Taylor Swift has spoilt her fans this year. Album after album and plenty of teasers, swifties are appropriately losing their minds. So, what is this international star up to next? It is incredibly easy to get confused in the whirlwind of Taylor Swift’s discography. With so many re-recordings happening mixed in with her ‘from the vault’ songs, there’s always a lot for everyone to catch up on.
For any budding swifties, or curious people wondering what on earth is going on, I’m here to take you on a guided tour of Taylor Swift. As a lifelong swiftie myself, I am fully qualified to be your tour guide for this ride. Get comfortable now, because it is a long journey.
Who Is Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift was born on December 13th 1989. She rose to fame as a young teenager when Big Machine Records signed her in 2005. In 2018, Taylor moved to Republic Records at Universal as her contract with Big Machine Records ended. Since then Taylor has released nine studio albums plus two re-records as of January 2022. Taylor grew up on a Christmas tree farm (as mentioned on her Christmas single Christmas Tree Farm) in Pennsylvania but then moved to Tennessee with her family to pursue her singing career. She has won a large collection of awards for her singing and songwriting since the beginning of her career.
Re-Records
When Taylor Swift first signed with Big Machine Records, they would hold all of the master copies of her work (that she writes herself). Once the contract ended in 2018, and she moved to Republic Records at Universal, Big Machine Records sold the master copies to Scooter Braun (at Ithaca Holdings) and then onto Shamrock Holdings. As a well-established artist now, Taylor Swift took this case to court and won the right to re-record her old master copies under her ownership.
With dedicated Swifties by her side only listening to the re-records and never the old albums, this removes all value for anyone holding the masters as all profit is now coming in from Taylor’s re-records. Along with her re-records, Taylor is releasing a variety of old unreleased songs she calls ‘from the vault’ that she wasn’t allowed to release under her old label. Taylor is constantly pulling out bold yet fantastic moves to claim back her work for herself as a strong woman in the music industry.
What’s Next
Taylor Swift has already re-recorded her second studio album Fearless and her fourth, Red in 2021, leaving fans ecstatically happy. Through the whole of 2020, Taylor has left Easter eggs for her fans to find and decipher. From simple yet subtle choices of colour in Instagram posts, to certain design choices in her I Bet You Think About Me music video, fans are trying to decipher this code. Nothing has been announced for certain, but many fans are placing bets on Speak Now or 1989 to be released next.
For those who don’t know, Speak Now has risen to more recognition recently as it features the TikTok favourite song Enchanted, while 1989 has a range of iconic and well-loved songs on the album including Wildest Dreams, Style and Shake It Off.
Personally, if you are interested in delving in the deep, never-ending world of Taylor Swift’s Easter eggs, I would suggest following @swifttokdetective on TikTok. @swifttotkdetective thoroughly investigates absolutely everything Taylor and her team post on all social media and composes a variety of theories about new songs, albums and re-recordings.
Surprise
It is fair to say, what is coming in 2022 will be a surprise to us all. With Taylor’s fun unpredictability and so many unreleased re-recordings, 2022 has the chance to be a Swift-filled year of a variety of new ‘from the vault’ songs and fantastically re-recorded albums.
If you have never been a fan before, or are on the verge of falling into the fandom, now is the best time to do so. New fans can experience all her iconic eras for the first time with the same enthusiasm as the original releases had. If you are a swiftie that has been around for years, it is only getting better.