Every Single Album - A Pre–'Speak Now (Taylor's Version)' Mailbag | Every Single Album: Taylor Swift

Episode Date: July 5, 2023

Less than a week away from the release of 'Speak Now (Taylor's Version),' Nora and Nathan open up the mailbag to answer some listener questions. They talk about which songs off of 'Speak Now' they are most looking forward to hearing the rerecordings of (1:00), discuss whether the Eras Tour set list will be altered once the album is released (15:51), and make predictions for what the vault soundtracks featuring Hayley Williams and Fall Out Boy will sound like (26:36). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons from The Ringer, and this is a podcast called The Rewatchables. We have been doing it. Really since 2017, it started with how much we love the movie Heat. We decided to structure a whole podcast with categories, most rewatchable scene. Who on the movie, Apex Mountain, what age the best? But here's the thing. If you want the full archive, you can hear them only on Spotify for free, by the way. So make sure do follow the rewatchables on Spotify.

Hello, and welcome to every single. album. I'm Nora Princeati and I'm here as always with Nathan Hubbard as the summer of Taylor continues. This week, disclaimer. I'm away. You're not here. You're a ghost right now. I'm gone. This is Nora's AI voice working with my real. This is like the Drake weekend collab that got ripped off the internet. We should have done that. What have been easier. No, that's not true. We are recording this. June 27th as we're recording this. So disclaimer, we're going to do a mailbag. We got awesome questions.

A lot of them are about Speak Now, Taylor's version. So hopefully this will be a really fun thing for people to get psyched about that release with. However, if something crazy happens, if Taylor drops style featuring Harry Styles, if she does the song from Cats as a secret song one night between now and when I am. back. Nathan's also going to be doing some traveling. Sorry. We will get to it. We absolutely will get to it. We will not let you down. But just bear in mind that we might be a little dated for a couple of days here, but we'll make sure we catch up on all things in the Taylorverse. Right, Nathan? Yes. I mean, you're going to be scoping the video set of wildest dreams. I'm going to South Africa. Is that where they, yeah, that is where they fly. That's funny. I hadn't thought about that.

That song belongs to the horse movie now. I believe in you, lucky. You have your mother's spirit. Only in our minds. Nora, what do they want to have answers to? I'm so excited to hear. So many good questions. We're going to start with one from Peter.

Which songs are you most excited to hear with grown-up Taylor vocals on Speak Now, Taylor's version? Better than Revenge. Oh. say more. Talk to me. I just want to hear how she sings that. I mean... Like beyond the potential lyric change or not change?

Don't change it. Yeah, beyond the potential lyric change, I just want to hear how grown-up Taylor, who supposedly doesn't care what happened to her when she was 19 years old, sings this song. Because you can hear... Let it go, man.

You can hear a little bit of the anger in the original re-recorded. I mean, I think the easy answer to that is probably some of the twang in the first handful of songs, but how she's going to actually manage the twang. But I think we were sort of more interested in that on Fearless, and we know what we got out of it. So, yeah, I really want to hear how she sings better than revenge. So I am probably most excited in a I feel confident this will definitely hit way

about haunted and long live. Just because especially haunted, you can really go for it. And then long live is that sort of, you know, big, expansive stadium-filling song, which I think, given how much her voice is developed,

she'll be able to do some really awesome stuff on. Mean, I am fascinated by. And a liar. Like, I can't wait to hear. Empathetic. Empathetic. Yes. that's going to be wild.

I mean, I was reminded. Could be great. Could be weird. Yeah. We'll find out. I told you I was on a drive this past weekend and I listened to original speak now just because we've got

the re-record coming and you and I like to do our homework. And I was reminded how much Nathan Chapman is singing underneath her on this album. And it's still, as we've talked about in reviewing this catalog, a reminder that her voice was not all the way there

and not even putting aside the left set's comments which led to that song mean that I can't sing Nathan Chapman was doing some covering for her and I'm going to be fascinated to see on the re-record how she handles that, whether there is a male voice trailing her with a harmony underneath and if so, who's singing it? Right, because I think

at least to date, it seemed like Nathan Chapman is out of the mix, so it would be somebody else. Might we get Aaron Destner doing that, potentially, Jack? It seems a little weird, but it's entirely possible. That's a great point.

That'll be an interesting one to see. I do think there are a few, you know, there are a couple sort of low-hanging fruit songs where I just think mine is a song I absolutely love. Sparks fly probably falls into this category two. Where I am really psyched to hear those two,

not just with the improvement in her vocal ability, but just the improvement in the tech, right? Like everything can sound better when you're recording it in 2020, maybe 2022 and she recorded some of these. And for those poppy sort of sweet, keeping those songs, I'm psyched for it. I'm really excited to, you know,

put on a good pair of headphones, turn it up loud in the car, whatever it is, to really get to appreciate some of that stuff because it added so much, I think, even to huge iconic songs like Love Story, you belong with me.

I think those songs could end up getting the same payoff from that as well. But the one, the one I will be tempted to, and I think I've said this, I tend to try to do it in order, start at the beginning. I will be really tempted to just click on mean and listen to it. Yeah.

One, because I love the song, but two, just drunk and rumbling on. Drunk and rums in all of that house. What was that? I get a lot of shit from my accents. I can't do the twing. The twing is too hard. I would say not. But I do think, look, it might be Christopher Rowe, right?

Who did a lot of the fearless. That's a good point. And was in that universe. So, I mean, it has not been officially confirmed. I don't believe who's producing this, but I'm assuming we're going to have a lot of Christopher Rowe on this. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. All right.

Next question from Madison Jones, in parentheses, Taylor's version. Seconded, actually, by a lot of people, but Charles had sort of an addition to this, which I'll list. Madison's question was, how do you think the era's set list will change? after SpeakNow is released, if at all. And then Charles added, could that be why the set list only includes Enchanted, which songs would you remove to add four additional Speak Now Taylor's version tracks?

So let's start with the Madison portion of the question. Do you think the era's set list will change after Speak Now is released? I have been struggling with this to be totally candid. It's a hard question. It's a really interesting one. It is. You could see them doing it to try to spice up their life. at this point through the tour.

It's the kind of thing you would do if you were trying to drive repeat visits. It's not the kind of thing that you would do if you had a carefully orchestrated show that has definitely gotten tighter and more put together since it launched in Arizona. Not that it wasn't great then, but it is getting better

that everybody is more comfortable with their spots. like they're doing it in their sleep at this point. And I think throwing a wrench in that from all of the technology that happens in the building, from the musicians themselves, to, you know, potentially some fan-based people saying, wait a minute, why didn't I get that? And is a little bit risky. I think I come down saying, I'm going to be surprised if the set list changes significantly. but if it's going to happen,

it would sort of happen roughly, you know, I mean, I guess she does, she only really has two months left after this release, right? So it's more than halfway through the North American tour at this point. What do you think happens? I don't know if it makes sense to draw a big line at the end of the North American tour, just because even when she goes international with the amount of consumption that's happening on social, it's still the same, it's the same beast.

it's the same sort of thing that people are following. I feel the same way. I will be very curious to see and I don't think it's out of the question, but the Ares Tour, I think is the Ares Tour. Now, I do think that now that we've seen her start ramping up towards the re-release, incorporate more and more speak now into the surprise songs, I do think that that lead up kind of explains. in part why there is so little speak now.

Right. And so she can do this. Right. Feed the appetite for it. And I think she will lean on a lot of those songs for surprise songs. And depending on, you know, you can probably come up with a well thought through theory on when and where based on tour calendars. if people look this stuff up and all of that. But I'm sure, you know, Paramore was there in Arizona,

but I would not be surprised if we see Haley Williams on the Ares Tour stage at some point going forward. You know, there are openings to do the thing that she did with Phoebe, where a lot of those shows essentially got sort of three surprise songs or two surprise songs plus nothing new or whatever. That's right. She will incorporate more. more and more things like that.

Yeah. When she plays with Haim, we're going to see that too. Yeah, we're going to see some... Yeah, I don't think we're going to see a change in the overall set list. Yeah, I'm with you. I just think the logistics of it,

she is running around either on a turbo sled under the stage or backstage, the costume changes. It just is a delicately orchestrated ballet and I don't think they're going to throw a wrench and what's working. I will say, it begs the question,

like, what surprise songs is she going to play in Singapore and Tokyo and Wembley in 2024? Christmas tree farm? Well, fuck yeah. In my heart is a Christmas tree farm where the people would come to dance under spark open light. Sign me up for that, but I got to believe she's going to start recycling some stuff on the European.

tour. She's going to give herself the grace to do that. Yeah. And she's said that she can, right, with anything where she messes something up, also with midnight stuff. I mean, the catalog is in the... Hello, London. This is called Girl at Home. Sixth Willow remix.

This is the Elvira remix. Elvira's here. That would be funny. The catalog is what? It's in the mid-200. Yes. I think in terms of unique songs, the number of dates on the tour, do you know what it is? I don't want off the top of my head, but it's got to be, the North American leg was close to 40, I think, once you added the second wave. 52. It's at 52 for North America? Yes. Okay, so then she's, yeah.

So all told, she will be close to maxing out. Because there should be fewer than 100 shows altogether, at least as far as we know now. And in theory, she could double up with something different every night. But then you are, you know, you're really, you're really getting to the bottom of the barrel. Now, I am on record. I think that would be kind of funny. but she's probably more likely to just repeat some stuff. No one's going to care. It's fun.

Yeah. I mean, I think that's probably right. She's burned down a lot of winners at this point. So Charles had asked which songs you'd remove if you wanted to add four additional Speak Now, Taylor's version, tracks. Are there a few Speak Now songs in general where you would want to see them on there if you could. Yeah. I mean, I think it would be fun to see

Dear John, I'd like to see her sit at the piano and play back to December. Like, those are really big ass songs that can fill a stadium, for sure. You know how I feel about Enchanted. Well, and Enchanted is there. And I'm very happy. Enchanted is there.

Yeah, for me, I would love to, if mean, we're part of the show. It's just so fun. I just love watching her play. story of us is fun. I don't know. You're a long-lived fan. I don't know that I would inject those into the... I am a huge long-lived fan.

I love that song. Yeah. I mean, but if you're going to cut, I still would come back and say, you're going to do what she did, which is you're going to start to edit the Evermore and the folklore sections, probably. Because that's where she's doing the most work

to carry the night. in a station. Yeah. And you could probably transpose the back to December, do a back to December in the tolerated set. And in that design, you could make that work. That would be cool. I think that would be totally doable.

I don't think it's going to happen. What if she just says, fuck you, you're going to get 48 songs instead of 44? I'm just adding four songs to this show. Hope you like four hours. then you will see me in Los Angeles. It's not out of the possibility. It's not out of the realm of possibility.

We got to challenge our foundational assumption that she needs to cut. Yeah. Now, you have gotten on me in the past for just saying that she has endless stamina and could do a show that's twice as long. It is getting up there. I have, but I will say

it took her a while to announce these international tour dates and that was by design because she wanted to see if she was going to be able to handle it. And if you look at those European dates, they are still spread out across weekends. I assume she's moving to London for three months

and she's going to live out of that house and do exactly what she's doing here, which is she goes to Rhode Island or Nashville or New York or L.A., depending on what's closer or where she wants to be, in between these shows. And I think she'll go to London. She'll have Taylor's hot European summer of 2024, you know, doing her thing over there.

But they've figured out what is sustainable for her. And I think they wanted to test it. And now, you know, she knows what she's capable of handling. And as long as she keeps herself in decent physical shape, I have no idea how she's going to manage her personal relationships over the course of 23 and 24. But isn't that the story of Taylor Swift? Wow.

All right, Joe Chapman. What kind of, quote, extra versions of existing songs do you want to see from the Still to Come Taylor's version? So far, we've had all too well. Ten minute version and state of Grace acoustic. But what else could she give a different treatment? And what's your vibe on this? I mean, style featuring Harry Styles.

I would love, so the other one that I would love would be. Some new out of the woods. You and I differ greatly on how we feel about this song. I love the bridge. I don't like the production. I don't like the weird Lion King-esque thing that's happening. And I love that Grammy's... Yeah, the Grammy's version that she did.

She just on piano, yeah. And if she wanted to do, if there were something like that in the vault, I would be a very, very, very happy camper. I want ready for it on Kazoo. Yeah. Well. What should get an Alvira remix? All of it. Yeah.

Back to December Elvira remixed. Yeah. I mean, look, the back half of reputation is going to be really hard for her emotionally to re-record. I mean, that thing is a love letter. Yeah. Reputation is going to be a bear because the back half is going to be emotionally hard and the front half is going to be like... Technically hard.

Max, are you sure? Are you sure you won't? You don't have any time? I'll come to Sweden. Yeah. Replicating that could take a very, very, very long time. I think that's fair. All right.

So out of the woods, badass electric guitar version and back to December, Elvira Cazoo. Is that what we're saying? Yeah. I mean, I, somebody posted online that whipped around the, I guess it's the live from Paris version of her playing Cornelie Street, right? Yeah. And that's a pretty

fucking awesome version. Her voice sounds awesome. That was where you were like, she's been taking lessons. Yeah, she sounded incredible in that show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think... But that already exists.

Like, that's already... I'm not saying to redo that. I'm just suggesting that there's probably a lot more of those songs across reputation in particular that might sound really great with her an acoustic guitar, a mic, and a chair.

Long pond the shit out of that thing. Long pond everything. Yeah. Long pond getaway car with Boney Bear. I don't want that. No, thank you. Whatever. Okay. Stone. I need to hear you all discuss the shift in promotion

from Fearless Taylor's Version to Red Taylor's Version to speak now, Taylor's version. and then in all caps and in parentheses, where's the speak now promo? She needs her moment. We actually talked about this last week a little bit. The Erez tour is the speak now promo. Like, that's what's going on here.

It is. She used it as a platform, probably got bored with the album set up that she did for Fearless, although she didn't do as much for Fearless as she did for Red. And I think she's constantly challenging herself just intellectually.

to figure out a new way to launch these things and everything from the screen to the buzz that she created around the Easter eggs in videos to, you know, the absence of Speak Now songs in the set list was all designed to create chatter about this album and seems to be pretty effective.

Listen, not quite as effective as rebuilding the Malibu Barbie house in Malibu. But I think you know, she's on par with that team in terms of marketing ideas. Yeah. I mean, it's not as though she couldn't do it, right? If she wanted to, she would.

Okay. Ellie, do you expect the Speak Now Taylor's Version Vault featuring tracks will be pop punk slash country? I'm taking that as pop punk or country. Yeah.

Although a melding would be fascinating. What do you expect from Fallout Boy and Haley Williams? Will they be pop punk? I mean, they will, and they will be a little country. But I think from Fall Out Boy and Haley Williams, they're going to be pop punk. That's where she was going. Those were the clues that she was out of country

and into more pop-ish music at the end of that album. So I actually don't expect a ton of country. I expect it to be truer to her arc creatively, which is that the stuff that was on the cutting room floor and in the back part of that record was telling us where she was headed. Totally. Also, she is a fan, right? Like, she is a massive fan.

Taylor Swift is not getting, you know, she's not getting to finally do a song with Fall Out Boy and have it be twangy country. She's going to do some stuff. What do you mean finally do? She sang a song with Fall Out Boy at the Victoria's Secret show. That's pretty fucking awesome. She's saying a Fallout Boy song.

Right. this is her opportunity to sing a fallout boy song again, except it's going to be a Taylor Swift song, but that's my theory is that it's really going to be a follow-up boy song. Right. And I think to a certain extent, I mean, look, Haley Williams is already all over speak now. Now she's going to be on the record in a more, like, in an actual literal sense. But Haley Williams is all over, I mean, haunted, better than revenge.

even I think a little story of us, right? Like her fingerprints are on this thing. That's going to be legitimized. I think in the legitimization of that, she's going to totally lean into it. All right. Arushi is Speak Now Taylor's version the last album she will drop in 2023.

What happens in the fall and winter? 1989, Taylor's version. She will still be touring. However, with the amount of, of chaos that she has undergone this year. My hot take is that she will draw the breakup album featuring Maddie and break the internet. Thoughts question mark smiley face. First of all, appreciate the smiley face.

Smiley face back to you, Arushi. I will kick it off with this one. If that happens, I will eat raw steak on stage at Madison Square Garden or something like that. I don't think that that will happen. It would be wild. I also don't think that she will be dropping a big breakup album that soon. I sort of think she's already dropped the breakup album. I think the tour is the focus.

I think 1989 could pretty easily come in the fall. Yeah. But I don't think that we will be getting an original album this year. And I don't think that I will have to eat raw meat on stage. No. We're not going to get an original album. album this year, although there clearly have been some tracks that have been worked on. I mean, she's in the studio.

By the way, since a couple weeks ago when we were talking about how she'd kind of, the constant paparazzi photos had died down a little bit, they have still kind of, they're not coming at the every night different restaurant pace that was happening for a little bit. But whoever's staking out Electric Lady Studios is. getting some shots out of that one. She is doing the work. It's just not clear what she's working on. Yeah.

All right. Courtney. We have three track lists for re-records, and they all feature artists on a couple of the vault tracks. What is your prediction, and who would you like to see her collaborate with for the rest of the re-records? I have mentioned the hairy thing,

which is mostly a pipe dream, but one never knows. That's the one. I mean, who else? Like, do you have some? somebody who's like hanging out there who she hasn't. So the unfortunate piece is that in a different world, I would have said the 1975 just musically.

I think that that chip has sailed. Look, the hairy thing is probably also a bit of a pipe dream, but, you know, a girl can hope. I still think to keep it close to home and to the things that we love, I don't know if like there's any real utility in her calling up our boy, Nile. But I still hope someday they cross paths in a musical way, just because he's clearly such a fan and it would make me happy. So I think that would be fun. Do you think there's a chance she does Bad Bunny? I do too. Yeah, I totally do. I think bad. I think bad.

could be her next ice spice. The question would just be, would that be for 1989? Or would that be, I can see that being a more natural, new stuff. Reputation or something new. But there's probably room on 1989, particularly like, look, what's in the vault for that? I think it'll be really, really fascinating to see.

And I think we do know that sometimes there are a few liberties taken with, Oh, this would be good to have on the record. Let's put it in the vault. So I can see that happening definitely. This is not a collab, but is something that I really would like to see come out of the vault. At some point, she's going to need to do debut. And I know it's like not the highest priority,

but at some point she will need to do that. And I would just really love if I heart question mark and I'd lie. were things that existed on Spotify. I think that would be a fun thing for all of us. So, come on, Taylor. And I'm sure Tim McGraw will feature on one of those songs. That would be great. You think Tim McGraw, I hope you think of me.

That's a good one. That's a really good one. Where do you think redoing debut falls in? her list of priorities right now. What if she never done? Like not. She's forgotten. I think she might have forgotten about it.

It's after Feed the Cats. No way. Feed the Cats is way high up. Feed the Cats is like number one. It's after Feed the Cats. It's not a high priority. I would not say that it's a high priority. All right.

We have two more questions. Annie asks, do you think there was any truth or any chance that will get the lover Deluxe. And do you think she'll drop another re-record this year or keep spacing them out pretty far apart? What's the strategy there? The lover deluxe is not real. It's not real.

It's not real. She's learned from the oversaturation. Please trust this woman to know when to be present and when not to be present. There ain't no lover deluxe. Shame on you fake newsers. Probably the same people that are going to still harass John Mayer. I think it's probably different people that are going to still harass John Mayer.

But I guess, you know, bad actors come in many shapes and sizes. Yeah, I mean, I saw, I was scrolling through TikTok and there was the Phil Collins Can't Stop Loving You cover that somebody had like manipulated and just adjusted the levels with

to be like, oh, this is going to, this is on the leverage. It's not, guys, it's not real. And I did look through the comments to see if people noticed. And it seems like a lot of people are getting away with that stuff. So PSA, tell your friends. I know our listeners are tapped in and they know this stuff.

But it's not real. AI is going to create so much confusion. I actually think Taylor's going to have a lot to say about this. Like Grimes has licensed her voice out and let the community create things. Taylor with her stance on owning art, it will be very interesting to see if she steps forward and takes a strong position on it and whether some of the new creations

that we get from Taylor is in the way that she gives her likeness, at least vocally, out to the community to try to create. You ready for our last question? The AI piece, we will hear from her on it at some point. I don't know when. I think when things are important like that,

she does take her time. And sometimes that can feel like she's absent from a conversation. But I do think she waits until she really knows what she wants to say. I completely agree with you. That will be massively important to her because it just touches on so many things that have always been parts of the industry that she cares about and things that are really important to her. I look forward to when that happens. I'm not like holding my breath just because I think she will want to really get her arms around how she feels about it before coming out and saying something.

But she is like, I just would love to hear what she thinks that will mean going forward. And I think we will at some point. Yeah, the business stuff for her, when she steps in when she does and continues to be interesting to me. I still like, I was at a, I'm on the board of Gibson guitar, right? She plays a lot of Gibson guitars. there is no Taylor Swift signature model Gibson guitar yet, although you can buy the guitar that she actually plays. And that's a conscious choice on their part in the same way

that, you know, outside of fucking Wonderstruck, there is no real like Taylor Swift line of clothing, fashion, cosmetics, right? Selina Gomez, her best friend has got a 500 million plus dollar franchise in rare, right? It's just something that she does not have her own record label or distribution company or marketing company that helps other artists, right? Her management team is focused on only her and that's because they're busy 24-7. They have the bandwidth. This is not a criticism in any way, shape, or form, but she has taken very, very strong positions on these kinds of issues, artist rights, and she's used her platform to give her opinion.

She hasn't yet moved in and, say, invested, at least not publicly, in an AI company or taken a seat on the board of, you know, Spotify or something to try to sort of shape it from within the matrix. She's used her voice and her words, which is, I think, what she's really good at. It's just interesting to see where she chooses and how she chooses to fight those battles. But a lot of that, the reason I think that's true is because she has more to say, do as an artist. And that's not to say that, you know,

Selena Gomez doesn't or like Rihanna doesn't. I would love drop the album. It's probably never going to happen. But I wish it would. That's not the point of that. But her priority, and it would be really easy for her to make, you know, she makes a boatload of money as an artist.

But she could make another boatload of money really, really, really easily by doing other stuff. and it's not that she does none of it, but she's pretty careful about it. I think she's conservative. Or her team is conservative. And her priority, often it's good, right? She's like the only person who didn't get bamboozled by FTCS.

There you go. And that was like the coolest thing ever, right? Like that makes you feel so good about, okay, somebody's actually doing like, all hail our diligence queen, right? Yes, yes. She is pretty unusual, I think. They should have used her to diligent.

the value of her own catalog. Yeah, but then she would have arrived in like a, you know, a little disguise and said, you should sell it to Taylor Swift. I don't know what I'm saying. I didn't. This is like the fruit metaphor. That's fine. Back up the money trucks.

Yes. Last question. Let's get that. No, please. On to the next. Would you, this is from Matt Jacobson. Would you have preferred the 10 minute all too well version played at Erez or the five minute version plus three additional songs, perhaps from Speak Now or self-titled.

Great question, Matt. It just, the answer, if you have not seen it live, will be self-evident in that the 10-minute all-too-well version is the closing of the first act, hearing a whole stadium say, that's what happened, you, that's what happened you, is super powerful. It is, I would much rather it be there than almost any other song. that's in the set list. I hate to be the person to be like... What? You love to be there, man.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought you were going to counter, but you did. You had to be there. It is different. You can be there. Watch it online. Yeah.

You have to be there. It's a special experience to do that in unison with 70,000 people. I wish there was more speak now as part of the set list, but all 2L10 is just doing that with people

is like incredible. So I would keep it. All right, Nathan, do you feel ready for this re-release? I feel ready for you to re-release yourself back into this world since I just recorded this entire podcast with a ghost. And our next set of conversations, we're going to have it in the flesh, aren't we? We are going to have Speak Now, Taylor's version.

I will not be a ghost anymore, and it will be out in the world. And we'll get to break it all down. It's very exciting. This has been every single album. I'm Nora Pryanti. As always, he is Nathan Hubbard. I almost said that you were Taylor Swift. That would have been remarkable.

But he is Nathan Hubbard. Thank you so much for listening. And thank you to Kai McMullen for her fabulous production on this episode.