We’ll have to wait awhile for Taylor Swift’s next “Taylor’s Version.” I’m guessing Reputation will come next, allowing Swift to wrap up the project with her self-titled debut. I can’t wait to hear the gems unearthed on those two releases.
In the meantime, Swift’s most recent release — 2022’s Midnights — came with its own batch of bonus tracks. They aren’t old enough to have made it into the vault, but that’s all the better for fans who get to hear them right away.
Taylor Swift’s 2014 release 1989, titled after the year of her birth, was the album that made her a superstar. Her first full-on pop album broadened her appeal and landed three #1 singles on the Hot 100 (no other Swift album has produced more than one).
Given that success, I guess it’s no surprise that 1989 (Taylor’s Version), released less than two weeks ago, is already the biggest hit of her four re-recordings. In fact, it had the biggest opening week for any album since Adele’s 25 in 2015, and the sixth-biggest opening week of all-time. That’s amazing considering the bulk of the album is a repeat of an already successful album.
Nobody seems to have cracked the code behind the order of Taylor Swift’s ‘Taylor’s Version’ re-recordings (and Swifties being Swifties, many have tried). Swift started the project by releasing her second album, Fearless, skipping over her self-titled debut. And she followed that one with 2012’s Red, her fourth studio album.
Red is a fan favorite, and the album where Swift started shedding the “country” part of her signature country-pop sound. The album features a few songs that would have fit comfortably on Fearless, but it also contains three dance-pop tracks co-written with Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback.
Whatever else 2023 has been, both good and bad, it has undoubtedly been one thing: the Year of Taylor Swift.
Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour catapulted the singer-songwriter into a new echelon. She is quite simply the most popular and influential artist in the world today. I mean, who else could boost NFL ratings simply by attending her boyfriend’s games?
It’s a testament to the world-conquering success of Taylor Swift that a single from a four-year-old album currently sits at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘Cruel Summer’ is one of the best songs on 2919’s Lover. At the time of the album’s release, I wrote this about the track: “This should have been the first single, and I’d bet it still has the potential to become a big hit.”
Now, I’m no prophet. That was the opinion held by pretty much everyone, and it’s the reason ‘Cruel Summer’ finally got an official single release earlier this year in the midst of the record-breaking Eras tour.
Meet Me In Montauk 