Taylor Swift fans – famous or not – are freaking out with the release of their highly anticipated re-recordings, starting with Love Story (Taylor’s version) on Thursday.
Shortly after its debut, Twitter exploded when #TaylorsVersion became the number one trending topic on the platform, with Swifties gushing over the most instrumental new version of the 2008 smash hit.
One Swiftie in particular, longtime friend Selena Gomez, 28, joined the parade of congratulations posts while sharing some kind words with the singer on social media.
Swiftie for life: Selena Gomez, 28, congratulates Taylor Swift on her new re-recordings and her upcoming album Fearless as she gushes ‘SO proud of you’ on social media
‘SO proud of you, as always Tay … LISTEN TO THIS album’, wrote the Wolves singer.
The girls first became friends in 2008 – around the time Taylor’s formidable music (including Fearless) was taking off – while dating members of the Jonas Brothers.
“It was the best thing we gained from these relationships,” Gomez told KISS FM UK in 2017.
Swift was also quick to talk about his longtime friendship in a 2014 interview, saying that this kind of supportive friendship in Hollywood was rare and also called ‘very precious’.
‘When your life changes, and you are pushed into this really strange whirlwind where what your life is is different from what other people think your life is … We have both kind of resisted and endured there through all the different changes by which we passed. ‘
Lots of love: The Wolves singer was quick to publicly launch her support for Swift, who has been working hard to record her first six albums since November
The girls performed together on stage most recently in 2018 during Swift’s Reputation Tour, where they sang Selena’s hit, Hands To Myself, and later Taylor used social media to build Gomez as they did for each other over the years.
‘For the person I could call at any time of the day, who was there no matter what … you absolutely KILLED tonight and everyone was very excited to see you. I love you, and 60,000 people at the Rose Bowl also loved you. ‘
Now with the album Fearless (Taylor’s Version) available for pre-order before its release, Selena threw on her hat early, or had potentially heard excerpts from her good friend.
She seemed to like Swift’s new approach to her Romeo and Juliet high school ballad, just the first of many ‘surprises’ that would come since the re-recording began in November.
Collaborators and friends: women have been friends since 2008 and sang together on stage during the Rose Bowl 2018
Taylor’s version: Swift has now regained ownership and promised to release his first work with ‘surprises’, including extended albums with tracks that were never edited
Taylor’s new song was the culmination of years of struggle to claim full ownership of its catalog, after an unpleasant rivalry with Scooter Braun.
He sold the rights to his first six albums in November, after acquiring his old label in June, with Swift struggling tooth and nail to reclaim his masters and re-record them on his new label, Republic Records.
Launching the ‘Taylor Version’ behind just about every piece of work she plans to release seems to be her way of letting the world know that she has regained control and ownership.
In control: Slightly adjusting the title of her new song and future albums to include ‘Taylor’s Version’, was her way of informing fans that she was back in full control.
Now available: she released the track at midnight on Thursday, causing a complete explosion on Twitter, with #Taylorsversion being the number one trending topic
The video for her new version of Love Story features old photos of the singer throughout the early days of her career, ending with a message of love dedicated ‘to all my fans’.
Rather provoking that some aspects of her re-recorded songs and albums would be different, fans were relieved to find that she did not alter any of the lyrics to her teenage love hit.
Talking about the small differences her fans can expect to hear on the ‘new’ track Love Story, she told country radio:
‘One fun thing about re-recording Love Story is that I really wanted my touring band to have a chance to play on this version because you know they’ve spent many years playing this song over and over.’
Old bonds: ‘I really wanted my touring band to have a chance to play in this version because you know they have spent many years playing this song over and over,’ she said
Nostalgic: a scrapbook-style video to accompany the ‘new’ track, old photos of the singer in the early days of her career appeared next to the lyrics of the song while she dedicated it ‘to all my fans’
Touching why she chose to release her 2008 Fearless album first, Swift said in an interview for Republic Records / MCA Nashville: ‘I always gravitated to Fearless because I think, as an album, it was a real ripening. ‘
She continued, ‘And I look back on that album and it fills me with a lot of pride, and it’s an album about hope, and lessons learned, and the effervescence of teenage youth and everything. What’s more fun than going back and exploring it? ‘
Fearless will have 26 tracks and will feature songs that she has always loved and that have never made it onto her various albums, although she said she ‘tried to keep it as close to the original as possible’.
Fearless: Her next downfall will be her new version of 2008’s Fearless, an extended 26-track version of the album, although she said ‘I tried to keep it as close to the original as possible’
Full ownership: a user was quick to provide support so that Swift could now add ‘Ownership of’ to the song’s credit list
‘The additional songs that I added are songs that I think add an insight into what the album almost was, because every time you make an album, you leave some songs out, and I think it’s really cool that the fans have the full picture this time, ‘she added.
More of her fans flooded Twitter on Thursday with many quick to point out that she could now add ‘Taylor Swift property’ to her credits for other songs for the first time in her decade and long career.
Although she did not explicitly say on Good Morning America (where she debuted her re-recording news on Thursday) that she would have Fearless for her fans by a certain date, fans deciphered the impending release when she strategically capitalized lyrics in her announcement social media on Thursday, spelling ‘April 9’
Detective work: fans deciphered Fearless’s impending release when she strategically capitalized the lyrics in her social media ad on Thursday, spelling ‘April 9’
The re-recording process while she was producing her latest album, Evermore, made her feel ‘very proud of the kind of thing’, she told Zane Lowe of Apple Music in December.
She said that all of the songs she has written over the years are equally ‘valid’ for her, as she talked about the evolution of writing about ‘problems at school’ to the reflections of her adult life that are reflected in her recent albums.
“I want to keep a lot of cool surprises for the fans until I’m ready to show them off to everyone,” she noted.
Swift gave her fans good luck on their audition journey on Thursday via Twitter, while she said, ‘I hope you enjoy this first tour as much as I enjoyed traveling back in time to recreate it.’
For fans: ‘I hope you enjoy this first tour as much as I enjoyed traveling through time to recreate it,’ she told fans on Thursday; pictured in 2020