Taylor Swift Announces 1989 (Taylor's Version) Release

During her Eras Tour stop in Los Angeles on August 9, Taylor Swift announced that her upcoming album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), would be released on October 27. Over the past few years, the singer has been lavishing fans with brand-new, previously unreleased music. She doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Midnights, Folklore, and Evermore are three brand-new albums that she has released in the last three years. She has also published three remastered versions of her previous albums Fearless, Speak Now, and Red in order to regain the rights to those albums. Taylor is already embracing the next era, despite the fact that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was only released on July 7.

Taylor finished the first leg of her Eras Tour in the United States on August 9, which also happens to be the number 8/9. The timing of the 1989 announcement couldn’t have been more perfect. Six shows of the concert were held at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium. Fans had been wondering for weeks if the singer would be revealing 1989 (Taylor’s Version) at the event due to this milestone and the “8/9” date, and she did so. At a different Eras Tour performance earlier this year, she announced the date for the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

Release Date of 1989(Taylor’s Version)

The Taylor’s Version of 1989 will be available on October 27, 2023. Taylor released numerous hints that it would be the next of her six re-recorded albums to be released prior to the announcement. The music video for “I Can See You,” which she wrote and recorded for her album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), was released on July 7 and featured a HUGE 1989 Easter egg towards the end. An advertisement for “1989 TV” was posted above a bridge as Taylor drove off at the conclusion of the clip. Fans interpreted this as Taylor’s way of teasing 1989, which would follow.

The Easter Eggs

In Taylor’s initial discography, 1989 was the fifth album, and since, there have been several “5” references. In the “I Can See You” music video, Taylor Lautner and Joey King were pursued by five security guards as they attempted to save Taylor and symbolically assist her in reclaiming her work. Back in October, when Taylor debuted the music video for ‘Bejewelled’. Her persona rode a lift and exited on floor 3 before everybody else (denoting album 3, Speak Now, as the upcoming release). She then took the lift up to floor 5, giving the impression that album number five, 1989, would follow.

A hint from 1989 was also included in the music video for “Karma,” which was released in May 2023. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s release date was previously known at the time of its premiere. Therefore no further hints concerning that song were necessary. Taylor posed as a statue with the roman numeral MCMLXXXIX written on it in the “Karma” music video. This does really translate to “1989.”

Then, on August 9, when she performed in Los Angeles as part of her Eras Tour, she made numerous set adjustments that further alluded to the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album release. She wore four new clothes for the performance, all of them were blue.

Taylor’s appearances during the Speak Now, Folklore, and 1989 eras, as well as for the evening’s surprise songs, were unlike anything we had ever seen before because they were all blue for the first time. It wasn’t accidental either because it happened at the same time as the announcement!

Tracklist for 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

The initial section of the tracklist is readily recognisable because Taylor has included fresh versions of every original track from the recordings with all of her re-records. The re-recorded versions of “Wildest Dreams” and “This Love” have already been released by Taylor. It already gave fans a preview of what to expect from 1989 even though it hasn’t yet been released.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. She has also gone back “into the vault” to find tracks that weren’t included on each album when it was released first. These (mainly) previously unreleased vault tracks from each era were also re-recorded by Taylor and placed on the Taylor’s Versions of her albums. While Fearless (TV) and Speak Now (TV) both featured six vault tracks. Red featured seven vault tracks in addition to three additional tracks that weren’t present in Red’s initial release. Taylor’s website revealed five vault recordings will be included on the 1989 re-record in addition to the 16 songs from the original album before 1989 (TV) was released. Here is the tracklist: