Taylor Swift’s re-recordings of Fearless SAA are eligible for Grammys … but not for songwriting

Taylor Swift’s re-recording of hits from her album Fearless may be eligible for Grammy Awards – but not for any songwriting.

The 31-year-old star recently announced that she is releasing an adapted release of her 2008 album, titled Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which appears with six brand new songs.

By re-recording the entire album, the singer regains control of her music after record jockey Scooter Braun sold them in November 2020.

And now the recording academy has declared that the re-recorded tracks, including Love Story, may only be allowed to perform, not to write songs.

A Grammys spokesman told Billboard: ‘Current fitness guidelines will allow new performances and albums to be considered if recorded within the past five years.

“However, none of the older songs can be eligible for songwriting awards.”

The rule does not apply to the six new tracks that Taylor plans to launch alongside her classic, which can also be nominated for songwriting awards.

Recordings have won Grammys before, with Elton John taking home the gong for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1997 after making Candle in the Wind again.

Taylor’s recorded version of the 2008 single Love Story has already started strong after earning 10,000 download sales on its first day.

The new recording of Love Story was released after midnight on Friday, February 12, but it quickly obscured the original song’s current sales and even, according to Billboard, outshone many other contemporary tracks.

Only three songs from the week ending February 4 could sell out Love Story (Taylor’s version)’s 10,000 downloads from February 12: Fake Woke by Tom MacDonald with 14,000 downloads, BTS ‘Dynamite with 13,000 and Olivia Rodrigo’s driver’s license, also with 13,000 downloads download sales.

This is especially impressive, as Taylor only announced on February 11 that she would re-record the album and announce the release of the single the next day.

Compared to the re-released version, the original Love Story only sold 200 downloads on February 12th.

The song has sold a total of 6.13 million downloads since it was released 12 years ago, but it only sold a ‘negligible amount’ in the days before the release of the new version.

The two versions are described as fairly similar, and Taylor even used the same musicians on her new track as on the original, according to Pitchfork.

This ensures that the same people who help produce the original recording will still be paid for their performances when people download and stream the new song.

Last week, the hitmaker of Shake It Off announced the outward reissue and said on social media: ‘I’m delighted to tell you that my new version of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is ready and will be with you soon.

‘It has 26 songs, including 6 songs from the vault that have never been released before. Love Story (Taylor’s version) appears tonight. ‘

The album is available for pre-order, and a hidden message in an accompanying note indicates that it may drop in April.

In a long statement, she adds: ‘Artists have to own their own work for so many reasons, but the most glaring thing is that the artist is the only one who really * knows * that work.

‘For example, I only know what songs I wrote that made almost the fearless album.

‘Songs that I absolutely loved, but were held back for various reasons (do not want too many break-up songs, do not want too many tempo songs, can not fit so many songs on a physical CD).

‘The reasons now seem unnecessary. i decided i want you to have the whole story, see the whole vivid picture and immerse yourself in the whole dream landscape that is my fearless album.

‘That’s why I chose to include 6 songs that have never been released before on my version of this album. when I was between the ages of 16 and 18 years old, it was those who killed me to leave behind. ‘

Now in full control of her first six albums (after Scooter Braun sold the masters in November after acquiring her former label Big Loud in June), she was able to re-record her full catalog under her new label Republic Records.

In June 2019, award-winning artist Scooter (39) claimed to have released her studio albums and, without her knowledge, took owners of her masters in a $ 300 million deal.

Taylor re-recorded her music, which was released from 2006 to 2017, after her entire Big Machine Label Group catalog was sold to Scooter.

The albums included in Taylor’s seemingly hijacked documents are Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), The Ever-Popular 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017).

Reputation was her last album under her 12-year contract with Big Machine Records, before entering into a new multi-album deal with Universal Machine distributor in November 2018.

Although the catalog was resold to Shamrock Holdings, the media personality was able to take control of her records by releasing the songs again, according to her contract, according to EW.

Taylor accused the manager of Justin Bieber of ‘manipulative bullying’ and because the parties had a say-it-she-said by friends in public.

Her lawyer explained earlier: ‘Scott Borchetta [former owner of Big Machine Records] never gave Taylor Swift the opportunity to buy her masters, or the label, straight with a check the way he now apparently does for others. ‘

Scooter’s company Ithaca Holdings LLC bought in June Nashville, the independent record company Big Machine, founded in 2005 by Scott Borchetta, in June 2019 for just over $ 300 million.

According to the entertainment publication, the deal could even rise to $ 450 million. This included all the songs from her first six albums, along with all of her music videos recorded at the time, and her album art.