Dear Anti-Swifties,
You may have noticed all the talk recently about Red (Taylor’s Version) and honestly, I’m pretty disappointed with all the Taylor slander coming from those who won’t give her a chance. You people must barely know the girl. I mean, she’s a singer, songwriter, director, dancer, performer, and so much more. She grew up in West Reading, Pennsylvania but moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue country music at just fourteen. FOURTEEN! She signed a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music in 2004 and a record deal with Big Machine Records in 2005. In 2006 she released her debut album, Taylor Swift.
It didn’t take long for Taylord to gravitate toward pop music. She went into country-pop in 2008 with Fearless and continued in 2010 with Speak Now. She then fully explored pop in 2012 with Red and again in 2014 with 1989. There was a lot of media scrutiny on her personal life that resulted in Taylor isolating herself for a year and soon after releasing Reputation in 2017.
In 2018, Taylor left Big Machine to sign with Republic Records. This caused a lot of controversy over her masters’ ownership. The majority of her albums, Taylor Swift through Reputation were all created under Big Machine Records, now owned by Scooter Braun. When an artist creates a song, there are two main ownership components. First, is the lyrics, songwriting, and the song itself, which Taylor owns because she writes all of her own music. The other part of the ownership is the masters. The master is simply that one final recording that was released. Braun denied Taylor Swift ownership of her own masters, which started the (Taylor’s Version) era.
After the transition into Republic Records, Taylor released Lover in 2019 and then surprised her fans with two alternative albums, Folklore and Evermore in 2020. On top of being one of the world’s most renowned singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift released her Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018, the autobiographical documentary Miss Americana in 2020, and the self-directed films Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) and All Too Well: The Short Film, that was released last Friday along with Red (Taylor’s Version). After finishing her Folklovermore eras, Taylor began to put all of her energy towards re-recording her songs so she can own the masters of her new recordings. She began with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in April, and now Red (Taylor’s Version), which is my all-time favorite. I mean, come on, ten whole minutes of All too Well? If you’ve listened to either of the new albums, you may have noticed songs that say (From The Vault). That simply means Taylor wrote this song during the original era but did not release it with the rest of the album at first, but she included it now.
So, what’s next? Taylor is famous for hiding easter eggs in her social media posts, music videos, interviews, or other public appearances to give us a hint of what comes next. Some Swifties think 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is next because Swift released Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version) because of the slow-zoom TikTok trend, but other Easter Eggs point to Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) being next. However, Taylor has not gone on tour since canceling Lover Fest in 2020 due to the pandemic. Should we expect a Folklovermore tour? Or a Taylor’s Version tour? The easter egg hunt never stops for Swifties.
Have I converted you yet? Being an Anti-Swiftie is so treacherous. I know it all too well. Just some more fun facts because I know you all are trouble. She has 200 million records sold worldwide, 11 Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, 12 CMA Awards, 25 Billboard Music Awards, 32 AMAs, 49 Guinness World Records, and was featured on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. She was also named Woman of the Decade (the 2010s) by Billboard at the AMAs. Taylor has also been recognized for her women’s rights and artists’ rights advocacy. Join the Swifties, stay stay stay with us. This is the last time I’m going to ask you, lucky one!
Sincerely,
Kaitlyn Jollimore
A Taylor Swift Fan, Forever & Always