Myla van Lynde ‘23
Beth Garrabrant
"Knowing everything that went into this re-recording, all the pushback and manipulation Swift has faced, it is hard to not sing along just a little louder."
It is an unforgettable album, one that to many of Taylor Swift’s fans epitomizes her earliest singer-songwriter charm. With chart-toppers “Love Story” and “Fifteen” intertwined with fan favorites like “The Way I Loved You” and “Forever & Always,” Fearless takes listeners on a journey of first loves, heartbreaks, and youthful idealism. On April 9th, 2021, Swift released her new re-recording of this album to much fanfare. Aside from providing incredible insight into her vocal maturity and including six previously unheard songs from the Fearless era, it was an important step towards combating the struggles Swift faced at a young age from all parts of the music industry.
At just fifteen years old, Swift signed a contract with Big Machine Label Group, going on to record six albums at this studio over the next 13 years and catapulting them to major success as her popularity grew. The original deal gave BMLG rights to all of her music, including the ability to decide where and when her masters are used and to profit off of each decision (Brittany Spanos, Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, Rolling Stone).
In 2019, Scott Borchetta, the original owner of BMLG, sold the company to Scooter Braun, a controversial figure in the pop industry. Having worked with Kanye West, who infamously criticized and stole the stage from a 19-year-old Swift at the 2009 MTV music video awards, and then again in his 2016 song “Famous,” Braun was understandably an unsettling successor in Swift’s eyes. Her fans and those watching stood behind the young singer. In a Twitter statement, Swift writes “... Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it" (A Complete Timeline of Kanye West and Taylor Swift’s relationship, Billboard). Here, she sums up the point better than anyone else could. Not only was she unable to make her own decisions about where her music went, but it was all placed into the lap of someone who had none of her best interests in mind.
Accordingly, Swift’s re-recording of Fearless sought to sidestep this arrangement. She is planning on (and has likely already begun) re-recording all of her albums leading up to Lover. Swift now owns her own demos for Fearless and has seen an outpouring of support from fans. In a show of defiance and pride, she added “Taylor’s Version” in parentheses to each track. They are truly, truly hers.
However, there is more to her re-recordings than a simple inspirational message of a singer taking back her own work. We have spent the past few months at Cate delving into misogyny and what it means to be intersectional feminists on this Mesa, but we all know that issues of bias and assault go far beyond our school, deeply embedded in our society. The music industry is no exception. It’s a story told all too often: a young girl with big dreams being scammed by a huge record label, promised fame, and signed away without any understanding of legal implications. In the past, we’ve seen it with Britney Spears and Mariah Carey. Taylor Swift is only one example, but she speaks for all, having noted throughout her career that she was expected to play the role of the “good little girl” (Katie Rosseinsky, How Taylor Swift is Changing the Music Industry One Re-record at a Time, Evening Standard). In this way, Swift’s re-recordings are sending a message of triumph to young artists, particularly females. She is taking back what is owed to her as a singer and a songwriter: the ability to profit off of and decide what to do with her own work, removing this power from the hands of mostly white male executives.
As Taylor’s 2019 anthem “The Man” emphasizes, a double standard for female behavior is ingrained in popular culture. She fantasizes about being a man, about being able to be aggressive without being called unlikeable, to wear what she wants without strangers commenting on her body, and most especially to date freely without criticism. Life in the spotlight is hard on anyone, but women face particular challenges when it comes to even the simplest of life choices.
In addition to taking advantage of young girls in search of profit and enforcing stereotypes, the music industry can in many cases serve as a breeding ground for sexual assault. Swift is no stranger to this sad truth. In 2017, she stood in a courtroom and broke her silence, detailing the events of a 2013 concert in which DJ David Mueller “lifted her skirt and groped her” (Emily Yahr, Taylor Swift Explains Her Blunt Testimony During Her Sexual Assault Trial, The Washington Post). He sued her for $3 million in damages. She countersued for $1. Her message was clear: she spoke up for justice, not profit.
Initially, Swift did not speak up as she was scared of how it might impact her reputation. Her fragility as a young girl was once again taken advantage of as such a violent and upsetting narrative would not play into her good-girl routine. Despite photographic evidence of the assault, she remained silent for years. When she eventually got up the courage to share her experience, Swift won her case, but the majority of women do not. She showed her fans and the world that there can be hope, and yet she had every resource at her disposal. Along those lines, though we should not undermine her pain and struggle, we also must recognize the privilege that allowed her to hire a lawyer and feel financially secure.
Underlying issues of bias and assault remain, lingering in the depths of the industry, just as Taylor’s old demos are still being played, lining the pockets of Scooter Braun. No single artist can uproot absolute change in the whole industry. However, Swift has certainly shaken it up from the moment she walked on to her first stage. In many ways, she has continued her success story, taking back her power one step at a time.
Being a human, like us all, Taylor Swift is certainly flawed, but she has time and time again proved her commitment to growth. Listening to Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is both nostalgic and exhilarating. Knowing everything that went into this re-recording, all the pushback and manipulation Swift has faced, it is hard to not sing along just a little louder.
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