Though it’s not “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” Taylor Swift has given permission for the Olympics to use songs from her sixth album in an Olympic ad previewing Saturday’s primetime programming.
In the trailer, Swift riffs “Let the games begin” in between soundbites from athletes. Swift fans will recognize this version as being from her Eras Tour film, available on Disney+. At the end of the two-minute clip, gymnast Simone Biles asks, “Is everybody ready?” and laughs.
Swift’s in-house marketing and PR team, Taylor Nation, posted a two-minute promotional video featuring audio of Olympians and the caption, “Come see what they’re doing in Paris! Tune in to @nbc and @peacock at 8am/7pm primetime to hear …Ready For It? – Live From Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour. #WeAreReadyForIt.”
Swift will not be competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics; she is playing two sold-out concerts 530 miles east in Munich, Germany.
“Reputation (Taylor’s version)” is coming
Swift fans have been eagerly awaiting Swift’s sixth album, eagerly awaiting a livestream and hoping she’d announce it at some point during the Eraser Tour, like she did with the albums Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). She teased the album during her Time magazine Person of the Year interview, telling fans that it would feature additional songs like “Fire,” from her snakes-and-newspapers punk rock days.
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Only excerpts of the re-recorded songs are available to listen to: Last August, a snippet of “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version)” was featured in a trailer for the Amazon Prime Video show “Wilderness.”
The Eraser Tour star has two more re-recordings due for release: “Reputation (Taylor Version)” and “Taylor Swift (Taylor Version),” though no release date has been announced for either.
Swift’s first Olympic song, “Change”
Fifteen years ago, Team USA players and NBC handpicked the track “Change” from “Fearless” for use in highlight reels and commercials. Swift recorded a second version of the music video for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Red, white and blue lights glowed behind the young starlet, while footage of different Olympic sports and athletes was projected onto guitar amps and walls.
The moving song was released during the Summer Olympics, months before the release of her original album, Fearless, on November 11, 2008. The single debuted at number 10 on the Billboard US charts, making it Swift’s first top 10 single.
A month after her second album hit stores, Swift told entertainment website The Boot: “I wrote the song ‘Change’ as an underdog story, and it feels kind of crazy to think that the Olympics chose it to be one of the songs played during the Olympic Games. It really surprised me because I wrote it when I was on a small record label. When you’re on a record label that only has 12 employees, you have to work a lot harder to get on a big tour.”
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Taylor Swift reporter Brian West on Instagram, TikTok, X as @BryanWestTV.
