On May fifth, Taylor Swift announced that her next album would be coming out in July of this year. The album is Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and it is a very important piece in Swift’s legacy. 

   After Swift’s first six studio albums (Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red. 1989, Reputation) were sold without her knowledge, she left her previous record label, Big Machine Records, and started her own label. She released her seventh studio album, Lover, and the released her eighth and ninth albums, Folklore and Evermore, during the pandemic. Swifts fans were incredibly happy that the artist was releasing new content that she owned. However, some fans felt guilty about streaming her older music, knowing it was giving money to Big Machine Records. After careful consideration, Swift came up with a solution. 

   On April 9, 2021, Swift re-released her second album Fearless under a new name. Fearless (Taylor’s Version). The album includes all of the songs that were on the original album, as well as the bonus songs from the platinum edition of the album. It also included six, new, never before heard songs that Swift dubbed Vault Tracks. By releasing new content along with the old, Swift ensures that her re-recorded version of Fearless will sell. 

   That same year, on November 12, Swift re-released her fourth studio album Red (Taylor’s Version). This album included all of the songs from the original Red album, as well as eight new vault tracks. One of those vault tracks is a ten minute version of Swift’s song “All Too Well.” Many fans were pleased when this was released, because Swift had previously stated that she wrote a ten minute version of the song, but that she was not allowed to release it because of the executives at Big Machine Records. “All Too Well” is a fan favorite of many Taylor fans, and almost everyone agrees that the additional five minutes have only helped the song. 

   While Swift was not silent during 2022, releasing her twelfth studio album, Midnights, she did not give any hints as to what her next re-record would be. Many fans speculated that it would be Speak Now because of the music video for her second single off of Midnights, “Bejeweled.” 

   Many Taylor Swift fans enjoy looking for Easter Eggs in her songs and music videos, and many thought that they found a lot pointing at Speak Now in the “Bejeweled” music video. However, 2022 passed with no mention of a third re-record. 

   Many fans speculated that she would release a new re-record before she set off for her stadium tour, but she did not. However, at her May fifth show, Swift announced that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) would be out July seventh. 

   Many fans are preparing by relistening to Speak Now and anxiously waiting for the track list to drop.