Taylor Swift is about to drop her new album, Lover, but she's already talking about when she'll be heading back into the studio. On Wednesday, Aug. 21, it was revealed that Swift will re-record her masters, the original recordings of the songs of her first five albums. This way she will own all of her old music following Scooter Braun's purchase of her catalogue from Big Machine Group, which put out Swift's first albums. And in an interview with Good Morning America on Thursday, Swift revealed when she'll start re-recording her old albums so that she can re-gain control of her discography.
In an interview with GMA's Robin Roberts in Central Park, Swift talked why Lover stands out alongside her previous six albums. "One thing about this album that is really special to me," she said, "is that it's the first one that I will own of my work." No surprise, the crowd went wild. "That's a concept they're very supportive of," Swift said.
As part of Swift's new record deal with Republic Records and Universal Music Group, she has rights to all of her masters, according to Rolling Stone. It's something she didn't have with her previous deal with Big Machine. And now that Braun has acquired Big Machine's catalog, he has the rights to her back catalog, too. It's something Swift has called her "worst case scenario."
Getting those rights back is something that's very important to Swift and on GMA she confirmed when, exactly, she plans to re-record her past work. It's something Kelly Clarkson suggested following news of the deal, though it's unclear if this tweet influenced Swift's decision.
"It's something that I'm very excited about doing," Swift said, "because my contract says that starting November 2020, so next year, I can record albums one through five all over again."
That will be no easy feat, since those five albums — 2006's Taylor Swift, 2008's Fearless, 2010's Speak Now, 2012's Red, and 2014's 1989—add up to 67 songs. But Swift's decision to re-record her masters is about something bigger than herself. "I think that artists deserve to own their work," she told GMA. "I just feel very passionately about that."
Swift has made this passion known. After it was announced that Braun would have the rights to her catalog, the pop star took to Tumblr to share her feelings on the deal that Big Machine's Scott Borchetta made with Braun, who she referred to as a "bully."
"When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them," she wrote on June 30. "Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did."
Borchetta later responded to Swift's open letter, claiming he sent Swift a text message prior to the news going public and that he offered her a new contract before she left Big Machine, which stated "100% of all Taylor Swift assets were to be transferred to her immediately upon signing the new agreement."
All of that is in the past, though. Now, Swift is taking things into her own hands with support of her fans who are always happy to have new music from Taylor Swift.
