Taylor Swift's Reinvention Era

It's hard to believe now. But there was once a time when Taylor Swift wasn't taken seriously. It was only a few years ago, the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty was going viral. The trend culminated from an unearthed video of Swift seemingly giving permission to Kanye West to use the lyric "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex" for his song "Famous". A song that was equally controversial as it was thought-provoking. What the video didn't show, however, was that Kanye added another lyric that wasn't approved by Swift: "I made that bitch famous". Swift would eventually make a post dismissing this lyric and urging the general public as well as the media for her to be "excluded from this narrative". 

Now, in 2021, the general public as well as even her own fans are suddenly realizing the weight that Taylor Swift has had on the music industry for a good majority of the 21st Century. Since her debut in 2006, Swift has sold millions of records, has broken plenty of records in sales, streaming numbers as well as any other record you could think of. Find any article detailing the affairs of modern pop music, and Taylor will surely be tacked on along with such juggernauts as Beyonce, Rihanna, or Lana Del Rey. 

With the re-release of her 2012 masterpiece, Red (Taylor's Version), the GP is coming to this realization that many fans had already known for years: Taylor Swift is a musical genius. In many respects, she's a modern day Joni Mitchell. An artist that is as famous for her own persona and music as she is for her romantic endeavors. The re-release also contains a ten minute version of one of Taylor's most popular tracks in her songbook, All Too Well. The new version goes in to further detail about a rather chaotic relationship. Fans and the media have speculated the song is about Jake Gyllenhall, Swift's brief boyfriend in 2010. The narrative, however, has changed immensely since the song and its corresponding album were originally released in 2012. Instead of the GP spouting off about how all Taylor writes about is her boyfriends and flings, now the narrative has twisted to become "wow, these dudes were complete assholes to a teenager". 

For many artists, this re-invigoration doesn't come until the artist is far out of their prime. Taylor Swift, however, is still at the top of her game. Arguably, she has become an even better, even savvier artist in the last few years. Her 2020 quarantine album, Folklore, may be the root of this realization for many individuals. The album is unlike any of Swift's previous albums. Instead of the glossy sheen of albums like 1989 or Lover, the album is scaled back and has a more organic sound. This is thanks in part to the work of Aaron Dessner of the indie rock band, The National. This, in combination with Jack Antonoff's production, ended up becoming a suite of thought-provoking tracks. Less emphasis was on who it was about and more on its immaculate production and songwriting. Songs like cardigan, the lead single, were similar in nature to earlier tracks like All Too Well. Taking a narrative about a simple piece of clothing and turning it into something way more vivid and colorful. But this time, this song feels more grown-up, more mature and has even more depth and emotion than even All Too Well could convey. Only the ten minute version could rival that type of songwriting. 

Now, Taylor is in the process of re-recording her older albums. This is due in part to Scooter Braun, Swift's once upon a time manager, taking ownership of her old masters without her knowledge. This resulted in Swift leaving her then record label, Big Machine Records, a label she had been with since her debut album in 2006, and signed with Republic Records in 2018. All of her albums from Lover up to the Red (Taylor's Version) are all owned by Taylor Swift and Taylor Swift only. It's an unprecedented move. A move that not only squarely puts Swift in line with some of the greatest singer/songwriters of all-time, but also reminding the rest of the world that she has always been talented, even as a teenager. Her first re-recording released this year was Fearless (Taylor's Version), originally released in 2008. Her commercial breakthrough, the original album awarded her her first Grammy for Album of the Year (one of three so far) and also allowed her to successfully cross over fully to pop radio. Solidifying her as one of the leading names of her generation. In the re-recorded versions, these songs are even more palpable and deeper now sung in Swift's thirtysomething voice. A voice that has gotten more mature. Fifteen, one of the tracks from Fearless, is about Taylor's endeavor into high school as a freshman. Detailing the ins and outs of teenagedom at that age, including dating, sex and making best friends that you cry with about boys. It's a song that was all too relatable to many young girls back in 2008. But hearing Swift sing about her friend Abigail giving everything she had to a boy who changed his mind at 31 years old speaks volumes. It's a voice that has witnessed and been involved in plenty of other situations, a person who has been with plenty of other men who did the same exact thing those boys back in high school did to her and Abigail. It resonates much more in these re-recordings.

Let the record show, Taylor Swift isn't going away anytime soon. This is only the beginning of what is and will be a very fruitful and prolific career.