Taylor Swift announced her fourth re-recording, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), during her final US show in Los Angeles, California on August 9th. “My most favorite re-record I’ve ever done,” Swift writes on her social media accounts.
“There’s something I’ve been planning for a really, really, really, ridiculously, embarrassingly long time. And instead of telling you about it, I think I’ll just sort of… show you,” she said to fans, before the surprise song set, at Sofi stadium, and revealed a banner containing the album cover and its release date.
The announcement of the album had been anticipated by fans for months, especially after the numerous easter eggs that Swift has left in her music videos and after the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
1989 was originally released on October 27th, 2014. The album has come full circle now with the re-release happening on October 27th, 2023. Swift writes that the album has “changed my life in countless ways.”
The re-recorded album is going to consist of 21 tracks, the original album included 13 tracks. The additional 5 songs are what Swift and her fans call vault tracks- they are songs that were written for the album but didn’t make the original cut. On her social media, she says that vault tracks are “insane.”
The original 1989 album was Swift’s first full pop album. Fans expect that 2014 pop ‘vibe’ to manifest again in the rerecording, now with Swift’s matured voice.
The past two re-recordings- Red and Speak Now– have had a new music video, so there is a possibility that there might be one or two for 1989 TV.
As far as merch or music-related items, there have been four vinyl variant releases: a light blue (the generic one), a green, a yellow, and a pink. All of the variants have different covers and gatefold art.
When the rerelease was first announced there was a drop of CD variants- which only lasted a few hours- in four different colors. All CD variants have different covers and contain unique polaroids- to be discovered when October 27 arrives. The original release also included polaroids- to pull in the ‘1989 aesthetic’- so Swift continuing that with the CDs is an enjoyable way to bring back the ‘feel’ of the original release.
Swift was 24 years old when she released 1989, now she’s re-releasing it at 33, and her voice has matured vastly. The album has many songs that portray Taylor’s vocal range, so fans are excited to hear how her mature voice handles the high and low notes.
Ever since Taylor Swift’s masters was sold she has been re-recording and re-releasing the first 6 albums of her discography. According to People, Swift told her fans at Sofi Stadium “Since I was a teenager, I wanted to own my music, the way to do it was to re-record my albums, and the way that you have embraced … that you have celebrated, that you really decided that it was your fight too, and that you were 100% behind me … I will never stop thanking you for that.”
She released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) first, on the 9th of April, 2021. Red (Taylor’s Version) followed on November 21, 2021. Almost 2 years went by before the subsequent re-release, but Swift released Midnights, her 10th studio album, on the 21st of October, 2022. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was the most recent re-release on July 7th, 2023.