TORONTO -- With the recent release of her new album, "Red (Taylor's Version)," Taylor Swift has taken the world by storm, delighting fans and sending shockwaves through the music industry.
"Red (Taylor's Version)" is a re-recording of her 2012 album, "Red," complete with seven never-before-heard tracks "from the vault."
The album has shattered streaming records, becoming Spotify's most-streamed album in a single day from a female artist on its release day on Friday, topping the previous record, which was also set by Swift's 2020 album, "Folklore." Swift also became Spotify's most-streamed female artist in a single day.
"Red (Taylor's Version)" also includes the 10-minute version of "All Too Well," the critically acclaimed track widely considered to be her magnum opus. For years, fans have speculated that the song may be about actor Jake Gyllenhaal, who she dated from late 2010 to early 2011, although Swift has never explicitly confirmed this.
The album's release coincided with the release of "All Too Well: The Short Film," a 15-minute short film written by Swift starring Dylan O'Brien of "Teen Wolf" and Sadie Sink of "Stranger Things."
But Swift has continued to bless her fans with more "Red" content. On Saturday Night Live, she performed the 10-minute version of "All Too Well" along with a skit that poked fun at SNL's writers.
Most recently, she dropped a surprise music video Monday morning for a new track off her latest album, "I Bet You Think About Me," which may also be about Gyllenhaal according to speculation from fans.
The video, directed by actress Blake Lively, contained numerous easter eggs for fans, such as a red scarf, likely a nod to a verse from "All Too Well."
"Red (Taylor's Version)" isn't the first album that Swift has rerecorded. Back in April, she released "Fearless (Taylor's Version)," a re-recording of her Grammy Award-winning 2008 album, "Fearless."
This all stemmed from an ownership dispute over the master recordings of her first six albums, which were owned by her previous label, Big Machine Records. She had been in talks to buy her masters but was unhappy about the conditions and restrictions that Big Machine insisted upon, and talks fell through.
In 2019, Big Machine was acquired by music executive Scooter Braun, along with Swift's masters. Braun, who had been previously engaged in public disputes with Swift, subsequently sold the masters last year to Shamrock Holdings, a U.S. private equity firm.
Later that year, Swift vowed to rerecord her back catalogue, expressing a desire to create new masters recordings that would be solely under her ownership.
Swift isn't the first artist to rerecord her music following a dispute over ownership, but given her stature in the music world, her re-recordings have set a huge precedent in the music industry. The Wall Street Journal reported at Universal Music Group, Swift's current label, is now tightening rules for their artists.
