Taylor Swift lyric changes reignite ‘Reputation’ re-record theories

I think there's been a "Glitch"… or has there?

On the eve of the release of Taylor Swift's Disney+ docuseries The End of an Era, eagle-eyed Swifties noticed a curious change to two songs off the singer's 2017 album, Reputation.

For users of Apple Music, the track "I Did Something Bad" now features Swift singing the lyrics, "If a man talks s—, then I owe him nothin’ / And if he calls me a bitch, then he had it coming.” By contrast, the original version goes like this: "If a man talks s—, then I owe him nothin’ / I don’t regret it one bit ’cause he had it comin’.”

And, on the album's song "Delicate," Swift now sings, "Goddamn, never seen that color blue" instead of, "Oh, damn, never seen that color blue."

It's important to note that only Apple Music users are hearing this change so far, and the follow-along lyrics in the app read like they always have, and don't reflect the differences. Despite first popping up late Thursday night, the new lyrics were still audible on the service as of Friday afternoon.

Nevertheless, Swifties immediately took to social media to ponder if the changes could be indicative of an impending release of the long-awaited re-recorded version of the fan-favorite album, which would likely be dubbed Reputation (Taylor's Version). This was, of course, fitting given that the docuseries celebrates the Eras Tour, and fans spent much of said tour theorizing and practically begging Swift to announce it at one of the many shows.

However, an announcement never came, and in May, Swift explained why. In a lengthy letter to fans shared on her website, the 14-time Grammy winner revealed that, after many years of turmoil, she finally had the opportunity to buy back the masters to her work, making her the sole owner of her entire catalogue.

Her efforts to re-record four of her first six albums — all except her self-titled debut and Reputation — were done in the hopes of making it easier or possible to make such a move. In her letter, she explained what this meant for the other two unreleased re-recorded albums. "Full transparency: I haven't even re-recorded a quarter of it," she wrote, meaning Reputation. "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."

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She continued, "There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased vault tracks from that album to hatch. I've already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now."

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Could that time be now? The original album ended on the song "New Year's Day," after all, and that very holiday is right around the corner, as is Swift's 36th birthday, which is Saturday, Dec. 13. It seems hard to believe, given the chart dominance of her recently released 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, that Swift would be looking to put any new music out, but hey, stranger things have happened.

A rep for Swift didn't immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment Friday.

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