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Taylor Swift officially owns all of her music.
The "Fortnight" singer made the surprise announcement on Friday (May 30) in a heartfelt letter to fans posted on her website, writing that her "mind is just a slideshow" off all the dreams and longing she has felt throughout the years that have finally led to this point.
"All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that's all in the past now," she said. "I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say the words: All of the music I've ever made... now belongs... to me."
Swift noted that along with the masters to her first six albums, she owns all of the music videos, concerts films, album art, photography and all of her unreleased songs.
"The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life's work," she said. "To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it."
In addition to sharing gratitude to Shamrock Capital for being "honest, fair, and respectful" and for "being the first people to ever offer this to me," the Midnights musician also thanked fans for supporting her on her journey of re-recording her older albums — including Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989 — as it helped her buy back the original recordings.
"The passionate support you showed these albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can't thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now," she said. "All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy."
She also addressed Swifties' dreams for the long-awaited Reputation (Taylor's Version), admitting in "full transparency" that only about a quarter of it has even been re-recorded.
"The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch."
Her self-titled debut album, however, has been fully re-recorded and she "really [loves] how it sounds now." It's unclear when or if either record will be released but if they do, "it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have" and instead it will "just be a celebration now."
Swift noted how proud she is that her years-long fight to own the masters to her first six albums has influenced other artists to negotiate deals to own their own music.
"I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans," she said. "Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion. You'll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here."
She concluded, "Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine... finally actually are."