Taylor Swift’s longtime recording engineer Laura Sisk is over the moon about her experience working alongside the pop star.
“Taylor Swift, I want to thank you so much for the endless inspiration,” Sisk shared while on stage at We Are Moving The Needle’s Resonator Awards on Tuesday, January 30, per The Hollywood Reporter. “She’s truly one of a kind in her work ethic and getting to do so many different kinds of projects with her has made me grow so much as an engineer.”
The three-time Grammy winner, who was there to accept the Exceptional Ears Award, noted that it’s been “so special” to watch music she’s helped create play in sold out stadiums as Swift continues her career-spanning Eras Tour across the globe.
Sisk began working alongside Swift, 34, and producer Jack Antonoff in 2014 for the release of her first pop album, 1989. The trio have since collaborated on 2017’s Reputation, 2019’s Lover, 2020’s Folklore and Evermore and 2022’s Midnights. Sisk has also been part of Swift’s rerelease project, which she pointed to as an example of the singer’s talent and prowess.
Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images Taylor Swift doesn’t celebrate her birthday until December 13, but she spent all year dominating the pop culture landscape. Already a 12-time Grammy winner, Swift’s career skyrocketed even further with the debut of her highly anticipated Eras Tour and its subsequent concert film, both of which broke records across the board. She […]
“I want to mention the rerecords specifically as an incredible engineering challenge, and an intellectual and technical and creative pursuit,” Sisk explained of the process. “It’s been so exciting and it has been exercising a completely different part of my brain.”
Swift announced in 2019 that she would rerecord her first six albums after music manager Scooter Braun acquired her former record label, Big Machine Records, and gained the rights to her masters. (Braun and Swift have had a longstanding rivalry that dates back to 2016.)
Braun later sold the rights to Swift’s music to private equity company Shamrock Holdings for over $300 million in 2020, which, Swift claimed had occurred without her knowledge. In combatting the sale, Swift released her first rerecording, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in April 2021, with Red (Taylor’s Version) following six months later. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) hit shelves in July 2023 and October 2023, respectively, with Swift inviting her previous collaborators to help recreate the tracks. (Reputation and 2006’s title album have yet to be rereleased.)
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All of Swift’s rerecorded albums have found major success. Earlier this month, the “Anti-Hero” singer took the No. 1 spot on the 2024 Billboard Power 100 list, which serves as a definitive ranking of the most powerful players in the music industry.
Upon learning about her win, Swift offered advice to other music industry change makers, pointing to her rerecording as one of her most successful endeavors.
“The piece of advice I would give to the other executives on this list is that the best ideas are usually ones without industry precedent,” Swift told Billboard on Wednesday, January 31. “The biggest crossroads moments of my career came down to sticking to my instincts when my ideas were looked at with skepticism.”
“When someone says to me, ‘But that has never been done successfully before,’ it fires me up,” she continued. “Every once in a while, you have to really trust your gut and take a flying leap. My rerecordings are my favorite example of this, and I’m extremely grateful to my team and fans for taking that leap with me because it absolutely changed my life.”
In addition to her other accolades, Swift is currently nominated for six Grammys including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Pop Solo Performance, Best Duo/Group Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. Midnights is also up for Album of the Year, her sixth nod in the category overall. If she secures the win at the Sunday, February 4, ceremony, she will become the first person ever to achieve the accolade four times.
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