Ed Sheeran has confirmed that he’s already re-recorded his part on Taylor Swift‘s ‘Red’ as she prepares to release a new version of the album later this year.
Sheeran collaborated with Swift on ballad ‘Everything Has Changed’ from the 2012 album, which has been re-recorded in full as part of Swift’s ambitious plan to re-record her first six studio albums to regain the copyright to her own music. ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ will come out in November.
Speaking on chart radio show The Official Big Top 40, Sheeran was asked whether plans were in place for him to lay down a new version of his verses on ‘Everything Has Changed’ ahead of the album’s release.
“I’ve already recorded it,” he responded simply, adding to fans that “Taylor’s got a few surprises in store for you.”
ok… @edsheeran just told @itswillmanning he has re-recorded ‘Everything Has Changed’ with @taylorswift13 and we are FREAKING OUT!! ? ? pic.twitter.com/n39w3DacOr
— The Official Big Top 40 (@BigTop40) June 27, 2021
Earlier this month, Swift shared the news that the re-recording of her 2012 album will “be the first time you hear all 30 songs that were meant to go” on the original album. It’s released on November 19, and looks set to feature an infamous 10-minute version of fan-favourite track ‘All Too Well’, which Swift first confirmed existed last year.
Part of Swift’s message explaining the context of the original and her plans for the new version reads: “Musically and lyrically, Red resembled a heartbroken person. It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. Happy, free, confused, lonely, devastated, euphoric, wild, and tortured by memories past.
“I went into the studio and experimented with different sounds and collaborators. And I’m not sure if it was pouring my thoughts into this album, hearing thousands of your voices sing the lyrics back to me in passionate solidarity, or if it was simply time, but something was healed along the way.”
Last year, Swift confirmed her plans to re-record songs from her first six records in a bid to take control over her music once again after music manager Scooter Braun and his media holding company, Ithaca Holdings LLC, acquired Swift’s old label, Big Machine Label Group, back in June 2019.
“I’m having a really good time… it’s a really amazing, fun adventure,” she’s said of the process. “So far, of the ones I’ve recorded, I think it’s been the most fun doing ‘Love Story’ because the older music, my voice was so teenaged and I sometimes, when I hear my older music and my older young teenage voice, it makes me feel like I’m a different singer now.
‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’, the first Swift album to be re-recorded, came out in April. In a four-star review, NME called it “an intriguing further look into the world of ‘Fearless’.”