Fans of Taylor Swift are finally “out of the woods“ from waiting for 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
The album — a rerecorded and rereleased version of her 2014 pop hit 1989 — dropped Friday at midnight Eastern time, nine years after the original album came out to critical acclaim.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) includes 21 tracks, including re-recorded versions of the 16 original songs from the deluxe edition, and five “From the Vault” tracks.
These previously unreleased tracks including “Is It Over Now?,” “Suburban Legends,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Say Don’t Go,” and “‘Slut!'”.
Swift, 33, announced 1989 (Taylor’s Version) to the public back in August at her final Eras Tour show in Los Angeles, which completed the first leg of the record-breaking tour.
“Surprise!! 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is on its way to you 🔜! The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th,” the “Bad Blood” singer wrote in an Instagram post on August 9, accompanied by a photo of the new version’s cover.
The announcement — which received a whopping 12.1 million likes on Instagram — showed Swift back in her 1989 era with her “red lip, classic” look, pinned-up hair and seagulls flying on a light blue backdrop.
“To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!” she shared.
In September, Swift was up to her old shenanigans when she partnered with Google to release the names of the “Vault Tracks” — songs that did not make it on the original album — which caused her fans to sort through millions of combinations on a Google “safe” in a matter of hours.
The new additions to the album included “Slut (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” “Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” “Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” “Suburban Legends (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” and “Is It Over Now (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault).”
Kevin Winter/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
The album also includes the original versions of some of Swift’s most classic songs, specifically four of her top 10 biggest hits. “Wildest Dreams” (#10), “Bad Blood” (#8), “Blank Space” (#4) and “Shake It Off” (#1) all come from the 2014 version and are all prominently featured on the list of her most chart-topping songs, according to Billboard.
Also on the album are new versions of fan favorites such as “Clean,” “New Romantics,” “Welcome To New York” and “Style.”
For fans of Swift’s collaborations with other artists, however, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) may come as a bit of a disappointment as it is the first rerecord to not feature any of the singer’s musician friends — so long as Swift does not pull off any surprises (which she often does).
The album comes amid a hot month (and year, for that matter) for the superstar songwriter who recently achieved billionaire status according to one report. The major milestone was hit in large part due to the value of the singer’s music catalog since 2019 — when she began owning the masters to her music and announced she would rerecord her six original albums — and ticket sales and merch from the Eras Tour.
Earlier in the month, Swift released Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, a professionally shot version of her record-breaking, multi-billion dollar tour. The film itself went on to break several records and remained at the top of the box office charts at the time of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) being released.
The album is the fourth rerecord to be released, following Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in April 2021, Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021, and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July.
The singer first made plans to re-record her music in 2019 after music executive Scooter Braun purchased her former label, Big Machine, for a reported $300 million. Via the purchase, Braun received majority ownership of her master recordings. Taylor was outspoken in her unhappiness with this deal and repeatedly said she asked for a chance to own her own work but was denied.
Release dates for “Taylor’s Version” of the two remaining albums, Reputation and Taylor Swift, have yet to be announced.
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