Taylor Swift reflected on two monumental moments in her life this year: reclaiming ownership of her master recordings and getting engaged.
"[It's] a good year... Like getting engaged to the love of my life, gettting all my music back, those were two things that just never could have happened. They could've just never happened. It wasn't like, oh it's just a matter of time. Like both those things could've just never arrived in my life. And I am so grateful for both of those things happening, and my fans are why I was able to get my music back, you know, that's how I spent my Eras Tour money," she said in an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Before reclaiming her masters, Taylor admitted she had complicated emotions about her first six studio albums. Listening to her older work often brought both pride and pain.
"I used to have this very strange conflicted feeling of, like I'd hear the song 'Ready For It' (from Reputation album) and I'd be like, 'Man, this song goes hard' [and cry]... So it was this strange, conflicted feeling that, man those are my memories and that's when I was going through that 'cause a recoding is such a snapshot of where you are in your life," she stated.
It was in August when Taylor announced her engagement to football star Travis Kelce.
"Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married 🧨," Taylor posted on her Instagram page at that time.
In her TIME Magazine interview in December 2023 after being named 2023 Person of the Year, Taylor spoke about how her romance with Travis began, sharing "it all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was mental as hell."
"We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other," Taylor relayed.
The "The Fate of Ophelia" hitmaker also pointed out that when she was first seen at a Kansas City Chiefs game in September 2023, she and Travis were already in a relationship.
Meanwhile, it was in May 2025 when Taylor announced that she bought back the rights to her first 6 albums.
In a letter posted on her website on Friday, May 30, the global pop star announced that she has purchased the masters for her self-titled debut album, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation from Shamrock Holdings.
"I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me," she wrote.
The singer went on: "And all my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life’s work. To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it."
Taylor extended her gratitude to her fans for the support they gave The Eras Tour which paved the way for her to purchase the masters of her first six albums.
"To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four of my albums, calling them Taylor’s Version. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music," she stated. "I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now," she stated.
Taylor then thanked Shamrock Capital for offering to her the chance to purchase her masters. "All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me," she shared.
"The way they’ve handled every interaction we’ve had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead," she added.