Thursday 2/18: Taylor Swift—"Love Story" (Taylor's Version)
Today, we share our thoughts on Taylor Swift’s re-recording of her 2009 hit “Love Story”.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc. Three days of the week are free but you can get access to all five weekly posts by subscribing for $5/month via Substack or $2/month via our Patreon.
Today, we share our thoughts on Taylor Swift’s re-recording of her 2009 hit “Love Story”.
Taylor Swift—"Love Story" (Taylor's Version)
Eric Bennett:
While rerecording their entire discography is certainly work that no artist should have to undertake, it’s a unique opportunity to get a do-over of what was thought to be set in stone. The differences between the original “Love Story” and “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” are few and subtle, and if you aren't listening to them as closely as I am while writing this, you might not even notice them. Perhaps most obvious is how much stronger Swift’s vocals have gotten in the decade plus since “Love Story” was first released. I think perhaps the only other significant change is just how much cleaner and more professional the recording sounds. It was a great song then, and it's a great song today.
I also wonder what the impact of Swift’s rerecording process will be. Will other artists, both major stars and those much smaller, attempt to also own their masters? Or is this only an option for Swift because of the huge wealth she already sits upon? Additionally, I can’t imagine her new label has any issues with this project. Getting the chance to roll out a third Swift record in a six-month period? That’s a dream! Especially considering the markups on Swift merch and vinyl. I stand on both the side of feeling bad for Swift and believe every artist should own their work, but I also can't help but look at the whole ordeal with cynicism.
Eli Enis:
Wow, a moment when I’m less cynical about this move than Eric? The song sounds great but my big skepticism has less to do with Taylor’s ever-savvy marketing opportunism and more with how the rest of the entertainment industry will react to this. I’m incredibly curious to see if movies, TV shows, and commercials choose to use this song or the original in their production. I think these re-recordings are going to be met positively by Taylor stans because the narrative behind them is so compelling and it once again centers Taylor as a remarkable hero battling grotesque industry ghouls (as she once did with Spotify).
But what about casual Taylor Swift fans? Like all the people who were way into her 12 years ago and are now just mid-to-late twenty-somethings who wants to feel nostalgic for their middle school jams? I wager that there’re more of them in the world than Taylor diehards who are still tracking her every move today, and I speculate that ~the market~ will be more cautious when they select which version they want playing at the dramatic climax of their teen dramedy, or which version they want cranking through football stadiums. In addition to gaining leverage over her catalog on streaming services, one of the main reasons Taylor did this whole master move was to earn the income she deserves from sync licensing deals and royalty payments, but I think we’re really going to have to wait and see how that plays out—regardless of how great the music sounds.