By Olivia Palker ‘24, Commentary Editor

Image of Swift on her Eras Tour, courtesy of RollingStone

Taylor Swift is every teenage girl’s craze right now. A popular and prolific female artist, Swift has created an army of fans who sold out Ticketmaster just for the opportunity to hear her voice live at one of the country’s biggest event spaces. Her songs speak to the heartbreak from careless men in Swift’s life. They also voice the struggle of being a woman in society that many girls relate to with a fervent passion. She has been dubbed a “mother” to her fandom, serving as a role model who curses out the patriarchy in one of her most famous songs, “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).” 

The  33-year-old has, without a doubt, built an army of angsty teenagers—and now is rallying them as supporters, by rerecording her first couple of albums, of her personal vendetta against Scooter Braun. When she was just fifteen, the then-country singer signed with Big Machine Records. In 2019, the label was sold to Scooter Braun, a mega music manager, who then inherited all of the rights to Swift’s master recordings. This hurt Swift, as Braun, who now obtained licensing fees for all of Swift’s music, had worked with Kanye West in the past. West is the man who publicly humiliated Swift on stage in 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards when she was just nineteen. West jumped on stage mid-speech to tell America that Beyoncé, rather than Taylor Swift, deserved the award. As her revenge, Swift has now decided to re-record the albums Braun owns the rights to:  “Taylor Swift,” “Fearless,” “Speak Now,” “Red,” “1989” and “Reputation.” 

Swift’s fans have backed her up in the process, referring to the albums Braun owns as the “stolen versions” all over social media. Swift’s stance is a brave one: she won’t cower under the shadow of a mega-manager with a net worth well into the hundred millions. Swift is painting herself as a strong, independent woman who will not let herself be bulldozed by the powerful men in her life. The music she makes is central and intimate to her as a person, especially as many of her songs directly reflect her life experiences, and by rerecording these songs, she is reclaiming her identity and agency as a person. 

However, with the millions Swift is raking in each night of the Eras Tour and the publicity and power she is accumulating, her rerecordings beg the question: is this all just a ploy for more power? My answer—maybe. With each album she rerecords, Swift releases a couple of songs “from the vault” that were never released with the original album. Her fandom awaits these songs eagerly, and on July 7th, 2023, I was no different from her millions of other fans.

The midnight of July 7th, I recall frantically refreshing Spotify to see Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) released. I immediately listened to her new songs “From the Vault”; I knew all of her old songs and wanted to hear the new music she had for us. The album carries the themes of innocent romance and young heartbreak, and recounts Swift’s experiences as a young adult from the ages of 18-20. The album has an air of innocence in the lyrics and their meanings. However, one song stood out particularly to me, because it didn’t really fit: “I Can See You.” The song had edgy, electric pop melodies and even edgier, suggestive lyrics, nothing like the youthful soundtracks of wistful love that had been in the original “Speak Now” album. I wondered if this song had never really been “from the vault” at all, but instead was written for the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” While no evidence suggests she did not write the song back in 2009 with the rest of the album, the vibe of “I Can See You” is completely off, seeming to belong in one of her edgier albums like “Reputation” or “Midnights.”

Swift is known for each of her albums representing a different “era” of her life, thus, the Eras Tour. With this song sticking out, it goes against Swift’s expert marketing. 

If Swift really wrote “I Can See You” after 2009 to drum up excitement about her rerecordings, could all of the rerecordings be a publicity stunt? To accumulate more popularity, as if her fandom wasn’t large enough? A way to rally her fans against a common enemy? To dangle power in the face of Scooter Braun? 

While I applaud Swift’s tenacity and hold a tender spot for her passion for her craft, I wonder if Swift is rerecording her music not only to spit in the face of Braun but to exert her power over the industry by giving her “Swifties” yet another reason to defend her to the end.