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The Swifties were right all along! While performing yet another stellar Eras Tour show on May 5, Taylor Swift, 33, made the Nashville show all the more special with an exciting announcement. Amid a plethora of purple banners, lighting, and easter eggs galore, the songstress confirmed that she is releasing a re-recorded version of her 2010 album, Speak Now, on July 7, 2023.
When she announced the official release date, Taylor explained that she had been “planning something for a while.” Then Taylor got a bit cryptic and asked everyone to look at the big screen for the news. “I plot I scheme I plan…. I think rather than me like speaking about it I thought I would just show you, so if you would direct your attention to the back big screen,” she added, before revealing the July 7 release date (watch here). Upon hearing the news, the crowd responded by screaming and cheering her on.
Taylor later took to Instagram to personally explain the significance of the upcoming release. “It fills me with such pride and joy to announce that my version of Speak Now will be out July 7 (just in time for July 9th, iykyk 😆),” she captioned a gorgeous pic in a purple tulle dress. “I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing … and living to speak about it. With six extra songs I’ve sprung loose from the vault, I absolutely cannot wait to celebrate Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) with you on July 7th. Pre-order now at TaylorSwift.com.”
That evening, a fan confirmed that something big was set to happen with a video of Taylor hinting at an announcement. “Guys I’m not going to lie to you we have some cool stuff that is going to happen tonight,” the “Anti-Hero” hitmaker said on stage that night. “There’s just some fun things!” Amid performing “tolerate it” from the evermore album, Taylor lit up the stage in a sultry purple hue, which is notably the main color scheme of the Speak Now album cover art.
Prior to the big Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) announcement, Taylor seemingly hinted at the purple color scheme of the May 5 show with a cryptic post via Instagram on May 1. “WOW Atlanta just… wow. The band, dancers, and I can’t stop talking about how insanely magical it was playing for you guys the past 3 nights,” her caption of her rocking a purple coat began. “You were always bouncing, dancing, screaming every lyric. And you created so many breathtaking moments for us, you know what I mean. Looove yooouuu. Hey Nashville you’re NEXT.” Nashville, as mentioned above, was the city that she announced the new album’s release date.
The night of the Nashville show, ahead of the major news, Taylor surprised fans by having Phoebe Bridgers, 28, perform “Nothing New (Taylor’s Version)” with her. A fan took to Twitter to share a video of the riveting performance and many of the Grammy winner’s fans couldn’t contain their excitement. “Mid set list?! what’s gonna happen at secret songs! I’m so stressed haha,” one admirer quipped, while a second joked, “i am unwell.”
After Taylor and Phoebe performed together, one fan speculated her choice to bring out the 28-year-old amid the Red album performances solidified the potential for the Speak Now announcement to occur at the end of the show. “Okay but she COULD have brought Phoebe out to play ‘Nothing New’ during the surprise song set as normal but she CHOSE to do it during RED which only makes me MORE convinced Speak Now announcement is coming tonight DURING SURPRISE SONGS,” the fan wrote on May 5.
the fact that the tricks up taylor’s sleeve can either be matty healy or speak now tv there’s no in between 😭 pic.twitter.com/fceiaAWWy1
— Ron // philly 5/12 (@midnightstrack2) May 6, 2023
Taylor released her third studio album, Speak Now, in 2010 about four years after her debut album. The successful record features some of her biggest hits including “Mean”, “Dear John”, “Back To December”, “Enchanted” and many more. She announced her iconic Eras Tour in Nov. 2022, and left an easter egg in the caption. “I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!) The first leg of the tour will be in stadiums across the US, with international dates to be announced as soon as we can!”, her caption of the tour poster read at the time. As previously mentioned, “Enchanted” is the ninth track on the original Speak Now album.
Although Swifties didn’t know the exact date of when the re-recorded version of Speak Now was set to be released, they have been finding clues of Taylor’s hints for months. In the music video for her song “Bejeweled” off of her most recent Midnights album, Taylor left a few easter eggs for fans, per US Weekly. One of them was the elevator button colors in the video, Taylor hits the third floor (which is purple) and Speak Now was her third album.
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