Four months after releasing her album, Folklore, Taylor Swift is giving fans intimate performances of the songs for the very first time. On Nov. 25, she’ll release Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, on Disney+. The film features Taylor meeting up with her co-writers and producers, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, for the first time since they virtually recorded the album in quarantine. Not only does Taylor perform tracks from the record, but the trio also discuss how the project came together and what went into making it.
Well it’s 11/24 and 24-11=13 so I’ve got an announcement 🤓 You haven’t seen this film before ✨ folklore: the long pond studio sessions will be out tonight at midnight PST on @DisneyPlus! #folkloreOnDisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/BTWSRM0yaI
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 24, 2020
Taylor debuted the trailer for her Disney+ special on Good Morning America on Nov. 24, less than 24 hours before the movie’s release. In the nearly two-minute clip, she can be seen singing “Cardigan” and “August” live for the first time. While “Cardigan” was the first single off the album, “August” was a buzzed-about fan favorite track from the record, and fans went wild over getting to see a glimpse of Tay singing it.
“It’s an album that allows you to feel your feelings and it’s a product of isolation,” Taylor, who has been dating Joe Alwyn since 2016, says in the trailer. “This could’ve been a time when I absolutely lost my mind, and instead, I think this album was a real flotation device.” The film was recorded in Upstate New York in September. Taylor will sing each track from Folklore — in order — while also revealing secrets behind the songs.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Taylor also began another big project. She’s currently in the process of re-recording her first six albums, which she lost the rights to when she left Big Machine Label Group in 2018. When Taylor left the label, she was not given the option to buy her masters, which were then purchased by her nemesis, Scooter Braun, for $300 million in 2019.
Earlier this month, Scooter sold Taylor’s work to a private equity firm called Shamrock Holdings. When news of the sale went public, Taylor took to social media to reveal that she tried to purchase the rights (to her own songs) from Scooter, but refused to do so when his team wanted her to “sign an ironclad NDA stating that [she] would never say another word about Scooter unless it was positive.” Taylor eventually found out about the sale to Shamrock Holdings and attempted to negotiate with them. However, that also failed when she learned that the deal the company made with Scooter would allow him to continue to profit off her work for years to come. “Scooter’s participation is a non-starter for me,” Taylor admitted.
In order to take control of her music once again, Taylor decided she would re-record her songs. When she accepted the award for Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards on Nov. 22, she was in the studio working on this project. So far, it’s unclear when she’ll start releasing the re-recordings, but luckily, her Disney+ movie will hold fans over until then!