Taylor Swift Formally Announces ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’

Okay, Swifties — Taylor Swift‘s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) really is coming soon. During her Friday night (May 5) Eras Tour show in Nashville — her first of three nights at the city’s Nissan Stadium — Swift announced that Speak Now TV will arrive on July 7, 2023.

During the “Surprise Songs” era of her show, which comes near the end of her three-hour set, Swift stood at the mic and teased fans with something they’ve long (and repeatedly) speculated was coming soon.

“You know how I love to plan things … and how I love to surprise you with the things I plan,” she told the 70,000 fans in attendance, directing attention to the big screen behind her, where a modernized version of her original Speak Now cover appeared. Quickly, concert-goers’ special show bracelets lit up purple, the representative color of the era.

“Sparks Fly,” from the 2010 original Speak Now album, was her first surprise song of the night on Friday, on guitar (Swift performs two acoustic deviations from her typical setlist during each show). Keeping in line with the theme of a throwback, the second song from Night 1 in Nashville was “Teardrops on My Guitar” (from her 2006 self-titled project).

In a post-show post on Instagram, she elaborates:

It fills me with such pride and joy to announce that my version of Speak Now will be out July 7 (just in time for July 9th, iykyk ?) I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing … and living to speak about it. With six extra songs I’ve sprung loose from the vault, I absolutely cannot wait to celebrate Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) with you on July 7th.

Swift was just 20 when she released Speak Now on Oct. 25, 2010. She’s now 33. That project — a true country album — was written entirely by the star and wrapped the year at No. 3 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart. The following year, it was No. 1. It has since gone six-times Platinum in the United States. Its hit singles included “Sparks Fly,” “Mine” and “Ours,” among others.

Now a global pop icon, Swift has been re-recording all of the music she cut under her former label home, Big Machine Records, as a means of re-obtaining the masters to those songs. She has already issued new versions of her country projects Fearless and Red, both in 2021, with massive success.

“I always looked at this album as my album, and the lump in my throat expands to a quivering voice as I say this,” Swift tells fans directly in a quote card attached to the reveal of her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) album cover on social media. “Thanks to you, dear reader, it finally will be. I consider this music to be, along with your faith in me, the best thing that’s ever been mine.”