Taylor Swift began her professional music career in 2004 when she was only 14 years old and had no experience in the music industry. At that time, she signed with Big Machine, giving the record label full ownership of and control over the master recordings she produced and released through them. This included all of the material on her first six albums.
After leaving Big Machine in 2018, Swift signed with Republic Records and Universal Music Group. A year later, Big Machine was sold to Scooter Braun who gained ownership of Swift’s master recordings. Swift attempted to buy them back, but Braun instead sold her entire catalog to a private investment firm.
To regain ownership of her material and prevent third parties from profiting off of the music she created, Swift began re-recording her earlier material in late 2020. On April 9, 2021, she released her first re-recorded album Fearless, which she re-titled Fearless (Taylor’s Version), followed by Red (Taylor’s Version) on November 12, 2021.