T-Swift has been a legend for as long as I can remember, but lately, she’s been all the talk. Though I used to listen to her basic music and worshiped her album 1989, I was never a true Swiftie myself. It occurred to me nonetheless, that my entire “For You” page on Tik Tok has been all about her. Now, this could simply be because I’m exactly her target audience — heartbroken hopeless romantics that like Harry Styles and Phoebe Bridgers — but it also could be because she has the hype. As time went on and Taylor-related posts became more apparently inescapable, I began to really wonder why her popularity was resurfacing to this extent.
I don’t like to feel left out — like I’m talking serious FOMO here. Consequently, I made it my mission to uncover what this hype is all about.
So after stalking Taylor Swift and going down a rabbit hole, I discovered there is a lot of tea behind her current hype. I noticed her taking over my FYP when she started re-recording her albums. I questioned why it was such a big deal and I finally got my answer: she absolutely exposed her music label and was not out to play. In short, her first label — Big Machine Records — owned all her first six albums, and kept the rights even when she switched labels. In 2019, the rights were sold to Ithaca Holdings, owned by Scooter Braun — Justin Bieber’s and Kanye West’s manager. Swift exposed all three men for bullying her and found it unfair that Braun got the money for her playtime. With that being said, she girl-bossed and took matters into her own hands. She re-recorded all the songs so that fans could listen to the new version without Braun acquiring any money. Though this was the main goal, Swift took it as the perfect opportunity to not only give her fans remakes of the songs but also songs “from the vault,” AKA unreleased songs. “Red is about to be mine again, but it has always been ours,” Swift said about her album, Red in an Instagram post. Knowing this, it answered my question about her resurfacing hype.
On another note, I need to start with the fact that I single-handedly fell in love with Taylor Swift through this research process because of the simple fact that her music is not music, but art. She not only pours all of her soul into her music but has created a real story. As a second answer of where the sudden resurfacing of Swift’s hype came from, on November 12th, she turned her song “All Too Well” not only into a ten-minute version, but into a short film. The short film stars Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink. If you live under the same rock I’ve apparently been under, I can honestly describe it as indescribable. It takes you through such a raw journey of falling in and out of love. The actors did an amazing job at portraying the struggles of a relationship with an age gap that is so easily compared to Swift’s relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal that fans believed the original song was about. It’s truly a cinematic experience that left me heartbroken and in awe. No summary will ever do it justice; it’s definitely a must-watch, even if you’ve never listened to a Taylor Swift song in your life.
Thanks to a contract with the music label, Swift is legally able to re-record her first five albums — and will be able to re-record her sixth in late 2022 — and she still has Taylor Swift, Speak Now, 1989, and Reputation left. It’s pretty safe to say then, that the hype isn’t going away any time soon. I can also genuinely say that after watching All Too Well: The Short Film, I’m a step closer to becoming a certified Swiftie.