The rerecorded versions are almost indistinguishable from the originals, meaning we get to stream Fearless guilt-free as if 2008 never ended.
Meanwhile, the vault songs are making everyone question why the album wasn’t 27 tracks long to begin with. (The fact I’ve had to live the last 13 years of my life without “Don’t You” may actually be a criminal offense.)
In a lengthy post on her Tumblr account in June of 2019, Taylor revealed she had asked to buy her master recordings outright, but claimed Scott counter-offered for her to “earn” them back by re-signing with Big Machine and producing six more albums with the label.
She ultimately refused, knowing he had plans to sell the label, and made the choice to prioritize her future over her past. But, Taylor said, she never dreamed Scott would sell the label to Scooter Braun.
“This is my worst case scenario,” Taylor wrote at the time. “This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘music has value,’ he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.”
“Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to,” she went on. “He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them.”