On Friday, April 9th Taylor Swift dropped the full re-recording of her 2008 hit country album, Fearless, as well as many unreleased songs “from the vault” that she wrote for the album when it was originally released. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) highlights how much Taylor has grown as an artist. With 39 million streams just a week after it’s release, the album is already a huge success. But why did she re-release the album?

Taylor has had a lot of success in the music industry, however, there have been many instances where she has been taken advantage of. In 2005, Taylor was signed to Big Machine Records, which is owned by Scooter Braun. She remained under this label until her contract expired in 2018 and Taylor signed with Universal Records. After her contract ended, however, Big Machine still owned the rights to her first six albums.

The scandal began when Braun sold her albums to a third party, a private equity group called Ithica Holdings, for a total profit of $300 million. This was done without consent or warning to Taylor Swift, which prompted her to change her contract with Universal Records to ensure that she would have the rights to her future records recorded with the label. As for her first six albums, the owners of the records now get profit every time a song is streamed, played, or downloaded. 

Swift, after her very public battle with Scooter Braun and Big Machine Records, has decided to re-record and re-release the first six of her albums in order to decrease the value of the originals and lower the amount of profit the new owners of her records will receive. The first to be released is, of course, Fearless. 

The album is available everywhere you can stream music. Keep an eye out on social media for sneak peeks and dates for the releases of the other 5 albums she plans to rerelease!