Taylor Swift: Always One Step Ahead of Us

Image courtesy of Spotify

By Ryn Cole

Taylor Swift is at it again. She is always one step ahead in regard to keeping her audience on its toes. Within the past year, Swift has been one busy woman. She already released her albums Evermore and Fearless (Taylor’s Version), the latter being part of her journey to re-record her past albums in order to release them all under her own name and label, hence “Taylor’s Version.” She is rerecording her older songs in order to gain full ownership over her music because her old production company withheld this ownership from her. 

Swift’s re-recorded version of her album Red is to be released on November 19th, 2021, and fans have been anxiously awaiting this date for months now. Red (Taylor’s Version) will have 30 songs on the record and will include a full-length version of her hit “All Too Well.” This rendition will be ten minutes long and is the version that was meant to be on the original record released in 2012. Not only that, but Ed Sheeran, Phoebe Bridgers, Mark Foster, and Chris Stapleton are all featured on the “Taylor’s Version” album as well. Needless to say, this album has been a long time coming and her fans are eagerly awaiting its release.

Though fans thought Swift would release a single from Red next, she dropped “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” on September 17, 2021. This single comes from her album 1989. Taylor has not yet mentioned releasing the re-recorded version of 1989, so her release of this specific single before a song from Red shocked audiences. 

This version sounds extremely similar to her original “Wildest Dreams,” just as all her “Taylor’s Version” songs do. There are slight differences in her vocals and production, but for the most part, the re-recorded versions are just like the originals. Swift wished to keep the integrity and nostalgic qualities of the original songs. 

Swift has left people in the dark about what songs she plans on releasing next. However, she is no stranger to leaving Easter eggs within her music and social media in order to keep her audiences second-guessing her next move. She recently joined TikTok and posted her first video on August 23, 2021. Since then, most of her videos have been basic TikToks of her or her cats, but here is one video that sticks out from all the rest. 

This TikTok was posted on September 17, 2021, the same day she released “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version).” It begins with Taylor sitting down painting her nails red. The caption on the screen reads: “You set a date in November with Red but then someone mentions 1989.” Swift looks to the side and another clip of her comes on screen. She is wearing a blue dress, red lipstick, and large sunglasses while standing outside. The video glitches and we see the first clip and second clip blur together for a moment. Then Swift takes off the glasses, winks, and the TikTok ends.Swift is the queen of keeping her audience members on their toes and it is nearly impossible to guess her next move. With such a huge community of supporters, it is impressive that she is able to keep everyone guessing. So, will there be a 1989 (Taylor’s Version) released soon? Will she set a release date? Did she simply release “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” to throw fans off her tracks? It is best to try not to guess her next move because, at this point, Swift’s plans to release her music are known only to her. The rest of her audience is in the dark and eagerly awaiting the next release.