Hear Taylor Swift’s Re-Recorded Version Of “Wildest Dreams”
Right now, Taylor Swift is undertaking the vast project of re-recording all of her old albums — partly as a way to re-examine those old songs but mostly as a grand fuck-you to Scooter Braun, the man who bought her master recordings. Swift released her new version of 2008’s Fearless back in April, and she’s said that she’ll release her new take on 2012’s Red in November. That new version will include a lot of bonus tracks, and Swift will have help from some big stars. But today, Swift released a new Taylor’s Version, and it’s not a take of one of the songs from Red. Instead, she’s re-constructed “Wildest Dreams,” the great single from her hugely popular 2014 album 1989.
Seven years ago, Swift released “Wildest Dreams,” a grand theatrical synthpop sigh of a ballad that she co-wrote with producers Max Martin and Shellback. “Wildest Dreams” was the fifth single from 1989, and it was a hit, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The new version is a near-exact replica, but it sounds just slightly more muted than the dramatic original.
On her new versions of her older songs, Swift has often worked with recent collaborators like the National’s Aaron Dessner. That’s not what she does on “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version).” Instead, Swift co-produced this version with original co-producer Shellback and with vocal engineer Christopher Rowe. The musicians on the song come from Swift’s 1989-era backing band. Max Martin did not participate in this version. Listen to the new “Wildest Dreams” and watch the video for the original version below.
We don’t yet know when 1989 (Taylor’s Version) will arrive, but Red (Taylor’s Version) is out 11/19 on Republic.