Taylor Swift is still deep in her “re-recording era,” and with Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) behind us, only the re-recordings of Reputation and her debut album, Taylor Swift, are left. It’s been seven years since Reputation shook the music industry, and Swifties everywhere are on high alert for every hint and theory that could reveal Reputation (TV)’s release date.
Swift’s decision to re-record her albums wasn’t just about nostalgia; it was about ownership. After losing the rights to her original masters in 2019, she set out to reclaim her music by re-recording it and giving fans “Taylor’s Version” (TV) to which she holds the rights. This fight for ownership feels especially fitting for Reputation (TV). The original album was born at a time when Swift was at the center of media chaos.
She used this music to respond to betrayal, scrutiny, and public feuds with some of her most biting, anthemic tracks yet. It was an album about reclamation, burning everything down to build something stronger. By its very nature, re-recording the album is significant beyond just the legal battle; it’s an opportunity for Swift to recontextualize the narrative that surrounded her upon its initial release.
As for when exactly Reputation (TV) will drop, Taylor Swift has kept things characteristically cryptic. In true tinfoil-hat-wearing Swiftie fashion, I want to break down everything we know so far, starting from the beginning.
Bad Blood IN THE AIR
Taylor Swift’s “bad blood” with Scooter Braun was the spark that ignited her re-recording journey. In 2005, 15-year-old Swift signed a record deal with Big Machine Records, where she recorded her first six albums. She met Braun briefly in 2009 through one of his clients, Justin Bieber, who had been opening for Swift’s Fearless tour at the time.
All seemed to be going smoothly for the young singer until her run-in with Kanye West at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. As she was accepting her award for Best Female Video, West ran unprompted onto the stage, grabbing the mic from her hands to say that Beyoncé should’ve won instead.
But what does any of this have to do with Scooter Braun? It all comes together — or more accurately, falls apart — when in 2016, Kanye West released his ironically infamous song “Famous,” which featured a misogynistic lyrical dig at Taylor Swift, suggesting the two might sleep together and that he was the one that made her famous. Just one month after the song’s release, Scooter Braun announced he was West’s new manager…how interesting.
West later claimed he had received permission from Swift over the phone to use her name in the song. After she denied this, West’s then-wife, Kim Kardashian, released a snippet of the phone call that corroborated West’s side of the story, incriminating Swift. The media quickly turned against America’s former sweetheart, spreading hate by calling her a “snake” and using tags like #KimExposedTaylorParty online.
The entire phone call was eventually leaked, showing that Swift had been telling the truth the whole time. She hadn’t known that the lyrics would be as crass as they were. This complete footage also revealed that Kardashian had edited the audio to make it seem like Swift had both heard and explicitly approved the lyrics. This clarity didn’t matter, though, as the damage had already been done, and Swift’s image was already tarnished. It also didn’t seem to matter to Scooter Braun, who publicly supported his client, West.
Look What You Made Her Do
Taylor Swift’s Reputation album was created amid this surge in media pressure. Along with the West-Kardashian drama, tabloids were desperate to continue fueling the Swift hate train with any controversy they could get their hands on. Soon, Swift had withdrawn from all social media, avoiding appearances in interviews and award shows.
She broke her silence in 2017 when she finally released Reputation, her unapologetic response to the media’s hostility and the unwarranted controversy she had endured in previous years. Unlike any of her other work, Reputation was a complete reinvention of her persona that turned scathing headlines into hits.
Skipping forward to 2019, after Swift’s contract with Big Machine Records had expired, founder Scott Borchetta sold the label to none other than Scooter Braun. Along with Big Machine itself, this meant that Braun now owned and controlled all of the songs, music videos, and artworks previously copyrighted by Big Machine — including Swift’s first six albums. Even before this turn of events, Swift had been trying to acquire the rights to her master recordings for years.
She was only unsuccessful because Big Machine’s unreasonable conditions required her to re-sign with the label and “‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one [she] turned in.” This meant handing six more of her albums over to the very label that had betrayed her in return for the albums that should have belonged to her in the first place — including Reputation. Which finally brings us to her re-recordings.
The Old Taylor isn’t Dead. She’s Just being Re-recorded
Big Machine Records isn’t going to give Swift the rights to her music? Fine. She can just re-record it all herself. And that’s exactly what she did — or rather, what she’s currently doing. With each Taylor’s Version released with her new label, Republic Records, Swift ensures that she owns her music. This fight over Swift’s rights to her music sets the perfect example for others in the music industry to stand up against exploitation by their labels. This is what makes Reputation (TV)’s release so important: Swift will have finally won the battle.
Alongside the re-recorded tracks, Swift also adds entirely new songs From The Vault. These are previously unreleased tracks that were written during each original album’s era but never made the final cut. Now, only two re-recordings remain: Reputation and her self-titled debut album, Taylor Swift. Now, in a poetic full-circle moment that I’m sure Swift herself appreciates, all she has left to take back is her reputation and then, finally, her name.
Reputation (TV) Might Arrive This Year… but Are We “Ready for It?”
Why do Swifties think these albums are both arriving in 2025? If you look closely at the release dates of her re-recordings and new albums, you’ll notice what looks to be a schedule. Starting in 2021 with Fearless (TV) and Red (TV), a pattern began where Swift would release two re-recordings in a year, and then one new album the following year. Well, in 2024 she released The Tortured Poets Department. And if her release pattern is to continue, that means Reputation (TV) and Debut (TV) should come in 2025 (which just so happens to be the year of the snake).
Though the wait for Reputation (TV) has felt like an eternity, the end might finally be in sight. Until then, however, all we can do is wait — because in Swift’s own words: “There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation.”
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