The globally known pop star, Taylor Swift, already made her mark in the Music Hall of Fame with her billion-dollar Era’s Tour making her 10th in Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Women Artists.

With the ongoing excitement from her Era tour, her recent album The Tortured Poet’s Department (TTPD), introduced newly written songs, diversifying her portfolio of three straight albums of re-recordings of previous music, which she calls ‘Taylor’s Versions’. 

In her collection of Taylor’s Version albums, Swift released re-recordings of her past albums Fearless, Red, Speak Now, and 1989, with high Billboard rankings and relentless excitement among the Swiftie community.

Yet, it’s the same music that has already existed and been available for public streaming for over a decade, with the only exception being a lyric change to the 10th track of her Speak Now album, Better than Revenge.

But despite the concept, Swift continues to gain robust success, recently becoming a billionaire from the tens of millions of streams and largely inflated Era’s Tour ticket prices. 

Yet, fans fail to factor in the skeptical marketing and the pocket-emptier that is the 34 variants of her TTPD album, each with a similar formula to her Taylor’s Version albums, with only slight differences, increasing her profit by roughly $40.

In these countless versions, she has an album made with either an additional song or an acoustic version, emptying fans’ pockets.

And to go with their lack of necessity, the same marketing strategy is applied to CDs and cassettes. 

However, to go with her shady role in consumerism is not the only reason, Swift is also releasing backlash over her coincidental music release timing also plays its part.

Social media users called out the artist for releasing her album suspiciously close to the release of Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft. 

The Tortured Poet’s Department became available for streaming on April 19, 2024, while Radical Optimism was released precisely two weeks later, and Hit Me Hard and Soft came out in late May.

These rumors have been squashed by articles stating that Lipa and Eilish announced their albums close to a month after Swift, but more than one coincidence is enough reason to hold on to some skepticism. 

Leading back to the cause at hand, many authors online claim Swift has a genius marketing strategy to bring in the big bucks, awarding her the musical throne for a record-breaking time. But there’s a question worth considering: how desperate is she to maintain her crown?