Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her albums? Date singer could release Fearless - and Scooter Braun relationship explained

The star has released her new version of Love Story

Taylor Swift has dropped the new version of her song Love Story after she finished re-recording her second album Fearless.

The singer announced back in 2019 that she would be re-recording her first six albums after her back catalogue was bought by Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings.

Featuring hits like Love Story and White Horse, Fearless was released in 2008 and 10 million copies of the record have been sold in the US.

Taylor Swift announced back in 2019 that she would be re-recording her first six albums (Getty Images)

So, why is Swift re-recording her albums, when will Fearless be released - and what happened with Scooter Braun?

Here is everything you need to know.

Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her albums?

Taylor Swift, 31, signed a contract with record company Big Machine when she was 14 years old.

She agreed that her first six albums would belong to the label “in perpetuity”, which was a common music contract at the time.

However, Big Machine was sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings for $300million in June 2019, giving him ownership of all of the singer’s music before that year by extension.

Almost immediately, Swift announced she would be re-recording her first albums in an attempt to regain control of her music, calling the deal her “worst case scenario”.

She claimed that Braun was a “bully” and said she felt “grossed out” by him owning her work.

Swift said she was unaware that Big Machine owner Scott Borchetta would sell her work to Braun.

Braun then sold the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums to a company called Shamrock Holdings in November 2020, without her knowledge.

Discussing her decision to re-record her music on ABC, Swift said: "Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really knows that body of work.

"For example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the Fearless album. Songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons (don't want too many break-up songs, don't want too many down-tempo songs, can't that fit that many songs on a physical CD).

"Those reasons seem unnecessary now. I've decided I want you to have the whole story."

What is the new version of Fearless?

The star announced that she had finished work on re-recording her 2008 album Fearless, which has won a slew of awards including album of the year at the Grammys.

It is Swift’s only record to be certified diamond in the US.

Fans were ecstatic to find out that the new version of the album, named Fearless (Taylor’s Version), has extra songs added.

"My version of Fearless will have 26 songs on it because I've decided to add songs... that almost made the original album,” Swift told ABC.

"So everyone will be able to hear not only the songs that made the album but the songs that almost made it. The full picture."

She called the process of recording her old material “fulfilling and emotional”.

In a social media post, Swift described the album as "the diary of the adventures and explorations of a teenage girl who was learning tiny lessons with every new crack in the facade of the fairytale ending she'd been shown in the movies."

When will Fearless be released?

The full version of Love Story (Taylor’s Version) dropped at midnight on 12 February - 12 years and five months after the original track was released.

While the release date for the new version of the Fearless album has not been officially announced yet, Swift dropped hints on social media about when that might be.

A long Instagram essay Swift wrote about the record was composed entirely in lower case, except for the random letters “APRIL NINTH”.

Fans have concluded that this could be the release date of the much-anticipated re-recording.

Who is Scooter Braun?

Real name Scott Samuel Braun, the music tycoon launched Scooter Braun Projects, his company specialising in marketing, talent management, television and film production in 2007.

The record executive, 39, is best known for managing the likes of Ariana Grande – who fired him in 2016 but is working with him again – Usher and Kanye West.

He is also famed for discovering Justin Bieber when he was uploading singing videos to YouTube when he was 12 years old.

Braun is married to Yael Cohen Braun, the founder and CEO of (Expletive) Cancer, and they have three children together.