Taylor Swift has announced that she’ll be releasing the new “Taylor version” of her classic 2008 single ‘Love Story’ tomorrow (Friday February 12) ahead of her fully re-recorded album ‘Fearless’ – featuring six previously unreleased songs.

The singer-songwriter previously teased a “special announcement”, and she has now confirmed the first batch of music to come after she previously revealed plans to re-record songs from her first six records.

This move sees Swift taking control of 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. The story hit the headlines again back in November after Swift confirmed that the ownership of her back catalogue had changed hands again for the second time within two years.

‘Love Story (Taylor’s Version)’ comes in time for Valentine’s Day weekend, and was first teased through a snippet being used on an advert for the dating website Match, made by Ryan Reynolds. The full ‘Taylor’s Version’ of her second album ‘Fearless’ will be released later this year and will feature 26 tracks in total, including six previously unreleased songs from the vault that were written during the era when Swift was aged between 16-18 years old.

Eagle-eyed fans have spotted that a statement from Swift features capital letters that spell out ‘April 9’ – leading many to believe that this is the release date of the new record.

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Read Swift’s full statement below:

“When I think back on the ‘Fearless’ album and all that you turned into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face,” wrote Swift. “This was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed.

“So before anything else, let me just say that it was a real honour to get to be a teenager alongside you. And for those of you I’ve come to know more recently than 2008, I am ecstatic that I’ll get to experience a bit of that feeling with you in the very near future – now that I can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.

“‘Fearless’ was an album full of magic and curiosity, the bliss and devastation of youth. It was the diary of the adventures and explorations of a teenage girl who was learning tiny lessons with every new crack in the facade of if the fairytale ending she’d been shown in the movies. I’m thrilled to tell you that my new version of ‘Fearless’ is done and will be with you soon. It’s called ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ and it includes 26 songs.

“I’ve spoken a lot about why I’m remaking my first six albums, but the way I’ve chosen to do this will hopefully illuminate where I’m coming from. Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one that really knows that body of work. For example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the ‘Fearless’ album. Songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons (don’t want too many breakup songs, don’t want too many down tempo songs, can’t fit that many songs on a physical edition).

“Those reasons seem unnecessary now. I’ve decided I want you to have the whole story, see the entire vivid picture, and let you into the entire dreamscape that is my ‘Fearless’ album. That’s why I’ve chosen to include six never before released songs on my version of this album. Written when I was between the ages of 16 and 18, these were the ones it killed me to leave behind.

“This process has been more fulfilling and emotional that I could have imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all my music. I hope you’ll like this first outing as much as I liked travelling back in time to recreate it. ‘Love Story (Taylor’s Version)’ will be out tonight.

“Sincerely and fearlessly, Taylor”

The album with the most awards in country music history, ‘Fearless’ also earned Swift her first Album Of The Year Grammy before she took home the prize again in 2016 for her LP ‘1989’. She has been nominated again this year for ‘Folklore’.

The multi-million-selling ‘Fearless’ also contained the singles ‘White Horse’, ‘You Belong With Me’, ‘Fifteen’ and the title track.

Okay so while my new re-records are NOT done, my friend @VancityReynolds asked me if he could use a snippet of one for a LOLsome commercial he wrote so…here’s a sneak peak of Love Story! Working hard to get the music to you soon!! https://t.co/0vBFXxaRXR

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) December 2, 2020

Back in November, Swift described the process of re-recording her music as “an amazing adventure“.

“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,” she said.

“So it’s been the most fun to re-record ones that I feel like I could actually possibly improve upon the song.”

This comes after Swift released two critically acclaimed surprise albums last year with ‘Folklore‘ and its follow-up record ‘Evermore‘. She went on to debunk fan theories that a third sister album ‘Woodvale‘ would follow.