Taylor Swift’s re-recordings of Fearless WILL qualify for Grammys … but not songwriting

Taylor Swift’s re-recordings of hit songs from her album Fearless are eligible for Grammy awards, but not songwriting accolades.

The star, 31, recently announced that she will be releasing a reworked edition of her 2008 album called Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which comes with six brand new tracks.

By re-recording the entire LP, the singer is taking back control of her music after record boss Scooter Braun sold it in November 2020.

And now the Recording Academy has stated that the re-recorded songs, including Love Story, should only be nominated for performance, not songwriting.

A Grammys spokesperson told Billboard, “Under current admission guidelines, the new performances and albums would be eligible if they were recorded in the past five years.

“None of the older songs would qualify for songwriting awards, though.”

That rule does not apply to the six new tracks that Taylor wants to release in addition to her classics, which can also be nominated for songwriting awards.

Re-recordings have previously won Grammys, with Elton John taking home the gong for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1997, after remaking Candle in the Wind.

Taylor’s re-recorded version of the 2008 single Love Story is already off to a strong start after hitting 10,000 download sales on day one.

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

Only three songs from the week ending February 4 were able to top the 10,000 downloads of Love Story (Taylor’s Version) on February 12: Tom MacDonald’s Fake Woke with 14,000 downloads, BTS ‘Dynamite with 13,000 and Olivia Rodrigo’s driver’s license, too with 13,000 download sales.

Which is particularly impressive, as it wasn’t until February 11 that Taylor announced that she had re-recorded the album and announced the release of the single the next day.

Compared to the re-recorded version, the original Love Story sold just 200 downloads on February 12.

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

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

This ensures that the same people who helped make the original recording continue to get paid for their performances while people download and stream the new song.

Last week, the Shake It Off hitmaker announced the highly anticipated re-release, saying 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 previously unreleased songs from the safe. Love Story (Taylor’s Version) is out tonight. ‘

The album is available for pre-order, and a hidden message in an accompanying note suggested it could be released in April.

In a lengthy statement, she added, ‘Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most glaringly obvious is that the artist is the only one who really * knows * that body of work.

‘For example, I only know which songs I wrote that almost made it to the Fearless album.

‘Songs that I absolutely adored, but were held back for various reasons (don’t want too many break-up songs, don’t want too many down-tempo songs, don’t fit that many songs on a physical CD).

Those reasons now seem superfluous. I’ve decided that I want you to have the whole story, see the whole vivid picture and let you into the whole dreamscape that is my intrepid album.

‘That’s why I chose to include 6 previously unreleased songs on my version of this album. written when I was between 16 and 18 years old, these were the ones I had 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 has been able to re-record her entire catalog under her new label Republic Records.

In June 2019, the award-winning recording artist claimed record Exec Scooter, 39, released her studio albums and took ownership of her masters in a $ 300 million deal without her knowledge.

Taylor rerecorded her music from 2006 to 2017, after her entire Big Machine Label Group catalog was sold to Scooter.

The albums 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 deal with Big Machine Records, before signing a new multi-album deal with Big Machine’s distributor Universal Music Group in November 2018.

Although the catalog was re-sold to Shamrock Holdings, the media personality has been able to take control of her records by re-releasing the songs, under her contract, according to EW.

Taylor had accused Justin Bieber’s manager of “ manipulative bullying, ” and since the parties, through friends, have had a public he-said-she-said.

Her attorney explained earlier, “Scott Borchetta [former owner of Big Machine Records] Taylor never gave Swift the chance to simply buy her masters, or the label, with a check as he apparently does for others now. ‘

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

The deal could go as high as $ 450 million, according to the entertainment publication. It included all of the songs from her first six albums, along with all of her music videos shot within that time frame, and her album artwork.