Taylor Swift Announces ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ as Next Rerecorded Album

Lexy Perez
·5-min read

The next rerecorded album from Taylor Swift’s catalog has been announced.

Swift revealed Wednesday that 1989 (Taylor’s Version) will release Oct. 27. The singer announced the news during the sixth night of her Eras Tour shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

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The rerecorded album follows the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

The 2014 album, which originally featured 13 songs on the standard version and 16 songs on the deluxe edition, was home to her singles “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Style” and “Wildest Dreams.”

The rerecorded version will feature 21 songs, including 5 previously unreleased songs from The Vault as described on Swift’s website.

“Surprise!! 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is on its way to you,” Swift wrote on social media as she also revealed the album cover. “The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th. To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!”

Fans have long speculated that 1989 would be the next album from her catalogue to be revisited. Swift has teased multiple Easter egg clues to the album over time and featured the rerecorded version of her single “Wildest Dreams” in the movie Spirit and “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” in the season one finale of Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Speculation continued to grow after SoFi Stadium shared a tweet welcoming Swift prior to kicking off her six shows. In one of the visuals shared, a lifeguard shack against a beach backdrop is shown with the words “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”

Swift herself also added fuel to the fire with a subtle clue in her recent “I Can See You” music video — a vault track from her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) album. In the music video, starring Joey King and Taylor Lautner, the two help Swift escape from a bank vault, symbolizing her attempt to reclaim her music. At the end of the video, their getaway car is shown driving toward a bridge with the sign that reads “1989 TV” sign in the center, leaving fans to believe it alluded to 1989 (Taylor’s Version) being next to release.

At the time of its release, 1989 was a seminal moment in Swift’s career as it marked her transition into the pop genre landscape after starting her career as a country singer/songwriter. Her fifth studio album nabbed 10 Grammy nominations, winning album of the year, best pop vocal album and best music video for “Bad Blood,” which featured a myriad of guest stars including Selena Gomez, Zendaya, Jessica Alba, and more. At the time, Swift had made history by becoming the first woman to win the Grammy for album of the year twice for her solo recordings. Years later, after winning album of the year in 2021 for folklore, Swift became recognized as the only female solo artist to have now won that top prize three times.  

According to Billboard, 1989 ranked No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent its entire first year in the Top 10, becoming the fifth album to ever accomplish this feat.

Swift’s rerecordings have found great success following their releases. When Swift released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) last April, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The rerecorded album also featured songs “from the vault,” which included collaborations with country singers Maren Morris and Keith Urban. For Red (Taylor’s Version), Swift collaborated with Chris Stapleton, Phoebe Bridgers and Ed Sheeran. Meanwhile, for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), the singer teamed with Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Fall Out Boy for “from the vault” songs “Castles Crumbling” and “Electric Touch.”

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) marked Swift’s 12th No. 1 album on Billboard’s chart and helped the singer break another record, as she became the first living artist in nearly 60 years to have at least four albums at the same time in the top 10 on Billboard’s 200 chart, including Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), midnights, lover and folklore.

The singer first confirmed in 2019 that she would rerecord her songbook to own her masters after Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Records and her catalog of master recordings. Only the albums Taylor Swift (2006) and 2017’s Reputation are still yet to be released.

On Wednesday, Swift wrapped up the U.S. dates of her current series of Eras Tour concerts with a six-night run at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium. However, Swift announced last week that she was adding more North American dates, starting in November 2024. Next, Swift is headed to South America before kicking off 2024 in Asia and Australia. She is set to spend the summer of 2024 touring Europe before returning to North America for additional dates.

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