Taylor Swift buys back rights to her first six albums

Taylor Swift has told fans she is feeling "elated and amazed" after buying back the rights to her first six albums.

In a handwritten letter posted on her website, Taylor wrote: "To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it.”

Taylor acquired her album rights from LA-based investment firm Shamrock Capital, who purchased them in 2020 from former music manager Scooter Braun.

In her letter, Taylor said the firm had been "honest, fair and respectful" and confirmed that the deal gives her "full autonomy" over her masters.

To celebrate the good news, she posted new photos of herself with vinyl copies of her first six albums.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

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When Scooter Braun acquired the rights to Taylor's first six albums in 2019, she began a long-term project to re-record each album in turn so she would own the rights to the new recordings.

So far, she has released re-recorded "Taylor's Versions" of four of those albums: Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989. Each of the re-recorded albums peaked at Number 1 on the UK's Official Albums Chart, where Taylor is now the female solo artist with the most chart-topping LPs.

In her letter, Taylor scotched fan theories that she would soon be announcing the release of Reputation (Taylor's Version).

"Full transparency. I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it," she wrote. "The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief.

"To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off."

However, she added that "there will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch".

She also confirmed that she has "completely re-recorded my entire debut album" and "really loves" how it sounds.

"Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about," Taylor added. "But if it happens. it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now."

Congratulations, Taylor, on your long overdue and thoroughly deserved happy ending.

Article image: Taylor Swift