This should be interesting.
Love or hate her, there’s simply no denying that Taylor Swift has a special and unique place in country music history. Before she became the pop megastar that she is today, she had a LOT of success in the genre. Simply put, she took the genre by storm as a teenager with the release of her self-titled debut album in 2006.
Throughout her limited time in the genre, which mainly spanned four albums and six years in total, she snagged an impressive 12 CMA Awards, six ACM Awards and seven Grammys. Notably, she won Entertainer of the Year not once but twice at both the CMAs and ACMs as well. This doesn’t even mention all the Billboard records she broke along the way — some that were recently broken by none other than Ella Langley.
Of course, these wins were propped up by smash hits that still remain key pieces in her discography today, such as “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me,” “Our Song” and “All Too Well,” which would receive even more love after the 10-minute-long “Taylor’s Version” was released back in 2021.
Her sudden departure from country music in 2014 with the release of her Grammy-winning 1989 album obviously left a bad taste in many mouths. Though you won’t see me calling myself a Swiftie, a lot of the criticism was ultimately unwarranted. All things considered, she handled the transition gracefully, never bad-mouthing the genre and ultimately returning on multiple occasions.
This was highlighted back in 2020 when she performed the severely underrated “betty” from her alt. folk album, folklore, at the 55th ACM Awards. Additionally, she’s collaborated with the likes of Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban upon the “Taylor’s Version” re-release of both Fearless and Red in 2021, teaming up on “vault tracks,” “I Bet You Think About Me” and “That’s When.”
Recently, Swift has continued to firmly cement herself in the pop world, scoring massive albums with Midnights, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT and last year’s The Life of a Showgirl. Despite the mind-boggling success over the past decade, it’s always been speculated whether she’d ever make a full-fledged return to country music.
Well, it looks like she’s making a brief return with her upcoming song for Disney’s Toy Story 5. Announced today, Swift will be releasing a new track for the fifth installment in the Toy Story franchise this Friday, June 5th, titled “I Knew It, You Knew It.”
Though it’s not explicitly confirmed by Swift herself, Disney itself is touting the song as her “return” to country, saying it “marks a return” to her country roots while simultaneously “blending styles that have defined her record-breaking career.”
“Inspired by the rootin’ tootin’ cowgirl Jessie’s ongoing journey in ‘Toy Story 5’ that began back in ‘Toy Story 2,’ ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ also marks a return to Taylor Swift’s country roots, blending styles that have defined her record-breaking career as a songwriter and artist.”
It’s a bit interesting that Disney itself is running with the whole “return to country” angle, despite Swift not revealing anything other than the title, release date and her connection to the Toy Story films. With that being said, the use of a cowboy emoji in the caption seems to indicate it’ll be country-inspired at least. Either way, we’ll find out on Friday.