Taylor Swift has been faced with having to re-record her old albums, starting from her
self-titled album Taylor Swift to Reputation. She re-records the songs from the original album with the addition of vault tracks, which are songs that she wrote around the same time as the first album but did not release. This comes after a public loss of creative control over her albums due to her old record label, Big Machine Records, refusing to let her buy the license. Her third album, “Speak Now,” was re-recorded on July 7, 2023.
The songs from the original album still have the country feel but seem more profound due to her maturing voice. To many people who may not be fans of Swift, they just seem like silly love stories, but now that she sounds more grown up and her voice has matured, it is like the words speak to me more. They carry a lot of nostalgia and she did an excellent job portraying all the years I have been listening to her music in the album, specifically in the song ¨Long Live.¨ It is a song about how everyone is connected to her as a musician and fanbase. It is more emotional to listen to the song now compared to when it first came out because fans have all watched her grow into a different and better musician. This is especially true for the fans who have been there since the beginning.
The vault tracks all carry the same feeling as the other songs that originally came out.
The album has a whimsical feel to it and there is one song in particular that plays into this. ¨When Emma Falls In Love ¨ tells a story about one of Swift´s friends. Swift describes her as ¨Cleopatra¨ in one of the lyrics and the whole song just feels like a fairytale. None of the vault tracks are skips for me and I am glad I finally get to listen to them.
I think Swift has done a wonderful job at re-recording her music and giving it more than
the original songs by using different melodies and changing some lyrics. This version of “Speak Now” has quickly become my favorite re-recording and I cannot wait to see what more Swift will do with her other albums.