What's next for 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' now that Taylor Swift owns her music

USA Today

3 days ago

What's next for 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)' now that Taylor Swift owns her music
Taylor Swift shocked the fandom May 30 by not announcing her highly antissssssipated album "Reputation (Taylor's Version)" or debut album, but saying she purchased back all of her music, her films, her album art, unreleased songs and music videos.
She also added she will not rerecord her "Reputation" album.
Fans have clamored for months for Swift to rerelease her final two albums, most recently at the American Music Awards.
In a handwritten letter posted on her website, taylorswift.com, the singer explained her decision, adding she hadn't rerecorded more than a quarter of "Reputation (Taylor's Version)."
"The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it," she wrote. "All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it."
More: Taylor Swift finally sings long awaited 'Reputation' track
About 'Reputation'
Swift talked about her sixth album in Time Magazine when she was named Person of the Year.
'It's a goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure,' Swift told Time magazine during her person of the year interview in 2023. 'I think a lot of people see it and they're just like, sick snakes and strobe lights.'
She added that the vault tracks would be "fire." Her letter on May 30 said those vault tracks may still see the light of day if fans are "into the idea." To say they would be is a wild understatement.
"If it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have," she wrote. "It will just be a celebration now."
What about her debut album?
Swift did write that she had rerecorded her entire debut, self-titled album.
"I really love how it sounds now," she wrote. "Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-remerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about."
Her debut album launched her onto the country music scene in 2006 with hits like "Tim McGraw," "Our Song" and "Teardrops on My Guitar."
Over the years of her career, Swift has refined her vocal delivery, so fans have been curious to hear a new version of her first album — and to see how strong her Southern accent is for Round 2.
'Look What You Made Me Do': Swift on owning her masters
Swift had been on a mission to reclaim her first six albums since 2018, when her contract with Big Machine Records expired and, she said, the label would not sell her the masters, or original recordings of her songs.
Instead, Big Machine sold her self-titled, "Fearless," "Speak Now," "Red," "1989" and "Reputation" albums to private-equity group Ithaca Holdings, owned by Scooter Braun, who has represented stars like Kanye West and Justin Bieber. Swift took the fight back to the recording studio, a suggestion from Kelly Clarkson, to own her art and prevent the old versions from being played on streaming services. In 2019, Braun sold the masters to another company, Shamrock Holdings, for $300 million.
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Swift announced she purchased her catalog from Shamrock on May 30. Her letter did not include the price, but she indicate the success of her four rerecorded albums and the Eras Tour made the purchase possible.
Swift told Time the project of rerecording her albums feels like a mythical quest comparable to Lord of the Rings, the Avengers and Harry Potter.
'I'm collecting horcruxes," she said. "I'm collecting infinity stones. Gandalf's voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now.'
The singer signed with Universal's Republic Records in 2018 and made sure under her new deal she owned all her songs. And in 2021, Swift started to rerelease her albums, one-by-one with additional "from the vault" tracks. She released four:
April 9, 2021: "Fearless (Taylor's Version)"
"Fearless (Taylor's Version)" Nov. 12, 2021: "Red (Taylor's Version)"
"Red (Taylor's Version)" July 7, 2023: "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)"
"Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" Oct. 27, 2023: "1989 (Taylor's Version)"
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.