Is Kelly Clarkson Actually To Thank For Taylor Swift's Re-Recorded Albums?
Taylor Swift re-recording her older albums is one of the most epic moves in the music industry. Not only was she pushing back against reported bullying by Scooter Braun, causing him to lose out on at least some of the millions he stood to gain from owning her back catalog, but Swift was also delivering a priceless product to her adoring fans.
Swifties supported the singer's new album releases so much that the original hit albums fell off the charts completely. Clearly, Taylor Swift got some great advice before making the move to re-record a 'Taylor's Version' of all her albums. But is Kelly Clarkson really to thank for passing Taylor the idea?
Kelly Clarkson Tweeted To Taylor About Her Music Rights
The feud between Taylor and Scooter Braun was notable in the industry, with Braun also backing singers like Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato, among other big-name stars. When Taylor began speaking out about the mistreatment she says she experienced by Scooter's hand, other artists took notice.
Kelly Clarkson was one of the people who tweeted in support of Taylor, writing her a brilliant tweet on July 13th, 2019.
Kelly tweeted, "@taylorswift13
just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions. I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point 💁🏼♀️"
The tweet received more than 150,000 likes and over 22,000 retweets, and it seems Taylor got the message. Or at least, her fan base did.
Replies to Kelly's tweet ranged from agreement that her suggestion was a great idea to people dissing her for supposedly not understanding the music industry.
While Kelly herself likely knew what she was talking about back then, it took a little time before Taylor announced her plan—which was exactly what Kelly had proposed. Even Kelly wasn't sure whether Taylor had the idea herself, though.
In an interview that came years after Taylor released her first re-recorded album, Kelly explained how Scooter Braun even reached out to her management team wondering if she was, in effect, shading him for purchasing and then selling Taylor's music rights.
Kelly maintained that she had no idea who owned Swift's masters before that, but that she had nothing against Braun personally. Plus, she noted, "I think [Taylor] is brilliant. She would've come up with that on her own and she maybe already had before I even tweeted it."
When Did Taylor Swift Decide To Re-Record Her Albums?
Like anything else, Taylor Swift only hinted that she would, in fact, re-record her past albums when she was good and ready for fans to know about it. Though there's no telling when she specifically came up with the idea, Taylor announced around August 2019 that she would be re-releasing her original albums.
This followed the June 2019 announcement that Scooter Braun would be selling the masters from Taylor's earlier albums.
Discussing her plans on Good Morning America, Taylor chatted about her then-upcoming album, 'Lover,' the first that she would actually own the rights to. Fans in the live audience went crazy at that mention, but Taylor wasn't done yet.
Taylor elaborated that her contract stipulated that she couldn't re-record her music until November 2020, so it was only a matter of time, at that point, before she could begin working on those five (as she noted) albums.
The way that Taylor spoke about re-recording her music, it seemed as if she was suggesting she hadn't yet started re-recording yet. It also wasn't clear whether her contract prohibited the release of any new recordings, or that she couldn't get into the actual studio until after that date had passed.
Taylor also didn't discuss other details of her contract, but as many Twitter users pointed out, she seemed to have gotten lucky with her contract. It's apparently possible for artists to be prohibited from re-releasing music for a decade or longer, but Taylor didn't have much of a wait, and neither did her fans.
But Taylor also took action while waiting to get into the studio; in a Billboard interview prior to the new albums coming out, Taylor explained that her team received "a dozen synch requests" for the rights to songs like 'Shake It Off' and 'Blank Space' for ads and movie trailers.
They said no to every one of them, Swift explained, because she wants her music to live on, but only if she owns it.
How Many Albums Is Taylor Swift Re-Recording?
In a phenomenon Taylor Swift solely credits her adoring fans with, each of her re-released albums has knocked the prior albums off the charts. By all accounts, it seems as if Taylor does plan to release her own versions of all six of her pre-'Lover' albums, though, in that GMA interview, she did say it was five that were up for re-recording as of 2020.
'Reputation,' due to its 2017 release, would not be eligible until 2022 for retooling. Rumor has it that as soon as she was able, Taylor got started on that album, though her release plans are, as always, a bit of a mystery.
Fans already know that Taylor is enjoying the intrigue surrounding her re-releases, including the order in which she's putting them out, but fans clearly won't have to wait too long for every Taylor's Version song in her back catalog.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErZ%2Bippeoe6S7zGibopxdoLKtuNhmmqWZoqDAsLqMrZylpF2prrq4zqtkrK%2BZm8FuwM5mqZ6qlZi8s7CMoZyrZZGhr7a50mg%3D