Ever since Taylor Swift announced that she would be re-recording her first six studio albums in 2019, fans have been waiting for their favorite album to get its chance to shine and to re-experience the magic of its respective era all over again. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was the first re-recording Swift released, and all of the OG fans were over the moon with excitement. Nobody knew what to expect with it being the first time experiencing the release of a re-recorded album. Fans were beyond pleased. They were met with matured vocals, “From The Vault” tracks, and the amazing chance to get to listen to nostalgic songs for the first time all over again. Although it was not the most popular, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) got its chance to shine. The album had multiple lead singles, a vault track scramble, and iconic collabs. Everyone had time to enjoy the era and give it the love it deserved.
While Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was certainly a special time for Swifties, I’m beginning to believe that nothing will ever top the era of Red (Taylor’s Version). Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” for the first time. Most fans would agree that Red (Taylor’s Version) was a pivotal moment in the fandom and also in the general public. From “I Bet You Think About Me” allowing Taylor to reclaim her spot on country radio and solidify her place as an icon in country music, to the All Too Well: Short Film which made everyone lose their minds and secured Taylor a Grammy, to having the entire internet in a Jake Gyllenhaal hating frenzy, asking him the question of the century: WHERE THE HELL IS THE SCARF? There is no denying that it was iconic and one of the best eras of the superstar’s career. It can also be argued that, although Taylor Swift has always been Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version) played a huge part in catapulting her career to the insane level that it is today.
After the thrill that was the Red (Taylor’s Version) era and the complete success and thrill of the Midnights era, fans were calculating Taylor’s every move to try and guess what she would do next. Blondie has a big thing for easter eggs, she’s called a “Mastermind” for a reason. This tends to generate tons of fan theories that make perfect sense to Swifties but seriously raise the eyebrows of those not in the loop. Most of the time these theories are completely off and end up with a lot of fans disappointed, despite the theories having no real backing to them, for example, expecting a surprise album drop based on how many times Taylor touches her hair in a video. Once in a blue moon, fans finally get it right. May 5th was one of those rare occasions. At Nashville Night One of the Eras Tour, Taylor announced Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). As a self-proclaimed Speak Now girly, I was over the moon. I was feeling a little slighted knowing that when I would see her only two days later there would only be one Speak Now song on the setlist (“Mine” ended up being one of my surprise songs so Taylor, if you’re reading this, all is forgiven), but Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) getting a grand announcement made up for it.
Fans of the album were excited, assuming that with such an iconic announcement, an equally iconic era was obviously in store. This was not the case. After announcing the re-record, Swift barely even spoke about it until the release date came. No promo was done (understandable, due to her very demanding tour), no lead singles were released, and there wasn’t even a fun way to uncover the titles of the From The Vault tracks. Outrageous, I know! In between the time of the announcement and the release of the album, she released her four-year-old song “Cruel Summer” as a single, a remix of “Karma” featuring Ice Spice, a new version of “Snow On The Beach” with more vocals from Lana Del Rey featured on it, and the fan-favorite vault track from Midnights, “You’re Losing Me”. Basically, nothing signified that we were supposed to be in our Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) era. On the release day of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Swift had a concert in Kansas City. She celebrated the release deeming the concert as a “release party”, premiering a music video live of the Vault track, “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault)”, and adding “Long Live” to the setlist. Since that night, Taylor has barely even spoken about the album! She even removed her performance of “Long Live” from The Eras Tour film. This was very shocking to many fans considering that Speak Now has always been a fan-favorite and is, arguably, one of her best albums. Swift has made it pretty clear that she doesn’t feel the same way. Move over Evermore, Taylor has a new least favorite child.
Barely a month after the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) release, the Swiftie theories were proven right once again when the superstar showed up to her last show of the first U.S. leg of the Eras Tour in all-blue outfits and announced 1989 (Taylor’s Version). 1989 is probably Swift’s most popular and best-known album, so everyone is excited to see what she has in store. She has already claimed this as her favorite re-recording and basically breaking the internet by making people across the globe solve 31 million puzzles to unlock the Vault tracks. I’d say that this era is going to be one to remember, but not everyone believes the same.
Throughout the past year, Taylor has been dropping hints at a double album release as well as the release of reputation (Taylor’s Version), resulting in the theory that Swift will drop the re-recordings of 1989 and reputation at the same time or very closely together. This theory might sound crazy, but with all of the evidence that fans are gathering to support it, even I am starting to believe it. Hopefully, this isn’t true because 1989 and reputation are both so iconic and such remarkable milestones of Swift’s career that I think she knows it is in her best interest to release them separately and give them each their own time in the spotlight. Many think she might even drop TWO 1989 re-recordings instead! I’m all for this theory! In the end, if there is one album that can outshine 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and give it the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) treatment, it is reputation (Taylor’s Version). I guess we will just have to wait until this Friday when 1989 (Taylor’s Version) comes out! I’m crossing my fingers for all of my 1989 girlies out there that they get the re-recording era that they deserve!