Rerecord Revolution: Selena Gomez Inspired By Taylor Swift
Selena Gomez hopes to rerecord “Who Says,” one of her early solo tracks from her time with Selena Gomez & the Scene. On the podcast Therapuss With Jake Shane, Gomez revealed the song remains deeply meaningful to her, calling it “the most powerful moment” when she gets to perform it. She noted how her voice has matured since the original recording, and she’d like to rerecord the song to reflect who she is now on a vocal level
Taylor Swift’s “Taylor’s Version” rerecording project, sparked by a battle over ownership of her master recordings, has had a seismic impact on the industry. When Swift’s early masters were sold without her consent, she responded by re-recording her first six albums under her own control. These “Taylor’s Version” albums not only achieved commercial success—often eclipsing the original versions—but also triggered major labels like UMG and Sony to insert much stricter re-recording clauses into new contracts, sometimes extending the restriction to 10, 15, or even 30 years
Selena Gomez’s interest in revisiting and re-cutting “Who Says” echoes Swift’s model—not necessarily as a legal or financial maneuver, but as a means of reclaiming authenticity. Her desire to update the song captures a similar impulse: to align her past work with her present identity, and to preserve songs that continue to resonate with fans through a fresh lens. Though Gomez isn’t re-recording for rights control, her intentions align conceptually with Swift’s—asserting agency and artistic consistency over time.
Swift’s impact has been so significant that she’s reshaped industry norms around catalog control, marketing of older material, and artist empowerment. Gomez’s sentiment reveals how influential that model has become, even for artists whose motivation isn’t about ownership. In expressing a wish to re-record “Who Says,” Gomez is participating in a broader cultural shift, one where artists feel empowered to revisit, reframe, and reclaim their early expressions.
In this sense, Selena Gomez’s artistic impulse serves as more than a personal gesture—it’s a reflection of Taylor Swift’s transformative legacy in modern music, where creative ownership and self-defined evolution are integral to both artistry and industry practice. Check out more on Taylor Swift here.