Mark your calendars for November 12th. On this special date, we will receive the re-release of Taylor Swift’s Red album, retitled Red (Taylor’s Version). The 2012 nostalgia will come flooding back with new versions of the radio hits like “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “22,” along with the heart-wrenching ballads, “All Too Well” and “Treacherous.”
If you’re unaware of this situation, Taylor Swift is re-recording all of her albums that she doesn’t own the masters for. In 2004, fifteen-year-old Taylor Swift signed her first record deal with Big Machine Records, and she released six albums before her contract was up in 2018. After, she switched labels to Universal’s Republic Records. You may be familiar with the name Scooter Braun, who is an integral part of why Swift is re-recording her albums. Big Machine Records sold Swift’s master recordings to private equity group Ithaca Holdings, an entity owned by powerhouse music manager Scooter Braun. He then sold her masters to another company, Shamrock Holdings, for a reported $300 million in 2019 (Bruner). Taylor publicly denounced the sale and promised to re-record those original six albums, this time with the masters under her own control. Now, anyone who plays the old versions of Swift’s first six albums right now will still pay into the bank of Braun.
In April, Swift dropped the re-recording of her 2008 album Fearless, and it received amazing reviews. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) skyrocketed to Number One on the Rolling Stone Top 200 Albums chart with what was, at the time, the biggest debut of the year. Streams of songs from the original Fearless dropped instantly as twelve songs from Taylor’s Version reached the Rolling Stone Top 100 Songs chart (Zemler). As well as the actual rerecording of the songs, each re-recorded album also includes songs “From the Vault” that Swift had written at the time of each album, but didn’t release. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) included six songs “From the Vault” and her upcoming rerecorded Red (Taylor’s Version) will include ten.
This will be the first time fans will be able to hear all 30 songs that were meant to be on Red. This album will include all twenty songs from the original Red (Deluxe Edition), ten songs “From the Vault” that include features from the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Chris Stapleton, as well as a ten-minute version of “All Too Well.”
Red (Taylor’s Version) will be released on Friday, November 12th, 2021 – a week earlier than originally planned. Taylor Swift shared the news of the changed release date in a tweet stating that she “can’t wait to celebrate the 13th with you and our new/old autumn heartbreak album.” She didn’t give a reason for the date change, but many fans speculate two reasons. First, thirteen has always been a significant number for Swift because her birthday is December 13th. Other fans speculate that the release date is a week earlier because Adele will be dropping a new album, 30, on November 19th, which she just announced.
Stay tuned for November 12th and good luck making it through listening to this album without shedding at least a few tears and ending with a big smile.
Works Cited:
Bruner, Raisa. “Why Is Taylor Swift Re-Rerecording Her Old Albums?” Time, Time, 25 Mar. 2021, https://time.com/5949979/why-taylor-swift-is-rerecording-old-albums/.
Zemler, Emily. “Taylor Swift to Release 'Red (Taylor's Version)' in November.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 30 Sept. 2021, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-red-taylors-version-1186388
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