Taylor Swift is getting fans excited about the upcoming release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).“
The 33-year-old Grammy winner tweeted a track list for the album on June 5 that showed it not only features new recordings of all its original songs, but also collaborations with Fall Out Boy on “Electric Touch” and Hayley Williams of Paramore on “Castles Crumbling.”
“I’m VERY excited to show you the back cover of Speak Now (my version) including the vault tracks and collaborations with Hayley Williams from @paramore and @falloutboy,” wrote Swift.
Swift went on to explain that she chose as collaborators the very musicians who inspired the songs on “Speak Now,” which was originally released in October 2010.
“Since Speak Now was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most powerfully as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album,” she wrote. “They’re so cool and generous for agreeing to support my version of Speak Now.”
She added of the new version of the album, “I recorded this album when I was 32 (and still growing up, now) and can’t wait to unveil it all to you on July 7th.”
“Speak Now” is just the latest album the singer-songwriter will release in her “Taylor’s Version” series of re-recorded works. Like so many of Swift’s records, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and sold more than a million copies in its first week.
Swift has been recording new versions of her pre-2019 albums, all released on the Big Machine Records label, after music executive Scooter Braun purchased her catalog without her approval.
So far she's released her own versions of “Fearless” (2008) and “Red” (2012).
During a concert at Nashville's Nissan Stadium last month, Swift revealed that “Speak Now” would be next in line.
Shortly after making the announcement, Swift tweeted, “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,)” she wrote, using the acronym for “If you know you know.”
Swifties will likely recall that July 9 is a date mentioned in the lyrics of “Last Kiss,” a song on “Speak Now” long-rumored to be about Swift’s former boyfriend, Joe Jonas.
The musician went on to say that she originally wrote the album’s songs “between the ages of 18 and 20,” an era that found the young singer-songwriter romantically linked to Jonas, Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, “Twilight” franchise star Taylor Lautner and musician John Mayer.
“The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness,” she explained, adding, “I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing… and living to speak about it.”
In a follow-up tweet, Swift added, "I 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.
"I consider this music to be, along with your faith in me, the best thing that’s ever been mine."