Taylor Swift decided not to submit her re-recorded version of the fearless album for the Grammys, so it won’t be in the line of the competition next year.
When the original version was released in 2010 it was named as album of the year. But now, it won’t be able to repeat that feat at the 2022 event.
However, her recent album Folklore became the winner of this year’s best album. It will be in contention nevertheless.
Taylor might plan to re-record and re-release her first six albums in order to have complete control over her music.
It follows the 2019 procurement of her master recordings by music tycoon Scooter Braun and his subsequent selling of them to an investment fund.
The singer is not in agreement with Braun or any other party profiting from her recordings. She has used her publishing rights to block some attempts to exploit them.
Taylor hopes fans would listen and buy the new versions of her albums, and prefer them over the originals.
Furthermore, a “Taylor’s Version” of her 2012 album Red will be released in November.
Fearless was released in 2008 and was named both album of the year and best country album at the Grammys.
She won two other awards at the 2010 ceremony – one of which she dropped while posing for photos afterwards.
The 31-year-old won album of the year again in 2016 with her 1989 record before winning the prize once more this year with Folklore.
Moreover, she became the first female artist to win the album of the year three times. Other than that, this milestone was achieved by three men – Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder
Her current record label, Republic Records said Fearless was already “the most awarded country album of all time” and that she had decided not to submit it “after careful consideration”.
It is up to individual artists and their record labels if they want to submit their records for award consideration. Though this process can lead to some surprising blunders at times.
For instance, Cardi B chose not to submit her single WAP to the Recording Academy, despite it being one of the top-selling singles of 2020.
“I didn’t want to be submitted to award shows until I put out my album,” the US rapper explained on Instagram last November.
Cardi B went on to perform the bawdy track with Megan Thee Stallion at the 2021 Grammys ceremony, held in Los Angeles in March.
The 2022 Grammy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on 31 January.
