Taylor Swift's "Taylor's Version" re-recorded albums -- which she began releasing in 2021 -- launched a debate among Swifties, her most dedicated fans. Which albums are better: the originals, or the re-recordings?
Apparently, her original albums are still her most popular among fans -- if you believe the data, anyway. According to The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week, Spotify streams from the artist's original music more than doubled after she announced she'd regained ownership of her masters.
There could be a few reasons people immediately started streaming her original albums after hearing the announcement. Maybe they just wanted to celebrate her -- after all, any streams of her music now go to her, so why not? But it's no secret -- if you're as deep into the Swiftieverse as I am -- that a lot of people actually didn't like many of the new versions of her songs. They preferred the originals -- many only listened to the new versions to avoid supporting the "stolen" versions by streaming them.
This became especially apparent with her last two "Taylor's Version" recordings, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and 1989 (Taylor's Version), both released in 2023 during The Eras Tour. A lot of fans complained about the mixing, and about how the new versions didn't sound as authentically "Swift" as the new versions.
I like all the new versions better than the originals, personally, but I also understand the seductive nature of nostalgia. Insert some unoriginal joke about preferring misogyny in my music here -- if you know, you know. Generally, people tend to resist change, and when it comes to music, if it doesn't sound like the original version you fell in love with when you were younger, chances are high you're not going to like it.
People are "free" to listen to whichever versions they prefer now, I suppose, though plenty of others were already doing that if they owned physical versions. Most of this is performative, "for the 'gram" and all that, let's not kid ourselves here. But she's making buckets upon buckets of money off of us either way now, so maybe everyone wins.
Whichever versions you choose, keep in mind that two things can be true at once: Taylor Swift can be genuinely grateful to own the full rights to her catalog again and use it to her financial advantage at the same time. Plenty of successful people very often capitalize on both. I can both celebrate Swift's win and acknowledge that by purchasing those masters, she's going to make even more money from the work she's already done. At least she gives it away whenever she can. I'll give her that.
What I'm most excited for in all this isn't the possibility of a few more re-recordings, or the idea that an artist I like might actually have achieved something that made her happy -- not an easy thing to do in that business, especially considering her unfathomable amount of fame. What I look forward to most ... is Taylor Swift finally leaving all this behind and focusing on new music. She's finally free.