Taylor Swift on stage earlier this year
With four of her classic albums now re-recorded, and only two more to go, what many music fans might forget is that Taylor Swift’s ongoing musical project was actually all Kelly Clarkson’s idea.
The Shake It Off singer first spoke out in 2019 to voice her upset that music manager Scooter Braun – with whom she’d previously had personal beef – had bought her old record label, and was therefore the owner of the masters to her first six albums.
At the time, Kelly publicly spoke out in support of Taylor, and suggested a possible solution to the problem.
“Just a thought,” the American Idol winner wrote on X (then known as Twitter), addressing Taylor directly. “[You] should go in and re-record all the songs that [you] don’t own the masters on exactly how [you] did them, but put brand new art and some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions.”
Kelly added: “I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point.”
@taylorswift13 just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions. I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point 💁🏼♀️
— Kelly Clarkson 🍷💔☀️ (@kellyclarkson) July 13, 2019
As we now know, that’s exactly what she has been doing, releasing “Taylor’s Version” of Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989 in the past two years, complete with brand new “from the vault” tracks that didn’t make the albums first time around.
Following the release of “Taylor’s Version” of 1989, Kelly revealed that her fellow pop star gets in touch every time a re-recorded album goes on sale.
“You know what’s so funny? She just sent me flowers,” the US talk show host told E! News. “She’s so nice. She did. She was like, ‘Every time I release something’ – ’cause she just did 1989.”
Kelly added: “I love how kind she is… She’s a very smart businesswoman. So, she would have thought of that.”
Kelly Clarkson
Taylor is currently in the middle of her Eras world tour, a three-and-a-half-hour how spanning her entire career and featuring hits from all of her albums.
