Taylor Swift recently released her first album of this year, but this time it wasn’t a “new” album.
On April 9, Swift released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” an album including 27 songs, many of which are re-recordings of songs from her 2008 album, “Fearless.”

The difference between these albums is not only more songs, but that Swift herself owns this album.

Any albums put out by Swift from 2005 to 2018 belong to her old record label, and the relationship between label and artist can be described as problematic at best.

In an article in Time magazine titled “Why Is Taylor Swift Re-Recording Her Old Albums,” Raisa Bruner explains that Big Machine Records, who Swift signed with, sold to a private equity group, Ithaca Holdings, which is owned by Scooter Braun, who sold Swift’s master copies to profit.

“Anyone who hits play on an old version of Swift’s early songs right now will still pay into the bank of Braun,” said Bruner.

Along with doing this all for profit, it is also claimed that Braun bullied Swift throughout her time there, said Bruner in her article.

With her old albums not belonging to her, Swift set out to do one thing with these re-recordings; to own her own music in any way she can.

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” was the first of these re-recordings, and the album itself was an excellent choice as a first release.

The album includes well known songs such as “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” “You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)” and new releases for example “Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault).”

Many grew up hearing these songs, and now that many are old enough to have experienced these situations, the album pulls on heartstrings in many different ways.

It focuses on growing older, falling in love, getting your heart broken and most importantly, learning how to grow from all these experiences.

Swift herself even grew through more of these experiences, as she first released the songs as an 18-year-old and re-released at 31 years old.

Even though most of these songs aren’t new, a lot forgot them as time passed on, only to now realize how much the songs meant with the refreshing new album.

The first “Fearless” affected people throughout a stage in their lives, and “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” is doing it all over again 13 years later.