The old Taylor, Taylor’s Version, and Me hee hee!

Are we out of the woods, yet?!

In a fight towards reclaiming her artistry, pop icon Taylor Swift has re-recorded almost all of her albums, 10 years after their initial release. It’s a long story why she had to do it, but the short version of it seeks to question how artists “own” their craft (i.e. things like intellectual property), how they earn and deal with publishers (especially now we’re at the age of streaming), and men (who obviously don’t deserve to be named 👀).

On the surface, it’s easy to see how Taylor’s move to re-record her albums means she just wants more profit out of them. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth. While Taylor, as the artist, deserves to profit as much as possible from her craft, there are deeper reasons why she had to do it. And those reasons are basically why fans love her — why I love her. 

I remember it all too well…

Have you ever looked at a picture from a decade ago, and then you found yourself drifting away from reality? It’s as if you’re now in that exact moment when that picture was taken? Yep, that’s what listening to Taylor’s old albums feels like.

Much like any piece of history, Taylor’s albums had always been mementos of our past. It’s a remembrance of time long gone and, as much as we want to deny, her songs have marked our histories (especially for me as I was in my pre-teen to teen years when those albums first came out). I vividly remember, I was in fourth grade, coming to terms with my sexuality, when Speak Now came out. You can just imagine how, for me, “Dear John” meant another “John.”

Ten years later, when I heard Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), I was basically transported back in time. I remember my younger Loreta who was repeating the chorus to “Mean” because some of my peers were not so welcoming of “non-straight” kids like I was. (I mean, I didn’t know “LGBT+” existed back then, though I knew I wasn’t straight — but that’s for another day). And in those moments when I think about the past, I also get to discover bits and pieces of myself that I wasn’t aware of or maybe I was too young to understand. These were the little secrets that younger me kept — just like how we get to now hear “secret” songs (“From The Vault”) that Taylor didn’t release back then. 

I just love it when All Too Well (10 minute version) transitions from the regular “You told me ’bout your past, thinking your future was me” to the extended “and you were tossing me the car keys, ‘F*** the patriarchy,’ key chain on the ground.” I’m sure you scream that part of the song, too! 😏

I don’t wanna grow up… but I have to

More than the nostalgia, Taylor’s re-recorded albums give off a sense of growth and maturity. Looking back on who she was, what things were going on in her career, or maybe how she viewed the world during the early 2010s — all of those affected the music she wrote. A decade later, much like everything else, she, too, has changed.

Evidently, Taylor has matured — not just in age, but also in the way she thinks. For example, in her song “Better Than Revenge,” she tells a story of how another woman allegedly stole her man. It originally had the lyrics of “she’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.” This negatively implied the other woman’s sexual life. In the re-recorded version, she changed the lyrics to “he was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches.” This now tells a non-sexist view that the man simply fell in love with another woman.

As a listener, this level of maturity and growth is not exclusive to Taylor. I, too, have matured and grown (or, I’d like to think I have), and I started perceiving things quite differently. In “Never Grow Up,” it took me a lot of time to understand why Taylor didn’t wanna grow up. I mean, when you’re an adult, you can do whatever you want. What’s not to like, right? As I grew older, I realized things haven’t really been better and I miss aspects of my childhood… such as the ability to take a nap in the afternoon. 😭

Are we out of the woods yet?

Back to my original question: have things improved, especially for artists?

See, Taylor’s re-recording of her albums is more than just to sell albums. Taylor’s feud with her record label placed a broken system onto the eyes of millions (if not billions) of people. Although, unfortunately, Taylor is not the first. She isn’t the first to have issues with her record label over rights or how they treat their artists. We’ve seen this in the likes of Dr. Dre, Prince, and — the one who famously tweeted to Taylor that she should re-record her catalog — Kelly Clarkson.

Will Taylor’s actions prompt a change in the industry? That remains to be seen. But if the current set up of things would continue, more Taylor Swifts would happen. We already saw how the entertainment industry stood up to large corporations with the months-long 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Will the music industry be next?

As a creative, I also can’t help but reflect on the entire Taylor Swift issue. What I learned is that art is not something that can be commodified and owned beyond the artist’s mind. While art’s physical pieces and its copies are sellable (to fans and record labels) the process, the magic, and the essence of that art will always be the artist’s. And, by extension, their fans — a shared experience, as others may say.

Listening to Taylor’s re-recorded album is like listening to a friend whom you’ve lost contact with but suddenly regained. Sure, you may talk about the same stories, but the added layers of what’s new make things more interesting. Whatever you feel about Taylor and her music, one thing remains: she has the potential to change the future of the music industry.

Taylor puts it best when she said she “comes back stronger than a ‘90s trend.”