Taylor Swift’s re-recordings, Fearless, will be eligible for a Grammy … but not for composition

Taylor Swift’s re-recordings of the hit songs from her album Fearless will be eligible for Grammy Awards – but not for composition awards.

The 31-year-old star recently announced that she will release a reworked edition of her 2008 album, called Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which comes with six new songs.

By re-recording the entire LP, the singer takes control of her music after the performer of the album Scooter Braun sold them in November 2020.

And now the Recording Academy has said that the re-recorded songs, including The Love Story, can only be nominated for performance, not composition.

A Grammy spokesman told Billboard: “Current eligibility guidelines would allow new shows and albums to be eligible if they were recorded in the last five years.

“However, none of the older pieces would be eligible for composition awards.”

This rule does not apply to the six new songs that Taylor intends to release alongside her classics, which can also be nominated for composition awards.

The re-recordings also won Grammy Awards, with Elton John taking home the gong for best male pop vocal performance in 1997, after remake Candle in the Wind.

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

The new Love Story recording was released on Friday, February 12 after midnight, but quickly overshadowed the current sales of the original song and even surpassed many other contemporary songs, according to Billboard.

Only three songs from the week ending February 4 have managed to sell over 10,000 downloads of The Love Story (Taylor’s Version) since February 12: Tom MacDonald’s Fake Woke with 14,000 downloads, BTS Dynamite with 13,000 and Driver’s License of Olivia Rodrigo also with 13,000 download sales.

This is particularly impressive, as it was not until February 11 that Taylor announced that he 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 only 200 downloads on February 12th.

The song has sold a total of 6.13 million downloads since its release 12 years ago, but has only sold a “negligible amount” in the days leading up to the release of the new version.

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

This ensures that the same people who help make the original recording will continue to be paid for their performance as people download and stream the new song.

Last week, hit producer Shake It Off announced the highly anticipated reissue, saying on social media: “I’m excited to tell you that my new version of Fearless (Taylor’s version) is over and will be there soon.

“It has 26 songs, including 6 songs released so far from the safe. The love story (Taylor’s version) will come out tonight. ‘

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

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

“For example, only I know what songs I wrote that almost made the Fearless album.

“The songs I absolutely loved, but I was retained for various reasons (I don’t want too many dividing songs, I don’t want too many down tempo songs, I can’t fit so many songs on a physical CD).

“It simply came to our notice then. I decided that I want you to have the whole story, to see the whole picture alive and to leave you in the whole dream, which is my fearless album.

“That’s why I chose to include 6 songs released so far on my version of this album. written when I was between 16 and 18, they were the ones who killed me to leave them behind. ‘

Now in full control of her first six albums (after Scooter Braun sold her master’s in November after acquiring her former Big Loud label in June), she has managed to re-record her entire catalog under her new Republic Records label.

In June 2019, the award-winning artist claimed that the record-breaking performer Scooter, 39, released her studio albums and took over her masters in a $ 300 million deal without her knowledge.

Taylor re-recorded his music released from 2006 to 2017, after the entire Big Machine Label Group catalog was sold to Scooter.

Albums included in Taylor’s seemingly hijacked documents are Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), Popular 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017).

Reputation was her last album under her 12-year contract with Big Machine Records, before she signed a new multi-album deal with Big Machine distributor Universal Music Group in November 2018.

Although the catalog was resold to Shamrock Holdings, the media personality managed to take control of its recordings by relaunching the songs, according to her contract, according to EW.

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

Her lawyer previously explained: “Scott Borchetta [former owner of Big Machine Records] He never gave Taylor Swift the opportunity to buy his masters or the label, directly, with a check of how he now seems to do for others.

Scooter Ithaca Holdings LLC acquired the Nashville-based independent record label Big Machine, which was founded by Scott Borchetta in 2005 in June 2019, for just over $ 300 million.

The deal could increase to as much as $ 450 million, according to the entertainment publication. She included all the songs from her first six albums, along with all her music videos recorded during that time and the artwork of her album.