Taylor Swift famously lost the masters of her first six albums to Scooter Braun, who then sold them away against Swift’s wishes twice. The company that now owns her masters is Shamrock Holdings, with who Swift is in communication. As Swift stated in a tweet, “…I learned that under their terms Scooter Braun will continue to profit off my old music catalog for years.” To gain her work back Swift has begun re-recording her first six albums. She released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) this past April, with a re-recorded version of every original song and vault tracks (songs that were cut from the original work).
On November 12th, 2021, Taylor Swift is releasing Red (Taylor’s Version) with thirty tracks of original and vault tracks. Taylor’s Version is exhilarating for fans as they get to relive or experience the album for the first time. Even more important to the anticipation is the importance of Taylor’s Version as a statement for women in the music industry. Swift was age 14 when she signed her recording contract with Big Machine Records. Her naivety was exploited. Swift’s recordings send a message to all young, female artists to be strong and well-informed when making deals. The re-recordings also display self-advocacy. Swift is sending an important message to the patriarchy that she, as a woman, can reclaim her work. Scooter Braun has consistently tried to silence Swift, even trying to coerce her into signing an NDA. Swift ignored his requests and heavily promotes her new re-recorded albums as almost a “slap in the face” to Braun. Her voice in this issue also makes an important statement, that young female artists cannot be silenced when their art is at stake.
As Taylor Swift continues to release her re-recorded albums, make sure to tune into the new Taylor’s Version rather than the older albums. The streams on the re-recorded work show support to young females everywhere, that their work is theirs to own.