Taylor Swift Releases “Red (Taylor’s Version)”

Earlier this year, Taylor Swift has announced she is re-recording her first six albums. Each of the re-recordings have been dubbed Taylor’s Version. Today the second of these albums to be rereleased has dropped and it’s Red (Taylor’s Version).

Red was Swift’s fourth album and was released in 2012. The original version of Red featured 16 tracks. Red (Taylor’s Version) features 30 tracks, including nine unreleased tracks as well as collaborations with Phoebe Bridgers, Gary Lightbody, Ed Sheeran and Chris Stapleton.

“It never would have been possible to go back & remake my previous work, uncovering lost art & forgotten gems along the way if you hadn’t emboldened me. Red is about to be mine again, but it has always been ours. Now we begin again. Red (my version) is out” commented Swift on her Twitter account.

Back in November 2018, Swift departed Big Label Music for Universal Music Group. While Swift had been with Big Label her whole career, the deal with Universal Music Group gave her ownership of any music she recorded. The following year Big Machine sold Swift’s first six albums to Scooter Braun, a music manager. Swift claimed the deal “stripped her of her life’s work” and was not given the opportunity to buy back her recordings. Braun would sell Swift’s catalog to Shamrock Holdings in November of 2020. When it was clear she would not have the opportunity to buy back her recordings, she embarked on re-recording the albums herself.

Red (Taylor’s Version) follows Fearless (Taylor’s Version) which was the first of Swift’s re-recorings to be released earlier this year.