Taylor Swift is planning to re-record her first five albums in order to regain control of her discography.
The “You Need To Calm Down” singer confirmed the news Thursday on “Good Morning America” during an interview with Robin Roberts in which Swift discussed her upcoming album, “Lover,” which is due out Friday.
“One thing about this album that’s really special to me is that it’s the first one that I will own,” Swift said to thunderous applause.
Swift’s announcement comes after a public feud with record executive/manager Scooter Braun, who purchased her former record label Big Machine Label Group earlier this year and gained ownership of all of Swift’s music produced through that label in a deal Swift called the “worst case scenario” in a Tumblr post.
In an interview airing this weekend on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Swift said the deal triggered memories of “the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at [Braun’s] hands for years.”
Swift has accused Braun of bullying her on social media and said the purchase has “stripped [her] of [her] life’s work.”
Swift signed to Big Machine in 2005 before leaving the label in 2018 to sign with Universal Music Group. Big Machine still has the exclusive rights to the master recordings of her work produced in the years Swift was signed there.
“It’s something that I’m very excited about because my contract says starting November 2020 I can record albums one through five all over again,” Swift said in the “GMA” interview. “I think that artists deserve to own their work, I just feel very passionately about that.”
