Look I love a theory about Taylor Swift’s body language or love life as much as the next superfan. But I also like to go deep on the music. Which genre will she nod to next? What’s her upcoming collab? Who is Charlie Puth and why should I care about him?
And one thing I’m deeply curious about is the remainder of her re-recorded albums.
As a reminder, for the past five years, Swift has been releasing new versions of her first six albums, in order to own the copyright of her master recordings, after losing them to record producer Scooter Braun and his private equity backers. The Taylor’s Version iterations are generally the same, though sometimes with slightly different production or vocals, and often with additional “from the vault” songs. The only albums that haven’t yet been re-recorded: Her debut album from 2006 and Reputation from 2017.
There’s been plenty of speculation about when these are coming, including a new “debutation” theory that posits that both albums will be released at the same time, possibly on December 13th according to some fans. (Apparently while performing on October 18th in Miami, Swift held up five fingers, five times…leading insiders to believe something big was coming in 55 days, on the singer’s December 13th birthday.)
But I have a different theory, courtesy of my college bestie. He maintains that it’s not December we should be looking towards for Reputation, but January. January first, in fact. “I don’t think she’ll release the two albums together,” he says. “It’s a fun idea, but what really links the two? They’re not connected musically, and while one is about the start of her career and the other the consequences, there’s not much else tying them together thematically. Instead, I think she’ll stick to her pattern of two re-recordings (Fearless and Red in 2021), new album (Midnights in 2022), two re-recordings (Speak Now and 1989 in 2023) and new album (TTPD in 2024), then two separate re-recordings next year.”
As for why he expects Reputation to come first? “I think it’s hitting the Friday before or after January 1st, as a nod to ‘New Years Day,’ the final song on the album.” (Inside note: albums are typically released on Fridays for charts tracking purposes—and we all know Taylor is queen of charts.)
From his lips to Madame Swift’s ears.
