Taylor Swift Fans Are Full of Emotions After She Buys Back Her Masters: ‘Taylor ALWAYS Wins'
Taylor Swift fans are very, very used to the pop star surprising them — but she might have just outdone herself with the announcement that she's purchased back the masters to her first six albums, following an arduous six-year fight to do so.
The news comes after a bitter public feud with her old label boss Scott Borchetta, who in 2019 sold his Big Machine Label Group — along with Swift's catalog — for upwards of $300 million to Scooter Braun, a situation the 14-time Grammy winner said at the time was her 'worst-case scenario.' Also in a message posted to her Tumblr after the sale, she wrote that she'd learned about the deal 'as it was announced to the world' and added, 'All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I've received at his hands for years.'
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Braun would later sell his ownership of Swift's music to Shamrock Capital, and the musician would busy herself on a mission to re-record the albums she made with Big Machine. Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version), Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and 1989 (Taylor's Version) all sprung from this venture, topping the Billboard 200 each time and fueling the success behind Swift's blockbuster Eras Tour.
So when the 'Fortnight' singer revealed in a letter on her website Friday (May 30) that she had finally won control over her masters, purchasing them from Shamrock for an amount that sources tell Billboard was about $360 million, fans were shocked — not just because of how long the journey has been up until this point, but also because of what it means for the long-awaited Taylor Swift and Reputation re-records. (In her letter, Swift shared that she's already finished re-doing the former, but hasn't even completed 'a quarter' of the latter. 'To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first six that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it,' she wrote, adding that 'there will be a time … for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch.')
The day has been full of mixed emotions for Swifties, as many are sad to hear that Reputation may not get the full Taylor's Version treatment after all. But more than anything, the overwhelming feeling in the fanbase's online community has been elation since Swift shared her news. 'THIS IS BETTER THAN REP TV,' one fan wrote on X. 'THIS IS REPUTATION!!!!!!! THE WHOLE THING!!! RECLAIMING HERSELF!!!!! ALL. OF. IT.'
'the moral of the story is taylor ALWAYS wins in the end,' another person posted, while a third Swiftie wrote, 'oh taylor you are so loved. the whole world was rooting for you.'
Many fans have also been rejoicing in the fact that they can now stream the original versions of Swift's first six albums without having to worry anymore about supporting her competitors. 'I'm so happy for Taylor Swift!' wrote one happy camper on X. 'She owns all of it!!!!!! I can now go back and listen to all of her original albums and not feel guilty 😭 TODAY IS A GOOD DAY!!!!!'
See how Swifties are reacting to the singer's big purchase below.
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