Taylor Swift has established herself as an irresistible force. In her 31 years on this planet, Taylor Swift has achieved a lot. She has 41 Grammy nominations and 11 awards to her credit, along with nine studio albums and seven number-one singles. Swift’s re-release of Fearless reached Number 1 in the United Kingdom on Friday, giving her three No. 1 albums in the United Kingdom in just 259 days.
Folklore, Evermore, and Fearless are the albums, of course. Fearless (Swift’s Edition) is Swift’s third No. 1 album in the UK in 259 days, after Folklore on July 31 and Evermore on December 18, 2020, smashing the Beatles’ previous record of three Number 1 albums in the same year. Over 364 days in 1965-66, the British band hit the charts three times with Help!, Rubber Soul, as well as Revolver.
Swift’s seventh United kingdom No. 1 album sold 21,145 units (digital and physical sales and streams) this week, compared to 545 units for the recorded version (2.6% of the new edition). The original sold 634 units in the week leading up to the release of Taylor’s Version.
‘This is my life’s work,’ she says.
Swift announced in November that Braun indeed sold the rights to her first six albums for more than $300 million (£227 million). The singer-songwriter was furious that he would benefit from her records, calling the sale an act of provocation that “robbed me of my life’s work.”
Fearless, the first one of the re-recorded albums, which includes hits including Fifteen, You Belong With Me and Love Story, was characterized as “a great reproduction” of 2008 original by BBC music reporter Mark Savage last week. We surely vibe in those songs, even after years.
~ Fearless has a ‘complete replica,’ according to Taylor Swift.
~ After her masters were sold, Taylor Swift spoke out.
On Friday, Lil Nas X, Swift’s compatriot, remained at the top of the singles chart for a third week with his song Montero (Call Me By Your Name).
Swift’s recordings will be sold to Shamrock Capital, a private equity company based in the United States, in 2020. Swift claimed she was denied a reasonable chance to buy back her recordings both times. Before selling the label to Braun, Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta allegedly offered her the chance to “earn” back one old album for each new one she recorded.
Swift said that talks with Braun about selling her catalogue to him were stymied when his team demanded that she sign a non-disclosure contract that also barred her from criticizing him in public. Since the initial sale, when Braun complained that Swift’s fans were harassing his family on social media, Braun has remained silent on the topic.
Swift has hinted that Braun is still interested in the ownership of Swift’s music through Shamrock. Her albums’ worth is devalued by re-recording them. She will refuse to use the old stuff in sync requests for movie, television, and advertising because she is a songwriter.
Music supervisors would have to request the use of her recordings if they want to also include her music in any work if she creates like-for-like copies of her work that she owns directly. Swift’s re-recorded Love Story was used in a Match.com ad, and her song Wildest Dreams, from her 2014 album 1989, will be featured on the Dreamworks animated movie Spirit Untamed’s soundtrack.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) received positive reviews from critics, earning an 82 on the review website Metacritic. Guardian pop critic Alexis Petridis wrote that if one wants to build a story of a loved female artist putting her passion and love into work that resonates strongly with her audience, writing the songs that changed your life, as the Smiths put it; against the dead-eyed male music-industry operatives interested in nothing more than money, [Fearless] is indeed a very wise place to begin.
Swift’s fans have rallied to her cause, sharing instructions on how to “cover” the original version of Fearless from Spotify and download it illegally for future use. They perceived her remarks in a sketch on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week as a hint that 1989 would be her next album to have the re-recording treatment, based on her pattern of seeding hints as to her potential activities.
