SHANGHAI, CHINA - NOVEMBER 10: Taylor Swift performs live on stage during the 1989 World Tour Live ... [+]
Last month, Taylor Swift returned to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with her latest release Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which launched atop the tally with the largest debut of 2021. The set was her ninth to lead the charge, and it’s only the first in a series of half a dozen titles that are part of a war she’s waging against a handful of wealthy investors.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) features re-recordings of every song featured on Swift’s sophomore set Fearless, which was a massive commercial and critical success over a decade ago. The country star slightly reworked (and renamed) the tunes and added a few unreleased cuts and called it a new project, which fans were more than happy to snap up. She did this not as a money grab or for chart glory, but in an attempt to regain some control over her material, which has now been bought and sold against her wishes.
Hitting No. 1 with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was a big move for Swift, but it was just one battle in this war...and this may be a fight that nobody completely wins.
In re-recording Fearless, Swift was clearly hoping that from here on out, fans will opt to listen to Fearless (Taylor’s Version) instead of the original, which somewhat devalues the first release. She would surely love if moving forward, those who can’t get enough of tracks like “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me” and “Fifteen,” among many others, will stick with the 2021 versions and not those that made her a star over 10 years ago.
The goal was to get people to buy these songs, purchase the album, and save the updated singles on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music for all future consumption needs. So, while one huge week is certainly impressive and noteworthy, will fans completely disregard the originals in favor of the new takes?
Superfans of Swift (“Swifties”) are the most likely to delete years-old downloads and unsave the original versions of successful songs, as they are fully tapped into what the musician is doing and the struggles she’s going through. But what of casual listeners? While her fight with Scooter Braun and Shamrock Holdings has been played out in the media, millions of people, even some who would identify themselves as fans of hers, have no idea what’s happening...or that anything bad has gone down at all.
Winning the war against those who now control the masters to her first six full-lengths would appear to mean convincing the vast majority of listeners to opt for her re-recorded compositions, and that would require a full-scale educational campaign. Swift doesn’t look ready to invest that kind of money and effort into such a program, which would probably involve a lot of press and marketing, and which is confusing to the everyday person who doesn’t follow the music industry.
Swift may have to make peace with several new No. 1 albums, plenty of Hot 100 hits and with knowing that many of her die-hard followers are with her in this fight.
At this point, it looks like this war might not be worth “winning” for Swift, but she has the power and the popularity to not only make a stand and claim victory in battle after battle, but to do so all while coming out as the more sympathetic and more impressive of the two parties.
