It’s official: Taylor Swift has officially regained ownership of all of her original albums after a dispute surrounding Scooter Braun and his temporary ownership of her music.
Now that the music is back with its rightful owner, it’s time to decide which version of Taylor’s music that fans like the most, her original music, or the albums that she entirely re-recorded so fans could still enjoy all their favourite songs?
The OG’s
It has to be agreed that many fans preferred the older music, with fans taking to social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram to share their opinions.
It has been said that the original versions of her songs were better because, like all artists, they truly represented what Swift was going through at the time that she wrote them. Her thoughts, feelings, fears, and accomplishments are translated through her art.
Fans have highlighted, for example, that her album Speak Now was far more angry and vengeful than the re-recorded version, with songs like Haunted and Better than Revenge arguably losing their dramatic and emotional touch.
Some fans were upset as the songs, one about the pain of losing someone she loved, and the other a sassy comeback with an “I-don’t-care attitude”, seemed to have lost their punch and raw emotion with the re-recording, just as with many of her older songs in albums such as Red and Reputation.
Taylor’s Version
To be fair to Taylor Swift, the original albums represented stages of her life and her emotions; going through happiness, sadness, losing people, loving people, and intense responses from critics and fans.
So, there’s no surprise that the newer versions lose the raw emotion because she’s likely moved on and healed from what those songs represented.
With her (not so) new relationship with Travis Kelce, making decent money, and showing the world and Scooter Braun that she was never going to back down, she is undoubtedly in a happier place than when the likes of All Too Well was written.
The re-recordings also offered fans new perspectives with songs from the vault and the universally loved All Too Well the 10 Minute Version (which also sparked the creation of a short film) and other new hits, while also offering new things to look forward to with every announcement of a new re-recording.
The Eras Tour
Finally, who could forget the huge sensation that was born from the whole ordeal: The Eras Tour. The tour spanned a huge portion of the world over the course of one hundred and forty-nine shows in fifty-one cities across five continents with shows in Japan, America, the UK, and many more.
With songs from every single album, the grand performance lasted three hours at every show. The feat carried out by Swift was arguably her biggest “see, look at me now” moment she has ever had throughout the course of her career.
The tour offered a space for fans and Taylor herself to both reminisce on old nostalgic memories, and look forward to future music together.
Inspiration can be pulled from the whole situation, and it can be seen as Taylor telling the world that even though people can try and kick you down, you can always get back up and try again.
Featured image credit: Amelia Fryer