. After Braun got the ownership of Big Machine Records, he sold the master rights to the six albums Swift recorded with Big Machine Records, which include “Taylor Swift,” “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989” and “Reputation.” Swift, like the rest of the world, found out about her albums’ rights being sold through the media, not Braun himself. Swift said in a post that “Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy.” (Today).
Shortly later, Scooter Braun was selling Swift’s music to another group. This occurred in November 2020, about two years after Swift signed with Universal Music Group following her exit from Big Machine Records. Swift and her team attempted to negotiate a deal with Braun to allow Swift ownership of her music, but that ultimately fell through. Learning that Braun would continue to make money off of her music, Swift decided to and announced that she would record all of her old music that she made during her time at Big Machine Records. Swift wasted no time, as just four months later she released “Love Story” in early 2021, weeks before she re-released the entire “Fearless” album, which originally debuted in 2008. Since this, Swift re-released “Red” later in 2021, and did the same for “Speak Now” and “1989” in 2023.
Since her switch to Universal Music Group, Swift has released eight albums that she has the rights to, which include “Lover” (2019), “Folklore” (2020), “Evermore” (2020), “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” (2021), “Red (Taylor’s Version)” (2021), “Midnights” (2022), “Speak Now (Taylor’s Verizon) (2023) and lastly “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” (2023). Swift admits that she did not think many people would care to listen to the albums that she owned and says that she did this for herself and to own the work that she built her career. With the recent release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift broke her own records on Spotify. The service announced that Swift was “the most-streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history, and “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day this year” (CNN). In addition to re-recording the album, Swift debuted five new songs on the album, called “Vault Tracks.” These tracks, according to Swift, were written in the era of her recording of the original album but did not make the original cut.
Swift’s success with each album she releases, whether brand new or a re-recording, is a clear testament to her talent and the admiration of the fans. Swift still has two albums to claim as her own, including “Reputation” which was released in 2017, and her first studio album, “Taylor Swift” which she released in 2006. Swift’s path to reclaiming her work is not just a passion project for her but is deeply supported by her fans to make sure Swift gains success from her work instead of an outside party. If anything is clear, Taylor Swift’s “bad blood” with Scooter Braun is not big enough to stop Swift from succeeding. Swift was able to “shake it off” and continue to break records and win awards for her music, new or old.
