Taylor Swift

[KevShmev]

Haha, yep, the fanbase is spoiled.  In the last 23 months, she has released three brand new studio albums and a re-release of one of her first six. People need to calm down, pun intended.

[Stadler]

You are both correct and so is this meme

Sadly, that right image sounds EXACTLY like my daughter. 

[KevShmev]

New song!

Okay, it is by Big Red Machine technically, but Taylor sings the lead on pretty much all of it. I dig it.  Sounds like it could have been on Evermore. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_wr-9X47ao

[XeRocks81]

Happy 1 year anniversary to Folklore, I still absolutely love this record.

 https://www.instagram.com/p/CRtf3hrDviX/?utm_medium=copy_link

It’s been one year since we escaped the real world together and imagined ourselves someplace simpler. With tall tall trees and salt air. Where you’re allowed to wear lace nightgowns that make you look like a Victorian ghost every day & no one will side eye you cause no one is around. It’s just you and your imaginary cabin and the stories you make up to pass the time. To say thank you for all you have done to make this album what it was, I wanted to give you the original version of The Lakes. Happy 1 year anniversary to Rebekah, Betty, Inez, James, Augustine, and the lives we all created around them. Happy Anniversary, folklore. 🌿

https://taylor.lnk.to/thelakesoriginal

[MirrorMask]

I still love it as well and I wish I would have discovered it when it was released! amazing album and its companion Evermore is great as well.

The Lakes is one of my favorite songs, although I prefer the actual album version to this original one.

[KevShmev]

I think it was the right call to put the more minimalist version on the album (as a bonus track technically), but this "new" version, with more orchestration, is very nice as well.  And hey, we have both now, so the fans win! 

[KevShmev]

Tracklisting is confirmed for Taylor's Version of Red:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_(Taylor%27s_Version)

I heard Ronan for the first time recently and wow what a song.  And what an incredible gesture by Taylor to not only write the song, but to give the mom a co-writing credit AND ask her permission to re-record it.  I will never get the hate she gets from some. The only conclusion I can come to is that some people just suck.

[nobloodyname]

Thanks for the heads-up.

Your link's missing its final bracket there, here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_(Taylor%27s_Version)

[KevShmev]

Damn it  , thanks!

I am not as overly excited as everyone else about the 10-minute version of All Too Well, as I suspect it will be just more verses featuring a similar sentiment, but I could be wrong.  The original seems like a perfect 5 1/2 minute song, so it is hard for to envision improving on that. And it's not like Taylor's long version is going to bust out some long instrumental section. 

[MoraWintersoul]

The ten minute version of All Too Well is the classic case of the myth of the song escaping the artist's control, like Metropolis PART ONE, WHERE IS PART TWO  afaik the only thing she said about it was that she had to call Liz Rose to help her trim the song ideas into a cohesive song because it could have gone on for ten minutes, and the fans extrapolated that there is a complete 10-minute version of All Too Well sitting somewhere. But I guess now was a good time to try and challenge herself to dig up those old lyric sheets and really try and make the song ten minutes long!

[Stadler]

As a prog fan, I cringe when I see "10 minute songs!" in the pop realm.   It's like sugar; a little goes a long way.

[KevShmev]

I think I agree with that. Just like writing a great 3-minute pop song that is concise and appeals to the masses is hard, writing a 10-minute song that works great, without meandering or going off the rails, is hard, too.  And if you are not used to doing one, it's not so easy to just sit down and do it, and do it well. Take that new Coldplay song that is over 10 minutes (their first even close to that long, IIRC); it is a mess and just bounces all over the place.  Because they are not used to writing songs of that length, and neither is Taylor, so we will see how this goes.

[XeRocks81]

maybe I'm misremembering but isn't there a similar thing with November Rain by GnR?  Like they used to perform it live years before it ever came out and was way longer but what it really was is just a song in an unfinished state.   Like whenever you hear about a "4 hour cut" of any movie most of the time that would be nigh unwatchable because the scenes go on way too long for no reason.

[KevShmev]

No idea about that, but let's not taint the Taylor thread with Guns N' Roses talk, eh?

[Stadler]

maybe I'm misremembering but isn't there a similar thing with November Rain by GnR?  Like they used to perform it live years before it ever came out and was way longer but what it really was is just a song in an unfinished state.   Like whenever you hear about a "4 hour cut" of any movie most of the time that would be nigh unwatchable because the scenes go on way too long for no reason.

I have a bootleg of demos and stuff (the stuff that was ultimately released on the Appetite Box Set) that had an acoustic guitar version of November Rain and a piano version as well.   They were recorded prior to Appetite and are the song but in remarkably stripped down form.

[KevShmev]

Taylor unexpectedly dropped her version of Wildest Dreams on the world today out of nowhere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpLIb7T2tOE

 

[Zook]

Ok, I'm confused. So these songs are being completely redone from the ground up, and she's as far as I can tell not changing anything, and only her voice sounds older, so how exactly is what she's doing legal? Can Shazam or the YouTube algorithm tell the difference? If the songs are identical, what's to stop a DMCA flag?

[425]

My understanding is that Big Machine owns the recordings, not the compositions, which she owns. Therefore, she has the rights to make a new recording of the same composition, and that new recording will be hers.

[KevShmev]

Someone already posted a YT video of the differences in her singing (that didn't take long ), and I could immediately detect the slight difference in her singing.  Certain inflections were a bit different, the effects at times were slightly different, etc.  Plus, her voice sounds older and more mature now. 

As for the legality of it, she is allowed to do it.  I am pretty sure she wouldn't be if she wasn't allowed.  I think the deal is she can release any re-recording of any of her songs from the Big Machine years five years after their original release, which is why we won't see anything re-recording from Reputation, for example, till late next year since that album was originally released in the latter part of 2017.

Additionally, because she still has veto power on the original recordings as far as commercial use, she can veto use of any of her songs from the first six albums in movies, TV shows, commercials, etc., that way the current owners of the recordings make no money from that venture.  She will likely grant use of them from the re-recordings, of which she will completely own, so do not be surprised when songs of her start popping up in commercials, TV shows, etc., and any we hear will be Taylor's Version.

[Zook]

@425: Gotcha. So will the original recordings just be eventually cycled out of the world wide database if there is one? Like, will grocery stores still be playing the originals or will in a few years the rerecordings make their way into the system? I don't expect you to know the answer, I'm just pondering.

Regarding Wildest Dreams, I do like the way she says "sounds" in the original more.

[Stadler]

This is perhaps my favorite Taylor Swift song, and I've felt she's just getting better (vocally) over the last couple years, so I'm really loving the more earthy vocal here.   That's not to say I don't miss a little of the "sugar" from the original, but this is worthy.   


And as for the questions, assuming both are available over time, the people using the song will get to decide, depending on what the royalties are and the approvals.  If nothing else, she's using her clout to make this a discussion.   Even just here, there are a LOT of people that know a lot more about the rights of distribution on music and they didn't before.

[KevShmev]

Very true.  I think it is likely that the casual fans still go for the originals on streaming sites, while the hardcore Swifties (many of whom are so scary loyal that they'd kick their grandma in the stomach if she didn't swear to allegiance to all things Taylor ) will go for the TV of each.  I don't do Spotify or stream, but if I did, I would listen to whatever version I liked the best regardless of it is the original or Taylor's Version.  I will buy each TV to support the cause, so I am doing my part.

[MoraWintersoul]

I think the originals will never cycle out of the radio and independent listeners' streams (people who are just going to go back to the YT video they've been watching since 2014), but she has the right to not license the originals to films and commercials and offer her version instead. She will also at some point probably a$$$$$k Spotify nicely to replace the originals with TVs in their official playlists

[KevShmev]

I know I have said this before, but while I think she has every intention of re-recording all six albums if need be, I really believe her goal is to try and devalue the worth of the masters of the original albums (when owned by others) enough to where the current owners decide to sell them to her at a reduced price that she can be happy with.  That is why she is going with the full court press and releasing the big boys first - Fearless (her first Album of the Year), Red (had her first number 1 hit in We Are Never..., her most loved song in All Too Well, and generally considered one of her most popular albums) and now a song from 1989 (her second Album of the Year).  She is trying to hammer down the worth of the masters as quickly as possible instead of playing the long game.

[KevShmev]

Billy Joel gets it.

“Taylor (Swift) is also a very talented girl and she’s productive and keeps coming up with great concepts and songs and she’s huge. You have to give her high marks. She knows music and she knows how to write. She’s like that generation’s Beatles.”

 

Oh, and 8 days till Red TV!!

[Kotowboy]

Beatles.

[XeRocks81]

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1456604921898360843?s=21

She wrote and directed a short film for All Too Well.  I don’t know if I’m emotionally ready for this…

[KevShmev]

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1456604921898360843?s=21

She wrote and directed a short film for All Too Well.  I don’t know if I’m emotionally ready for this…

I chuckled when one of the main sites had an article on this and referred to All Too Well as "one of her most popular singles."  IT WAS NEVER RELEASED AS A SINGLE!! And I think that is what is neat, that the song is so popular despite having never been a single. 

It should be interesting to hear the 10-minute version to see if it makes it better.

[Kotowboy]

HOWEVER !

I *think* singles charts now include streaming - so if one of her album tracks was streamed so much that it charted - Maybe they'd count it ?

I'm not 100% sure how it works...

[Stadler]

Beatles.

What direction were you going with that?   That's high praise from Billy Joel, since he basically credits his entire career to seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and a self-described high point of his career was "closing" Shea Stadium and having Sir Paul come out and play with him.  He did an entire record - The Nylon Curtain - that was essentially a Beatles homage.

[KevShmev]

What direction were you going with that?   That's high praise from Billy Joel, since he basically credits his entire career to seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and a self-described high point of his career was "closing" Shea Stadium and having Sir Paul come out and play with him.  He did an entire record - The Nylon Curtain - that was essentially a Beatles homage.

To me, it was yet another example of a music living legend having high praise for Taylor.  When legends like Carole King and Billy Joel speak about you in glowing terms the way both have recently in regards to her, that says a lot.

[KevShmev]

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1456604921898360843?s=21

She wrote and directed a short film for All Too Well.  I don’t know if I’m emotionally ready for this…

1 day to go.... Get ready. 

[nobloodyname]

How you holding up, Kev? You okay?

My CD arrives today. To be honest, I hadn't even realised it was coming out today until I got up to speed with this thread again yesterday. Bad Swiftie, me.

[Willthescout7]

My CD got delayed until December 20th. This is a sad day

[KevShmev]

How you holding up, Kev? You okay?

 

Haha, bought it on iTunes and uploaded it to my iPhone.  Will listen to what I can throughout the day at work before giving it a full go at home this weekend.  Should be interesting to hear how the re-recordings of the original album tracks sound.