It’s as if we’re living in 2015 once again– but what era of Taylor Swift are we in? Swifties refer to each of Swift’s albums as a different era and personality of Taylor Swift. With Swift’s announcement of releasing her “Red” re-recordings in November, fans prepared to enter Swift’s Red era for this upcoming fall.

However, Swift surprised fans early with a re-recording of “Wildest Dreams” off of her pop smash hit album 1989.

A filter grew in popularity that fans put over the original bridge, where the camera slowly zooms in and out of the video. “Hi! Saw you guys got Wildest Dreams trending on tiktok [sic], thought you should have my version,” said Swift via Twitter and Instagram. 

Swift linked streaming platforms to access the new re-recording beneath her post. If making a song go viral is what it takes to have a new Taylor Swift re-recording, then I think we should get every past song of hers trending on TikTok.

On the morning of October 1st, she posted a TikTok video. “Some said slow zoom makes you look like the main character. I said make it Taylor’s Version pls… Felt cute might drop the whole song later,” said Swift.

The stress was absolutely killing me as I sat in Spanish class that morning on Zoom. I looked at Instagram to check Swift’s story, waiting in anticipation for what I would be viewing. Seeing a graphic on her story for ‘Wildest Dreams’ made my heart race. Clearly, when Taylor Swift releases anything, my education gets put on hold to fully process what I will hear. 

Although there aren’t many differences between the original and re-recording, Swift’s voice has matured since recording the original “Wildest Dreams,” expanding her vocal range. She never fails to impress, singing every lyric crisp and clearly. The harmonies set in the background were mixed better than the original version, making them sound higher than before. The beat in the background of the original recording is her famous heartbeat- which leads me to wonder if she re-recorded her own heartbeat as well.

On May 17th 2021, Swift released a snippet of ‘Wildest Dreams’ for a trailer in a children’s animated movie called Spirit Untamed. This led fans to believe that we’d soon get to experience a “1989” era again. For now, myself and other fans will be partially living in our “1989” era, while simultaneously preparing to cozy up this fall to “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and scream the ten minute version of her hit song “All Too Well.”