WASHINGTON: American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift recently shared a social media post that hinted she will apparently be bringing in Phoebe Bridgers as a guest for her upcoming rerecording of 'Red' (Taylor's Version).
The three-time album of the year Grammy winner released a special "vault video" on Twitter, containing a hidden message about the album for her fans.
It suggested that she'll soon be announcing the names of new "from the vault" tracks from the upcoming rerecording of her fourth studio album, 2012's 'Red', which is slated for a November 19 release.
The video showed a vault, coloured in red, with music playing in the background, and a jumble of letters flying on the screen, towards the viewers. The word puzzle featured the names of bonus tracks to be included on 'Red' (Taylor's Version) as well as possible collaborators on the album.
Swift chose this same method when hinting at what was coming on her re-recorded album 'Fearless (Taylor's Version)', which arrived in April.
Swifties were quick to discover the words 'Phoebe Bridgers' hidden in the message, plus 'Better Man', a song Swift originally wrote for 'Red' but later gave to Little Big Town to record. Swift performed it live at the Bluebird Cafe in 2018 as part of Bluebird, a documentary film tribute to the Nashville venue where she was discovered.
Ed Sheeran, who recorded 'Everything Has Changed' with Swift on the original 'Red' and country singer Chris Stapleton, were also found in the word search, implying that Swift will be collaborating with both for the new album. Sheeran recently said in an interview he'd re-recorded his duet part, as well as hinting at other recordings.
Also in the puzzle was 'Ronan', a heart-wrenching track Swift wrote in the 'Red' era that was inspired by four-year-old Ronan Thompson's fatal battle with cancer. Reportedly, Swift only performed it once at the 2012 Stand Up to Cancer telethon, but Billboard reported last week that a re-recorded 'Ronan' will be appearing on 'Red' (Taylor's Version) with permission from Ronan's mother, Maya Thompson.
Lastly, 'All Too Well', 'Ten', 'Minute' and 'Version' were also in the search, confirming that the long-awaited 10-minute version of 'All Too Well' will be featured on the re-recording.
There were a few other words here and there in the puzzle that form up the names of new song titles. The unscrambled list of newly recorded 'Vault' tracks being added to the original 'Red' will be as follows:
- 'Ronan'
- 'Better Man'
- 'Nothing New', featuring Phoebe Bridgers
- 'Babe'
- 'Message in a Bottle'
- 'I Bet You Think About Me', featuring Chris Stapleton
- 'Forever Winter'
- 'Run', featuring Ed Sheeran
- 'The Very First Night'
- 'All Too Well' 10-minute version
Along with the video, she tweeted, "*presses post* *cackles maniacally* Level: casually cruel in the name of being honest," referencing lyrics to her objectively finest masterpiece, 'All Too Well'.
She later followed up with a subsequent tweet, writing, "Your next clue will be in the spot where you hear red..."
The singer, then again, tweeted, "Love is a ruthless game #iunlockedthevault," with a sunglasses emoji. As fans might know, the line is from 2012 'Red' opener 'State of Grace'.
As per USA Today, Swift is re-recording her music after a public battle with music executive Scooter Braun, who had purchased her recordings before selling them for millions in November 2020.
By re-recording her music, she will be gaining ownership over the earlier songs that launched her career, albeit with a more sophisticated, mature twist.