Taylor Swift is bumping up the release of what is expected to be one of this fall’s biggest albums, “Red (Taylor’s Version),” by one week, she announced on her social media Thursday.
“Got some news that I think you’re gonna like,” Swift told fans. “My version of ‘Red’ will be out a week earlier than scheduled (including the 4 disc vinyl) on November 12th ! Can’t wait to celebrate the 13th with you and our new/old autumn heartbreak album.”
Getting her “Red” remake to fans a week earlier than previously announced puts the release date within a day’s proximity of her lucky number, 13, as hinted at in the message.
But the shift may also be akin to the reshuffling of blockbuster film release dates that occurs as studios look to avoid having major tentpoles come out at the same time. A glut of superstar product is expected on the weekends before and after Black Friday, and Swift may gain a competitive advantage in making the biggest possible splash with “Red (Taylor’s Version)” by beating the pre-Christmas rush by an extra week.
Got some news that I think you’re gonna like – My version of Red will be out a week earlier than scheduled (including the 4 disc vinyl) on November 12th ! Can’t wait to celebrate the 13th with you and our new/old autumn heartbreak album🧣😍 🎥 🎥https://t.co/FVp6xizaOG
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) September 30, 2021
Her redo of the “Red” album is expected to have an even bigger commercial impact than “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” the first in the series of re-recorded albums from her Big Machine era she’s putting out. Despite consisting primarily of previously known songs, the “Fearless” remake delivered 291,000 album-equivalent units when it came out in April, still one of the highest performing debut weeks of this year. “Red” is predicted to outdo that based on the original album’s fan-favorite status, a more intriguing batch of previously unheard bonus material and, of course, proximity to the holiday sales frame for an artist who can be counted on to sell physical product.
No single has yet been released to tease the new “Red.” Swift did, however, recently release an early track from “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” which won’t come out till next year, if not later, with her remake of “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” being spontaneously released earlier in September to tie in with a TikTok meme involving the song.
Swift does a huge business in vinyl nowadays, and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” will be the first of the four albums she’s put out in the last year and a half to have the vinyl arrive day-and-date with digital formats — a synergy that requires being in line early at the overworked vinyl plants nowadays, with or without a four-record set to press.