We are free from Taylor's Verisons!!!!!
Well sorta kinda
It is no secret that I am not a fan of any of Taylor’s versions besides Fearless. You can read my track-by-track analysis of 1989 (TV) below—spoiler alert - not a fan.
Taylor recently revealed that she bought back her entire catalog of music. Including Music videos, unreleased tracks, and more. I’m honestly happy for her! If you are a long-time Jury member, you will remember by vow not to write about Taylor anymore because I didn’t like Midnights or TPD.1 This feels big enough for me to acknowledge.
Honestly, I never stopped listening to the original versions of the songs.2 I respect the reason why she needed/ wanted to release Taylor’s Versions. However, trying to recreate something from over 10 years ago, when her voice sounds so different and she can’t replicate the production, was a risk. There is not a single re-recording that I feel sounds better than the original. Which resulted in me listening to her less and caring about her less in general after I went to the Eras tour.
Since the era’s tour, I haven’t kept up with her or cared what she was doing. I was intrigued by the idea of Reputation TV, mostly because of the vault tracks. The idea of her having to call up Future and ask for ANOTHER verse was hilarious to me. Future isn’t dumb and would have done it because he likes money. I just would love to see what that conversation would be like.
Regardless, I am so glad that we can listen to her original music. To be honest, I probably won’t listen to it more than I do now, but it’s nice to know that I won’t have to feel guilty about it. I whack Taylor a lot in my personal life, but I am genuinely happy for her. No artist or person should have their work held captive for so long. I hope this entire situation has made record labels and publishers rethink their contracts (it won’t), but either way, I think Taylor deserves to be celebrated for this. This is a huge win for her and for artists. I just hope that smaller artists with less access than her also can have a similar fate.
still haven’t listened to TPD and have no plans to, sorry!
She could never recreate the magic that is Clean