Explainer : Why one of Taylor Swift's Re-released Albums Are Grammy Nominated

Taylor Swift has long been a Grammy Award favourite.

She’s been nominated 42 times and has already received 11 trophies. At this point, we expect to see her reappearing year after year to win more awards.

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Taylor Swift won album of the year at last year’s show for “Folklore,” a surprise release in the midst of the COVID pandemic that certainly piqued the interest of her fans.

Her other surprise release, “Evermore,” is nominated for album of the year at this year’s show.
Fans are curious as to why her reissued albums did not receive nominations.

Swift has been gradually releasing her older music in recent years after losing her masters to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings.

To take control of her music, she decided to go into her back catalog and rerecord her early albums so she could own the masters of her re-recorded versions. So far she’s released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version).” The question is whether or not these new releases are eligible to be nominated for Grammys, so let’s break it down.

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Why Wasn’t “Red (Taylor’s Version)” Nominated at the 2022 Grammys?

First of all, when “Red” was originally released in October 2012, it earned Swift a Grammy nomination for album of the year (though it didn’t win). The rerelease dropped in November 2021, which actually puts it outside the eligibility period for this year’s Grammys. September’s cutoff means “Red (Taylor’s Version)” will be eligible for a nomination next year instead.

Why Wasn’t “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” Nominated at the 2022 Grammys?

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” is a bit different, though. When “Fearless” was originally released in 2008, it had a huge run at the Grammys, earning Swift eight nominations. She took home four trophies that year, including album of the year. Though “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” was released last year in the eligibility period for this year’s Grammys, Swift and her label chose not to submit it for consideration.

In a statement provided to Billboard, Republic Records said, “After careful consideration, Taylor Swift will not be submitting Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in any category at this year’s upcoming Grammy and CMA Awards. Fearless has already won four Grammys including album of the year, as well as the CMA Award for album of the year in 2009/2010, and remains the most awarded country album of all time.”

We’ll have to wait until next year’s nominations are announced to find out if Swift is submitting any of her other re-released albums for award consideration, but we respect her wanting to give other artists a chance to win knowing she’s already bagged awards for these albums when they were first released.

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