It looks like Taylor Swift may have scored another opportunity to add to her trophy collection.
The 31-year-old country singer–turned–pop star will be eligible for Grammy Award nominations on her upcoming rerecorded albums, a spokesperson for the Recording Academy told Billboard recently.
Swift has vowed to create new versions of her early albums after superstar manager Scooter Braun purchased and then sold her master recordings.
Awards hopeful: Taylor Swift, 31, could be eligible for to win Grammys with her newly rerecorded albums, Billboard reported last week; Swift seen in 2019 in Las Vegas
According to a Recording Academy spokesperson: ‘Current eligibility guidelines would allow for the new performances and albums to be eligible if they were recorded within the last five years.’
However, they added that ‘None of the older songs would be eligible for songwriting awards.’
Although Swift’s self-titled debut album from 2006 was a hit, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart, she began her string of rerecordings with her second album, Fearless.
Last week, she released a new version of her single Love Story, renamed Love Story (Taylor’s Version), which sticks closely to the original recording and even features many of the original studio musicians and touring band members.
It’s possible: A Recording Academy spokesperson said: ‘Current eligibility guidelines would allow for the new performances and albums to be eligible if they were recorded within the last five years’; Swift seen on the cover of her Love Story rerecording
New contenders: The singer’s old songs couldn’t be nominated for songwriting awards, but the six bonus tracks she’s promised might be eligible if they were unreleased; seen in 2019 in LA
In addition to the new versions of the original album tracks, Swift has said she’s including six unreleased bonus tracks that were never included on the original release.
According to the Recording Academy, those songs will also be eligible for awards and might even qualify for songwriting honors, as long as they were never officially released elsewhere.
It’s unclear if the Shake It Off singer will be doling out more singles in upcoming weeks, but fans will have to wait until April 9 to listen to the full version of her rerecorded Fearless album.
Although she didn’t list a release date in her initial announcement of the project, eagle-eyed Swifties noticed that some letters that were randomly capitalized appeared to spell out ‘APRIL NINTH,’ and a representative later confirmed the album was arriving on April 9.
Tricky: Swift will release Fearless (Taylor’s Version) on April 9 after sending a coded message in her announcement post; seen in 2019 in New Jersey
Fearless was a hit at the Grammys, where it won four awards, including the prestigious Album of the Year trophy.
Although Taylor has retained the publishing rights to her songs, and makes money every time someone streams them or purchases a download or a CD from the compositions, she didn’t own the actual master recordings, which were held by her record label Big Machine.
In 2019, she signed a new agreement with Universal Music Group giving her the rights to all future masters, which would include her surprise albums Folklore and Evermore, as well as 2019’s Lover.
However, she doesn’t have control over her massively popular albums Red and 1989, which signaled her move into pop music and away from country stardom.
Out of her hands: Superstar manager Scooter Braun bought Taylor’s master recordings for her first six albums in 2019, including her massively successful albums Red and 1989
Shortly after she signed her new agreement in 2019, Braun purchased her old Big Machine label in a $300 million deal that had the bonus of giving him the masters to her first six albums.
The singer complained that the purchase ‘stripped me of my life’s work’ at the ‘hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,’ presumably referring to Braun’s work with Swift’s longtime nemesis Kanye West.
She claimed that she had approached the label about purchasing her masters, but she had been rebuffed, as Big Machine allegedly would only give her the rights to her masters if she agreed to record more albums for the label.
Even then, she would have only got the rights back to one album at a time for each new album she would produce.
Taylor’s new version of Fearless won’t be eligible for any awards at the Grammy Awards ceremony in March, but she could be under consideration for the 2022 ceremony.
Next year: Taylor’s new version of Fearless won’t be eligible for any awards at the Grammy Awards ceremony in March, but she could be under consideration for the 2022 ceremony