Rosie Peterson ‘25, Opinion Editor
At this point, it is a well-known fact that Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums one by one. Each time she does this, she changes the cover art, certain musical production aspects, and of course, releases a lot of new merch. Her re-recorded albums have had great success since she began releasing them, starting with her second album Fearless in 2021. As she has continued to re-record, the hype surrounding each album as her version has grown as well. Swift next released Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021, followed by her entirely self-written Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July 2023. With each album, the publicity has increased dramatically, but her most recent had hands-down the most discussion surrounding it before release. This, of course, is 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
1989 has been widely regarded as one of the greatest pop albums of all time since its original release in 2014. Songs like “Shake It Off”, “Bad Blood”, “Blank Space”, and “Style” have become staples of 2010s pop culture, and have all remained extremely popular for the years that followed. This would explain why, upon hearing the announcement for the re-recorded album, the buzz of excitement rose among those who are not even avid listeners of her music. Those who are fans of Swift expressed their anticipation to hear the less popular favorites on the album, immersed themselves in the era, and nervously counted down the days until Oct. 27. When the album finally dropped, Swift fans erupted, rushing to share their joy on social media. They voiced their relief over the quality of the album, and many went so far as to say that it was her best re-record yet, potentially overtaking Red (Taylor’s Version) as the fan-favorite remake. The complaints about the album were minimal, with only a few occasional comments on the supposed downgrade of “Style”. Junior Aidan Grazioli said, “I feel like a lot sounded a lot better with the re-recording; songs like ‘Style’ and ‘Wildest Dreams’ don’t entirely sound like new songs to me, but there’s something there that takes the original a step further.” But even with this general quality increase, what allows these albums to keep Swift so relevant? Why do people get so excited about just hearing the same songs with mature singing and different production? It is simple: the vault tracks.
Even with Swift’s immense fame, it is highly unlikely that she would have been able to gain so much traction from these re-records if all she was doing was singing the original songs again. To combat this, Swift decided to make sure that fans would have a taste of something new in each re-record. This is where the vault tracks come into play. On each re-recorded album, Swift includes additional, never-before-heard songs at the end of the album. These are songs that she wrote at the original release of the album, but for whatever reason did not make the final cut for the album. The vault is where many fans truly find appeal in the re-records; even though they are not getting an entirely new album, they still receive around five to nine new songs. While in the eyes of most fans, the Red (Taylor’s Version) vault is the best—likely due to the largely popular “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” — The 1989 (Taylor’s Version) vault is a pretty close second, with immediate hits such as “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” and “Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)”. Junior Olivia Quail said, when asked about her favorite vault track, “My favorite vault track is ‘Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)’ because I love all the lyrics.” The re-recorded albums have had steady success from the very beginning, and their traction has only continued to grow with each new album. With 2024 on the horizon, many fans have already begun to theorize about the reputation (Taylor’s Version) announcement, but others insist on giving 1989 (Taylor’s Version) its moment to shine. Whatever Swift may be plotting, the success of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has set an even higher precedent to which her two future re-records will be held, and her fans cannot wait to see what she has in store.
Lyon Life 