Drop everything now, master lyricist singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced on May 5th that she would be releasing her third re-recorded album “Speak Now”. Leaving her fans, swifties, feeling as if it were a movie right now. 

Fans were finally given a release date for this much awaited re-record after months of hinting and Easter egg dropping as the musical mastermind Taylor Swift does for her fans. Such as hinting at swifties present during her April 14th Tampa show of the Eras tour, where Swift said that, “Speak Now was on her mind a lot lately” before performing “Enchanted” which is track nine on that album. 

On night one of her Nashville concert, Taylor announced that “Speak Now” Taylor’s version would be coming out on all platforms on July seventh this year. Swift said to fans, “I think rather than me speaking about it, I thought I would show you, so if you would direct your attention” to the big screens… There, the album cover and release date were shown, before Swift launched into the “Speak Now” track “Sparks Fly” as a surprise song. 

Swift added that there will be six bonus tracks on this album. Though she did not release titles or any other information about the bonus “vault” tracks, other than to say there would be six, in total 22 tracks will be on this re-record.

When we interviewed some swifties here at Point Pleasant Boro High School we got identical reactions of nothing but excitement. 

Sophomore, Avery Jackson shared with us that she is, “super excited for the vault tracks and to be able to listen to ‘Back to December’ guilt-free.” 

English and Journalism teacher Mrs. Jensen added that she is, “ looking forward to the release in July” because after seeing the concert in May, it gives her something to look forward too.

In April 2021, Swift released her first re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), and the second, Red (Taylor’s Version), debuted in November 2021. These albums are effectively covers of the originals, and they fall under her Republic Records deal.

Swift is re-recording her earlier albums because this will allow her to own their masters that is, the song’s original recordings. The majority of Swift’s work was released under a deal she signed with Big Machine Records when she was 15, which gave the record label ownership of her masters. Owning her masters means Swift can control the way those particular versions of the songs are used, like granting permission for the music to appear in advertising. 

It is enchanting to see Swift making her way through her re-recorded albums and gaining ownership of three out of six so far that have been released under Big Machine Records, so the real question is when will “1989” Taylor’s version be released? “Debut” or maybe even “Reputation”? I guess swifties will just have to wait till after July seventh when Taylor Swift says speak now.