Taylor Swift No Longer Needs to Re-Record Debut Album & ‘Reputation,' But Have Fans Come to Expect ‘Taylor's Version'?
After Taylor Swift surprised the world late last week with the news that she now owns the masters of her first six albums, once the dust settled, fans wondered: Will the final two planned re-recordings of her self-titled 2008 debut album and of 2017's Reputation ever see the light of day?
The thing is, even though Swift no longer has an express reason to re-record the projects to reclaim their ownership, her fans have grown accustomed to the fanfare around the Taylor's Version releases, including unheard 'From the Vault' tracks and new music videos.
More from Billboard
Taylor Swift Buys Back Her Masters From Shamrock, Reclaiming Her First Six Albums
Janet Jackson & Jennifer Lopez Aren't Leaving Las Vegas Anytime Soon After 2025 AMAs
Rihanna Returns to Her Old 'Friend' Music, But Is 'Smurfs' Song the Musical Return Fans Wanted?
Swift addressed the burning question directly in her open letter to fans posted on her website Friday, revealing that she had only re-recorded 'a quarter' of Reputation, while she had 'completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now.' She also said both 'can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.'
On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking all about Swift being reunited with her first six albums and what the circumstances might be for their Taylor's Version re-releases.
Listen to the full podcast here:
Also on the show, we've got chart news on how Alex Warren hits No. 1 for the first time on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with 'Ordinary,' and, while Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a second week, two more Wallen albums join Problem in the top 10, making him only the seventh act in the last 60 years to have at least three albums simultaneously in the top 10.
The Billboard is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard's weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard's executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard's managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or or your favorite podcast provider. ( on Billboard.com.)
Best of Billboard
Drake's Historic Chart Week: How He Matched The Beatles' 57-Year-Old Record
How Elton John Keeps Up His Hot 100 Hot Streak With Dua Lipa Duet 'Cold Heart'
Pink's 'All I Know So Far' Has Us Looking Back at the History of Live Music on the Charts
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Grammys Add New Country Category for 2026
Country music is getting a new Grammy category: best traditional country album. It is the only new music category being added for the 68th annual Grammy Awards in 2026. To reflect the change, the existing best country album category has been renamed best contemporary country album. The new category will join the 13 other categories in Field 5, four of which are specifically dedicated to country, while the others cover American roots, Americana, bluegrass, blues, folk and regional roots music. More from Billboard Here's When the Eligibility Period for 2026 Grammys Will End & Other Key Dates DJ Akademiks Denies Taking Payola From Drake During Kendrick Battle Raekwon and Ghostface Killah Release Trailer for 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx' Documentary New categories are considered from proposals submitted to the Recording Academy's Awards & Nominations committee, which are then voted on by the Academy's board of trustees. 'The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored,' Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. tells Billboard. 'They said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored.' Mason said the proposal had been submitted a number of times previously before passing this year. The move helps bring the country categories more in line with other genres which separate contemporary and traditional albums or performances, including R&B, pop and blues. 'It makes country parallel with what's happening in other genres,' Mason says, 'But it is also creating space for where this genre is going.' The definition for the new category reads, in part, 'This category recognizes excellence in albums of traditional country music, both vocal and instrumental. Traditional country includes country recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, as well as traditional country instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar, and live drums. It also includes sub-genres such as Western, Western Swing, and Outlaw country.' The hope is that the new category benefits artists who fall outside of mainstream, commercial country music, such as Charley Crockett, Sierra Ferrell, Colter Wall and Noeline Hoffman, who have previously been nominated into the Americana and American roots categories. (Both Crockett and Ferrell were nominated for best Americana album for the 2025 Grammy Awards, with Ferrell's Trail of Flowers taking home the Grammy.) 'The issues have been, traditionally, a lot of people that weren't sure whether [an album] was Americana or roots or folk or country were just jamming everything into one category,' Mason says. 'There are obviously nuances between the different genres. Those experts in those genres understand those nuances, and I'm quite certain now you're going to see the right people going into Americana versus folk versus traditional country. [The change] gives us an opportunity to put things in more specific categories.' As all subgenres of country grow in popularity, Mason says the addition of a new category gives more chances to share the wealth. 'People from that community are making more music, it's more varied, there's different styles of writing and performing,' he says. 'I'm hopeful that that community understands that the academy is doing what it always does, which is stay in tune with what's happening in their genre.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Michigan lawmakers unite in ‘bad blood' against ticket bots in Taylor Swift inspired bills
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: Taylor Swift attends the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo byfor The Recording Academy) Just as Taylor Swift brought together over 100,000 people to her two Detroit concert nights in 2023 during her Eras Tour, the often partisan-split Michigan legislature seems to have laid its armor down to ban online ticket bots from skipping lines and getting past ticket number limits, preventing fans from getting tickets to see shows. This was the case when Eras Tour tickets went on sale in November of 2022, which fans refer to as The Great War, where glitches and online bots prevented many fans from being able to purchase a ticket for the tour off of Ticketmaster. But even as elected officials in Michigan's Legislature clash on appropriations in the state budget in the Democratic-led Senate and Republican-led House, they're coming together and have both passed bills out of committee to create an Event Online Ticket Sales Act. The bipartisan bills, House Bills 4262 and 4263 and Senate Bills 158 and 159, would prohibit individuals from creating or utilizing a bot that can circumvent ticket purchasing limits, hop the line in online queues or otherwise defrauding the online ticket buying experience through software or bot programs. On the House side, which cleared its bills out of committee with bipartisan support earlier this month, one of the sponsors, Rep. Mike Harris (R-Waterford Township) told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee that bad actors are exploiting the system and preventing people and their families from experiencing sporting events and concerts important to them. 'As a father of six, yes, I have attended a Taylor Swift concert. That was my duty as a father of four girls,' Harris said during committee. 'I believe these are meaningful safeguards that will increase transparency and ensure a much fairer purchasing process for people here in Michigan.' The House bills cleared the committee unanimously. On the Senate side, Wednesday, the bills cleared the Finance, Insurance, and Consumer Protection Committee nearly unanimously, except for one pass by Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) on Senate Bill 159, which like House Bill 4262, would place a $5,000 civil fine on each violation to the Event Online Ticket Sales Act and allow the Michigan Attorney General's Office to bring civil action against violators. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Forbes
37 minutes ago
- Forbes
3 Questions To Ask Yourself To Boost Your Personal Brand
Who made Superman's personal brand what it is today? And what can you as an experienced leader learn ... More from that? Photo: Actor Brandon Routh launches the New Wax Figure of Superman from "Superman Returns" - June 27, 2006 at Madame Tussauds in New York, United States. (Photo by Michael Loccisano) As an experienced leader, your personal brand may not be as visible as Superman's. But just because you don't wear an S on your chest or a cape on your back, don't think your personal brand doesn't matter. In fact, if you suddenly find yourself job hunting, it's likely your personal brand that will determine whether or not you succeed. So what is your personal brand? And how do you boost it if it's not a matter of buying a shinier – and tighter – suit? In the movie, Batman Begins, Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne argues that people need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy – and that he can't do that as a man: 'As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed. But as a symbol… As a symbol, I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting.' Is that the answer to what your personal brand is? A symbol that makes you incorruptible and everlasting? As opposed to a man – or woman – of flesh and blood? With the promises of AGI flooding the news, it's tempting to say yes. After all, the job market is insatiable when it comes to people and machines that can out-think, out-pace, and out-perform other people and machines. And doesn't that call for super-human leaders who can shake everyone out of apathy? Before you rush to decide on a symbol that can neither be ignored nor destroyed, let's ask who made Superman and Batman's personal brands what they are today. Was it their alter egos, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne? The comic book writers who invented the superheroes? The actors who embodied them on screen? Or the millions of readers and viewers who have followed them through generations? Of course, there is no single answer to who created Superman and Batman's personal brands. And the same goes for you and your personal brand. No matter how much time you spend defining who you are and what you want others to think and say about you, you cannot control how you are perceived. What you can – and should – do is ask yourself three questions that have guided flesh and blood humans for millennia. In the early 1700s, the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz came up with what is often described as the greatest philosophical question of all, namely: why is there something rather than nothing? This may seem like a peculiar question – not least in the context of personal branding. But reminding yourself of how Leibniz took the age-old question of why our universe is the way it is to the next level by asking why there is a universe at all can actually be a really good way to boost your personal brand. In addition to asking yourself questions about your personal values and career goals, asking questions that put you and your contribution as a leader in the greatest possible context will help you focus your efforts where they matter most. After all, if there is no industry, company, product, or customer demand for you to lead, your values and career goals will be as redundant as Batman without Gotham. So to boost you personal brand, don't focus on your personal brand. Instead, focus on why there is something rather than nothing for you to lead. And how you can help take industries, companies, products and customers to the next level. Great philosophical questions can be divided into three categories. Epistemological questions about how we know what (we think) we know – e.g. 'why is there something rather than nothing?' Ethical questions about what is the right thing to do. And existential questions about who we are as humans. Common to these three categories of questions is that no one – least of all a machine – can answer them for you. Also, they cannot be answered once and for all. And with ethical questions, like 'what is the right thing to do?', you must not only ask them again and again, you must ask them again and again – each day! While the advantage of being a symbol is that you can, in the words of Bruce Wayne, be incorruptible and everlasting, the advantage of being human is that you cannot. You can become corrupt, and you will eventually die. 'How is this an advantage?', you might ask. And you should. It only takes one bad decision to destroy your personal brand. And there are no guarantees. Even when you think you're making all the right decisions based on all the right answers, others may see it differently. And that's the advantage of being human: that your personal brand is negotiable. Changeable. Evolving. Just as it only takes one bad decision to destroy your personal brand, it only takes one question to start fixing it. It's not your answer to 'What is the right thing to do?' that make or break your personal brand. It's your willingness to keep asking it. Being corruptible, negotiable, and changeable is not only essential to your personal brand. It's essential to being you. Unlike Clark Kent and Superman, and Bruce Wayne and Batman, you and your personal brand are not two distinctive entities. Your flesh and blood is indistinguishable from your personal brand and vice versa. That's why you act differently in different situations. While Batman, who, in the words of the Joker, is destined to do the same thing forever, you are neither 'an unstoppable force' (like the Joker describes himself) nor 'an immovable object' (like Batman). You, like the people on the boats in The Dark Knight Rises, act according to who you are right here and right now. Sometimes you do as expected, sometimes you don't. Being a flesh and blood human as opposed to a symbol means asking the existential questions that help you assess and adapt to the situations you find yourself in. While the promise of AGI and superheroes is to out-think, out-pace, and out-perform everything and everyone, your job as a human leader is to see and hear the world from within. Like the industries, companies, products, and people you lead, you are a temporal being. You occupy a specific place at a specific time in history that enables you to see, hear, and act on some things and prevents you from seeing, hearing, and acting on others. It is because you are situated that you are able to take a position, make your perspective count, and build a personal brand. Not in spite of it. Because you cannot be everywhere at once, it matters where you choose to spend your time now. And now. Every moment, you prioritize and focus on something instead of something else. Someone instead of someone else. This prioritization and focus is what determines whether or not you succeed. In your job hunt and everything else.
