Yesterday (December 6), Taylor Swift was named Time‘s Person Of The Year for 2023. Throughout the in-depth cover story, Swift discussed how she is currently re-recording the last two (her self-titled and Reputation) of her first six albums — and what led to that point.
For those who don’t know, Swift had been with Big Machine Records before moving to Universal Music Group. However, instead of reportedly giving her the chance to buy her masters, they were sold to her enemy, Scooter Braun.
“With the Scooter thing, my masters were being sold to someone who actively wanted them for nefarious reasons, in my opinion,” Swift said. “I was so knocked on my ass by the sale of my music, and to whom it was sold. I was like, ‘Oh, they got me beat now. This is it. I don’t know what to do.'”
However, thanks to the help of another pop star, she was given the idea to re-record them — and would own them completely through her new deal at UMG.
“I’d run into Kelly Clarkson and she would go, ‘Just redo it,'” she added. “My dad kept saying it to me, too. I’d look at them and go, ‘How can I possibly do that?’ Nobody wants to redo their homework if on the way to school, the wind blows your book report away.”
The effort has clearly paid off, as the “Taylor’s Version” rerecordings have earned Swift a bunch more more No. 1’s and accolade.
