Taylor Swift leaves Easter eggs leading up to ‘1989’ announcement, “(Taylor’s Version)” meaning explained

A moment Taylor Swift fans have eagerly anticipated since 2020 – her ‘1989’ album re-recording. Question…? What was wrong with the first one? Why begin again?

The Reveal

In the final minutes of the last The Eras Tour show in Los Angeles late August 9, Swifties noticed a pattern. Swift is known for leaving hidden clues for fans to discover – this time closing out her U.S. tour leg wearing a variety of blue ensembles.

References to the Taylor Swift brand immediately took over social media within moments. Swifties commanded 10 of the top 20 trending keywords on Twitter (X) – including “ITS HAPPENING” and “EVERYTHING IS BLUE.” Users noticed her website go blank except for a background of a blue sky with seagulls, similar to the original ‘1989’ album artwork, and a button in 1989’s stylized font reading “store.” But when clicked, the link gave the error message “503 – No server is available to complete this request.”

The Swiftie community was ready for it, and continued refreshing and updating. At 1:11, the online store suddenly loaded – ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ was announced and the line for limited edition CD, vinyl, and cassette tape sales began.

The Reason

In an age of treacherous fine print and managing one’s reputation, Swift found herself in a bind. Her label had sold her six-album catalog to Scooter Braun, investor and manager of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. To even review the related financial documents from Big Machine Records, place a bid on Swift’s own work, or begin the first steps of any negotiation, Braun required that she sign an NDA promising to only speak positively of Braun in the future. Citing bad blood between the two, alleging Braun on many occasions had been “manipulative” and a “bully,” she declined.

Her albums – music, videos, art – were sold to Shamrock Holdings, an equity firm owned by Disney, for over $400 million. Every time a person listens to original Taylor Swift tracks on a streaming service, Braun continues to profit from her work, even that which was created and produced when she was a minor.

U.S. copyright law separates the rights to music by the composition itself, and the specific recording of a work, the “master.” By re-recording all of her albums published since age 16, Swift – who has a history of supporting small artists’ creative rights, funding human rights campaigns, and paying her staff and performers excellent salaries – wipes her hands clean of the chaos and will retain all sales profits and royalties going forward.

To ensure you’re listening to Swiftie-approved content, just verify that the track playing says “(Taylor’s Version)” following the title.

Are We Out of the Woods Yet?

With just under seven albums to remaster, there is work to be done. The singer has two more albums to recreate. But for now, Swifties celebrate every step of the journey. Swift followed up on her diligent detectives’ theories that a new album was on its way, confirming it via posts on her social media accounts:

“The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways. It fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27. To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!”

Though the album is enjoying 89 hours of pre-ordering on her website, Crystal Skies Blue Edition is already sold out. Sunrise Boulevard Yellow, Aquamarine Green, and Rose Garden Pink Deluxe Editions remain.

‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ will be available to the public on October 27.