This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Siena chapter.
As many of us know, Taylor Swift has been battling with her ex-label group, Big Machine Label Group and Scooter Braun since around November of 2019. Her situation was hard for a lot of people to understand, deal with and get over. I could only imagine what she went through.
Photo by makaiyla willis distributed under a CC BY 2.0 license
What happened was that she decided to leave Big Machine Label Group (whom she had a contract with). She was not allowed to perform any songs she had recorded under her contract with them during the American Music Awards. While all of this was going on, Taylor was being honored with the Artist of the Decade Award at the 2019 award show. She had planned on performing a medley of songs that she had recorded under her ex-label group, as well as some others. She came out publicly on social media and stated that Big Machine Label Group was keeping her from doing so and that while recording her Netflix documentary Miss Americana, she was unable to use any music from that time either. She also stated that the label said she had to hold off on re-recording any of the songs until 2020. This public “call-out” promoted Taylor’s ex-label group to release a statement saying that they never did this, and that she was free to perform at the American Music Awards and that they never said she could not use songs recorded under their contract with her in the Netflix documentary. Needless to say, it was a huge, drawn-out scenario and well, 2020 came and we didn’t hear any re-recordings…that is until February 12, 2021, Love Story (Taylor’s Version) released right at midnight!
On the morning of February 12, 2021, Taylor released a re-recorded version of her famous song “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)“. I am under the assumption that all of the songs she is going to re-record will have “Taylor’s Version” written after the title for distinction. Due to this, the hashtag “#TaylorsVersion” was trending on all social media platforms. Her fans have been so supportive and can’t wait for her to re-record all of her other songs as well.
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When I first listened to her re-recording, I was so happy because it reminded me of “old Taylor.” By this, I mean that she seemed more like herself and that the flow of the music was very similar to when she first started recording music — like, way back when she was first starting out with country music. I have noticed a few differences in the song though. There’s times where I was singing along in my head and I sang a part that wasn’t in the re-recording. But that happened maybe one or two times. Overall, I love it and I’m so happy that she was able to get some freedom and be herself again.
I feel like having something like this taken away from her was probably heart-breaking. She’s the one who wrote the song and poured her heart and soul into it, and for someone to say that it isn’t hers anymore and that she couldn’t re-record anything until a later date is horrible. It had to be like losing part of who she was. Nonetheless, that part of her is back and it’s back stronger and better than ever before. She is becoming who she wants to be again and isn’t being forced to be something she isn’t. #TaylorsVersion
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To listen to the full version of Love Story (Taylor’s Version) click here.
To read a few articles about Taylor’s battle with her label, click here and here.
Nicole Caldara is Siena College Class of 2021 alumna. During her time at Siena, she studied Psychology and also had a Business minor and a Human Resource Development minor.
