Taylor Swift has said she plans to re-record her old songs, having lost the rights to much of her back catalogue to pop mogul Scooter Braun, the rep for stars including Ariana Grande, and Justin Bieber.
The talent manager recently made a $300 million acquisition of Swift’s former label Big Machine Label Group. The deal includes the ownership of Swift’s first six records, from her 2006 self-titled debut album to 2014’s ‘1989’, and her latest, ‘Reputation’.
Following the deal, Swift called out Braun for “incessant, manipulative bullying,” while Justin Bieber responded in defence of his manager, calling her “unfair”, and accusing her of encouraging fans to attack him online.
When asked in an interview with CBS News whether she would consider re-recording the material she lost the rights to, she confirmed that this was “absolutely” her plan.
The idea was first brought up by Kelly Clarkson, who suggested in June that Swift should “re-record all the songs that [she didn’t] own the masters [to]”.
Clarkson also suggested that Swift should release brand-new artwork for each record and “some kind of incentive” so her fans will no longer buy the older versions.
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During the feud between Swift and Braun, the singer appeared to take aim at the mogul during her performance at Amazon’s Prime Day Concert. While performing her ‘1989’ track ‘Shake It Off’, she audibly emphasised the lyrics: “the liars and dirty, dirty cheats of the world”, a line which many fans speculate is a subtle dig at the talent manager.