Hi.
I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right
now my mind is just a slideshow.
A flashback sequence of all the
times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance
to get to tell you this news. All the times I was
thiiiiiiiiiiiis
close, reaching out for it, only for it to
fall through. I
almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having
the carrot
dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the
past now. I’ve been bursting into tears of joy
at random
intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I
really get to say these
words:
All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.
And all my music videos.
All the concert films.
The album art and photography.
The unreleased songs.
The memories. The magic. The madness.
Every single era.
My entire life’s work.
To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty
reserved about it. To my fans, you
know how important this has
been to me – so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4
of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version. The passionate
support you showed those albums and the
success story you turned
The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can’t
thank
you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I
have dedicated my life to, but have never
owned until now.
All I’ve ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be
able to one day purchase my music
outright with no strings
attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever
grateful to
everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first
people to ever offer this to me. The way they’ve
handled every
interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was
a business deal to
them, but I really felt like they saw it for
what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my
handwriting
and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo
might just be a huge
shamrock in the middle of my forehead.
I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven’t even
re-recorded a quarter of it.
The Reputation album was so
specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point
when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be
understood while feeling purposely
misunderstood, that desperate
hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it’s
the
one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn’t be
improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or
photos, or
videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you’re into
the idea) for the
unreleased Vault tracks from that album to
hatch. I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut
album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can
still have their moments to re-emerge
when the time is right, if
that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it
happens,
it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for
what I wish I could have. It will just be a
celebration now.
I’m extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited
within my industry among artists
and fans. Every time a new
artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in
their
record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how
important it was for all of this to
happen. Thank you for being
curious about something that used to be thought of as too
industry-centric for broad discussion. You’ll never know how
much it means to me that you cared. Every
single bit of it
counted, and ended us up here.
Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best
things that have ever been
mine… finally actually are.
Elated and amazed,
Taylor
Track 1. The Fate of Ophelia
Track 2. Elizabeth Taylor
Track 3. Opalite
Track 4. Father Figure
Track 5. Eldest Daughter
Track 6. Ruin the Friendship
Track 7. Actually Romantic
Track 8. Wi$h Li$t
Track 9. Wood
Track 10. CANCELLED!
Track 11. Honey
Track 12. The Life of a Showgirl (Feat. Sabrina Carpenter)