Taylor Swift has announced that she has finished work on the re-recording of her second studio album, ‘Fearless’ which will include six new songs, penned in her teenage years.
First track, ‘Love Story’ – the re-recorded version of her 2009 single – will be released tonight, just in time for Valentine’s Day, she announced on Good Morning America this morning.
In the tweet that followed, Taylor wrote:
“when I think bAck on the fearless album and all that you turned it into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face, this was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed. so before i say anything else, let me just say that it was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you. and for those of you i’ve come to know more recently than 2008, i am ecstatic that i’ll get to exPerience a bit of that feeling with you in the very near future, now that i can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.
“fearless was an album full of magic and curiosity, the bliss and devastation of youth, it was the diaRy of the adventures and explorations of a teenage girl who was learning tiny lessons with every new crack in the facade of the faIrytale ending she’d been shown in the movies. i’m thrilled to tell you that my new version of fearless is done and will be with you soon. it’s called fearless (taylor’s version) and it includes 26 songs.
i’ve spoken a lot about why i’m remaking my first six albums, but the way i’ve chosen to do this will hopefulLy help illuminate where i’m coming from. artists should own their work for many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really *knows* that body of work, for example, only i know which songs i wrote that almost made the fearless album, songs i absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons (don’t want too many breakup songs, don’t want too maNy down tempo songs, can’t fit that many songs on a physical cd).
“those reasons seem unnecessary now. i’ve decided i want you to have the whole story, see the entire vivid picture, and let you into the entire dreamscape that is my fearless album. that’s why i’ve chosen to include 6 never before released songs on my version of this album. written when i was betweeN the ages of 16 and 18, these were the ones it killed me to leave behind.
“this process has been more fulfilling and emoTional than i could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music. i Hope you’ll like this first outing as much as I liked traveling back in time to recreate it. love story (taylor’s version) will be out tonight. sincerely and fearlessly, taylor”
Fans also spotted some capitalised letters hidden in the announcement. When put together, they spell out APRIL NINTH, which many are now assuming to be the re-release date of ‘Fearless’.
The pop star surprised fans twice last year with two unexpected albums in ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ and now seems set to catch them off guard again.
The star had already shared a snippet of the new version of ‘Love Story’, allowing Ryan Reynolds to use it to soundtrack an advert he made for dating site Match last year.
Swift is re-recording her back catalogue after her old record label Big Machine sold the masters to her original records in a deal reported to be worth $300million (£217m). She previously confirmed that she had started work on the project in November 2020 during an acceptance speech for the American Music Awards.
“The reason I’m not there tonight is I’m actually recording all of my old music in the studio where we originally recorded it,” she said in a video message accepting the award for Artist Of The Year. “So it’s been amazing and I can’t wait for you to hear it.”
