Everything Taylor Swift Has Said About Re-Recordings

I know you've talked about re-recording. So where do you start? How far do you go? Are there rearranged songs? Are there new songs? Are there different songs? Well, I have almost a year to plan and to get things, you know, get all my ducks in a row. And I'm really going to be listening to the fans because, you know, there are some amazing ideas that they've had. Like I'm always looking on Instagram and Tumblr and Twitter and seeing what they would want. Like some of the things that they've said that are really interesting to me are like, I wrote the song Better Man for Little Big Town, making the number one country song and like CMA song of the year and stuff like they put that song all the way. But I wrote that during the Red, like it was originally going to be on the Red album. So it's like the fans are like, maybe she'll put Better Man, her version, on the Red album. And I was like, that's an amazing idea. So I'm going to be listening to what they are saying. I think they want me to kind of stick to the original production a bit, you know, make them pretty close because I don't think they'd want to hear like teardrops on my guitar, the pop version, like, you know. Well, the purists, right? There are purists out there that want to hear it. Or something like, yeah, I don't want to keep it original. And so the best part is like contractually, I can make them nearly identical to what they were originally, which is great. That is great. Well, that clarifies a little bit, because I was, you know, seeing all this, I'm like, I don't know what that means, you know, how and how, what a process that is. It's a weird part of our industry, but I'm actually really excited. Like this whole space of my life is very, is very much about freedom. To this day, none of these investors have ever bothered to contact me or my team directly to ask how I might feel about the new owner of my art. The music I wrote, the videos I created, photos of me, my handwriting, my album designs. The fact is that private equity is what enabled this man to think, according to his own social media post, that he could buy me. But I'm obviously not going willingly. Which brings us to Scooter Braun. Earlier this summer, Scooter Braun, a talent agent with whom Swift says she has a contentious relationship, acquired the rights to her previous recordings, her masters, when his company bought Scott Borchetta's Big Machine label group for a reported $300 million. Borchetta, who worked with Swift for years, says she and those close to her, including her dad, who was an investor, knew about the deal in advance and that Swift had previously been offered the chance to buy her own masters. She remembers it differently. And so you, you didn't see it coming. So how did you find out? I found out when it was online, like when it hit the news. Nobody in your inner circle? Nobody knew. And you didn't smell it? No. I knew he would sell my music. I knew he would do that. I couldn't believe who he sold it to. Because we've had endless conversations about Scooter Braun. And he has 300 million reasons to conveniently forget those conversations. Now, could you re-record? Oh, yeah. Might you do that? Oh, yeah. That's a plan? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, one thing about this album that's really special to me is that it's the first one that I will own. Which is a concept that they're very supportive of. I was going to wait to ask you about that. But since you went there, this is something that is very important to you. And you've also said that you're planning on re-recording some of your music. Are you going to do that? Yeah, that's true. And it's something that I'm very excited about doing because my contract says that starting November 2020, so next year, I can record albums one through five all over again. So I'm very excited about it. Because... Why is this so important to you? Because I just think that I think that artists deserve to own their work. I just feel very passionately about that. That they do as well. So you'll be doing that soon. So soon you will be doing the re-recording. Yeah, it's next year. It's right around the corner. I'm going to be busy. I'm really excited. I love that you have the support. So thank you for sharing that. Thank you for sharing that. And you can tell how passionate you are about that. Let's talk about something that I don't know. It's kind of weird to us because we don't want to think it exists. It's the music business. I know you've been in the news a lot talking about re-recording your songs because now someone else owns them. I got to see. I'm in the music business. I don't even understand it. I don't want to understand it. All I know is the songs that you are famous for, I will always consider those your songs. Thank you. Always. No matter who has the title and deed to the property. I don't understand it. Don't need it. Thank you. Well, it's kind of... I'm glad that this has shown light on it because it's a sort of insidious part of our business. It's not right. I don't even want to hear about it. But I... You don't have to hear about it. Good. But I want to do part two. Lover, your album. This is yours. It's mine. Yeah, you own this. It's... She's mine. Fully mine. If it sinks or swims, it's all you, baby. Yeah. It's good. It's swimming so far. I'm happy to take full ownership of this album. And so from a business point of view, I mean, that must really hit your heart as it seems like, as you were just saying, it's yours. It must hit your heart in a wonderful way. Well, it's not just from a business perspective. It's like your heart belongs in that art that you made, you know? And the person who bought my art, he's never made any art in his life, so he doesn't know what it's like that he could never understand that personal connection when you make something. Right. And then someone buys it out from under you. That's just... I don't think that a lot of people understand that that's how our business works. It's not good. Yeah, they think we own what we make. So I think it's interesting to get that out there in case... There's so many people who want to be musicians and they need to learn these things because I didn't know these things when I was a teenager. And if I can say something loudly that somehow absorbs in people's consciousness that they need to really stand up for themselves and they need to fight for their right to own their work, it's not going to be given to them. People are going to try to take it from them their whole career. So they need to know what's theirs. From our side, from the fans' point of view, though, someone owning someone else's art is like someone owning the smell of a flower, owning the taste of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You can't own that. It's yours. But I get it. And we move on. But so when you hear Lover, the album, Out as a Midnight... It's mine! It's all Taylor Swift.