It hasn’t yet been a week since Taylor Swift announced that she’d bought back her masters – a huge story considering how famous she is and how public that fight over her music was to begin with. PEOPLE, however, is still trying to keep the focus on her friendship with Blake Lively with a new “exclusive” about the status of their relationship. Apparently they’re “working on being on good terms” even though it’s not the same as before. 

 

Right, but two weeks ago, when Taylor was subpoenaed by Justin Baldoni, PEOPLE also reported that the friendship had “halted”. Couldn’t be all that “halted” if now they’re saying they’re talking again. Every two weeks there’s a nothingburger update on this and every time there’s an update, it seems less and less that these “sources” actually know what they’re talking about. Because the more these stories persist, the more they suggest that it’s what Taylor’s most preoccupied with – which is impossible. She just bought back her masters! Buying back her masters would have been priority 1 to 49 on her list of 50. And Taylor being Taylor, from what we definitely know about Taylor, would resent that her latest boss achievement was equal in noteworthiness, if not less noteworthy, than speculation over whether or not she’s still friends with Blake. Maybe enough to write a song about it. 

 

Let’s get to the songs though, because the songs are getting PLAYED. 

“According to figures Spotify shared with The Hollywood Reporter, streams on all of the original versions of her older albums at least doubled on Friday, May 30, compared to the albums’ average daily streams from April 1 through May 29. (Spotify didn’t disclose specific streaming numbers themselves, only percentage changes.)

Speak Now had the biggest individual spike, with streams rising 430 percent globally. Interestingly, Swift’s 2006 eponymous debut and 2017’s Reputation — neither of which have a “Taylor’s Version” released yet — came in second and third, as Taylor Swift streams jumped 220 percent, while Reputation streams rose 175 percent. Fearless climbed 160 percent, Red jumped 150 percent and 1989 got a 110 percent boost. Swift is one of the most-listened-to artists on the platform with over 82 million monthly Spotify listeners, and her streams overall jumped 40 percent Friday.”

 

This isn’t tour money, it’s not $360 million, but it’s money already. As in money she’ll gradually be making back after spending it on herself. After betting on herself. It’s a staggering amount of confidence and power, not only in her work but in the effect of her work on her fans. The money Taylor made from rerecording her masters and The Eras Tour helped her with the purchase. And now that she’s made the purchase, her fans are showing up for her again to cut into the expense of it, essentially paying for the same thing over and over again. This is why Caroline Mimbs Nyce in 2022 called Taylor her own metaverse. 

 

The current consort in that metaverse is Travis Kelce. Who reacted to Taylor’s ownership triumph on the New Heights podcast this week when Shaq was on the show.

 

“Shout out to Tay Tay”, her biggest fanboy fanboying once again. I wish people would spend less energy on Taylor and Blake and/or redirect it to Travis and what he did or didn’t know about Taylor’s masters acquisition. Like, did he have a front row seat? Or does she tell him to leave the room when she’s on the phone with her managers and lawyers? Obviously he would have known before the rest of the world… but with how much notice? Like if Taylor’s the President and Travis is the First Husband, at what point in the game does it become unclassified for him? Let’s discuss today over at The Squawk. (App link here)