NEW YORK (AP) — Last year, Taylor Swift gave us a lot of new music. This year it will be old — the pop star has announced she’s dropping the first of her re-recorded albums.
Swift said online Thursday that “Fearless: Taylor’s Version” is finished and “will be with you soon,” featuring re-recorded songs from Swift’s sophomore album, “Fearless.” The new set will have 26 songs — the original album had 13 — and also contain six never-before-released songs, tunes which “almost made” the album.
Swift will also release a new version of her song “Love Story” from “Fearless” on Thursday at midnight, just in time for Valentine’s Day weekend.
Swift has vowed to re-record her first six albums after music manager Scooter Braun announced that his Ithaca Holdings company had acquired Big Machine Label Group, the home to Swift’s first six albums. He then sold Swift’s catalog and the singer-songwriter complained she hadn’t been given a chance to acquire her masters.
“Fearless” was written when Swift was between 16-18 and earned Swift her first Grammy Award. The re-recorded version is likely to be embraced by her fans and push the original recordings lower in searches.
Swift hasn’t announced when “Fearless: Taylor’s Version” will be available but a statement she posted on Twitter included a hidden message using only the capital letters which reads: April Ninth.
“This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all my music,” she wrote.
In 2020, Taylor dropped two albums — “Folklore” and “Evermore.”