Taylor Swift surprised fans Friday night by announcing that she would soon release a rerecording of 2010 album “Speak Now.”
The singer took to social media just before midnight to reveal that “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” would drop July 7.
“It fills me with such pride and joy to announce that my version of Speak Now will be out July 7 (just in time for July 9th, iykyk 😆),” wrote Swift, mentioning a date referenced in her song “Last Kiss.”
“I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing… and living to speak about it.”
“Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” is set to feature 22 songs, including six previously unreleased tracks, according to her website. Physical versions of the album will include “never-before-seen” photos of Swift, as well as printed lyrics for the songs.
In another message to her fans, Swift wrote that she “always looked at this album as my album.”
“And the lump in my throat expands to a quivering voice as I say this. Thanks to you, dear reader, it finally will be,” wrote Swift in an apparent nod to a track off the 2022 album “Midnights.”
She continued with another not-so-subtle song reference: “I consider this music to be, along with your faith in me, the best thing that’s ever been mine.”
Swift, in a show Friday evening on her Eras Tour, also announced the album news in front of a record-breaking crowd at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
“I think rather than me speaking about it, I thought I would just show you,” said Swift as a graphic with the album’s name flashed onto a screen behind her.
The unveiling of a new “Taylor’s Version” release comes after the singer announced in 2019 that she intended to rerecord songs from her first six albums. The plan was intended to give her control of her masters after Scooter Braun purchased her catalog with his company Ithaca Holdings’ acquisition of Big Machine Records.
Ithaca later sold the masters to Shamrock Holdings in a 2020 deal that Swift said would allow Braun to “continue to profit” off her catalog for “many years.”
Swift has already released the rerecordings “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version),” both in 2021.