Taylor Swift’s love story is control of her own music.
The Grammy-winning songstress, who has been in a public battle with former manager Scooter Braun over her masters, announced Thursday that she has completely rerecorded 2008 album “Fearless,” complete with six never-before-heard songs.
“‘Fearless’ was an album full of magic and curiosity, the bliss and devastation of youth,” Swift said in a statement. “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 movies.”
Swift didn’t explicitly announce a release date, but sporadic capitalization in her length statement spells out “April ninth.”
The first single, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” was to be released at midnight, she said.
But the rerelease isn’t just a benevolent gift from the 31-year-old singer; Swift promised in November to remake her albums after Braun sold her master recordings to a private equity firm, Shamrock Holdings.
Under the agreement, Braun will still be able to profit from her album sales, music videos and artwork.
“I was hopeful and open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock, but Scooter’s participation is a nonstarter for me,” Swift said at the time.
Swift plans to re-record her first six albums, regaining control of the songs crafted as a teenager and into her early 20s.
“Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really *knows* that body of work,” she said Thursday.
“This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to rerecord all of my music.”
