"Love Story (Taylor's Version)" is streaming now, after releasing at midnight Friday, Feb. 12, on major platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music
A fearless bid to reclaim an icon's catalogue starts with Taylor Swift's new song "Love Story (Taylor's Version)." Yes, Swift's declaration to remake her first five albums is finally actually happening. And the full re-recording of her first album, now dubbed Fearless (Taylor's Version) is coming on April 9.
For those unaware, Swift engaged in a very public war over her first six albums. The masters were bought by industry mogul Scooter Braun's company Ithaca Holdings from her former record label, Big Machine. (Ithaca subsequently sold them to the investment fund Shamrock Capital.)
Swift revealed a history of "incessant, manipulative bullying" from Braun and his comrades, including Kanye West and Justin Bieber (seen in a photo shared in her Tumblr post documenting the struggle).
That means any time someone uses music from those albums, whoever owns the masters profits (though Swift does get a cut as the songwriter).
However, Swift was legally able to start re-recording new masters for the first five albums as of November 2020. And despite releasing two brand-new albums last year, folklore and evermore, she jumped on the project.
For those counting along at home, Swift can't re-record Reputation until five years after its 2017 release due to contractual reasons.
In the Instagram post announcing the re-recorded version of Fearless, Swift included a note with a little Easter egg. All of the capital letters, when compiled together, spell "APRIL NINTH."
Swift's Instagram caption notes that Fearless (Taylor's Version) will include a total of 26 songs, "including 6 never before released songs from the vault."
This is just the latest piece of proof that Swift has had the most productive pandemic of anyone, following her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore.
How to listen to Taylor Swift's Love Story (Taylor’s Version)
The single is streaming now after dropping at midnight ET Friday, Feb. 12, on all major platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.The CD and vinyl versions of
"Fearless (Taylor's Version)" are available for pre-order, along with everything from hoodies to pop-sockets with the album cover, at store.taylorswift.com.
Watch and listen to the official lyric video for "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" below.
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