Taylor Swift, “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” | Track Review 🎵

Taylor Swift does a nice job keeping the magic alive and well on “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” which appears on 1989 (Taylor’s Version).  

Well, we know what the first 🎙 Taylor Swift re-record of 2022 is.  Drum roll please… it’s… 💿 1989!  1989 marked Swift’s highly successful transition from country music into pop.  Notably, 1989 won Swift her second of three 🏆 Grammys for Album of the Year. Leading the re-record charge is 🎵 “This Love (Taylor’s Version)”.  The original appeared as the 11^th track on 1989.  Worth noting, Swift released it alongside 🎵 “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)”.

Re-records are tricky.  It all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with them. Do you want a whole new perspective or are you trying to preserve the classicism of the original? For Taylor Swift, the understanding is that she wants to own her catalog following a dispute with her label.  The best way to do that, hence, is to rerecord those albums that she doesn’t have control over prior to 2018 because the rights are owned elsewhere.  That’s why listening to 🎵 “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” doesn’t sound starkly different from the original.  There are some subtle differences, as to be expected from duplicating without copying and pasting, but no radical transformation. Honestly, I had to revisit the original because it wasn’t a song that caught my attention like the biggest hits from 1989 🤷.  This re-recorded version is respectable, bearing similar productions and vocal performance to the original, which is, clearly, Swift’s intention.  There’s a different producer this time around (🎛 Christopher Rowe), but still, there’s nothing that jumps right out at you about Taylor’s Version.  Her voice is older and more mature – that’s a win.

Final Thoughts 💭 

I wish I had a stronger opinion on “This Love (Taylor’s Version).” It’s a solid, sound re-record.  Swift, again, sounds older and more mature, which is positive.  The sanctity of the original is well-preserved which, again, seems to be the modus operandi.  If you loved the original, you’ll love this one.  

🎙 Taylor Swift • 🎵 This Love (Taylor’s Version)” • 🏷 Taylor Swift • 🗓 5.6.22

[📷: Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay, Taylor Swift]