Taylor Swift Adds ‘Bad Blood’ Remix With Kendrick Lamar to ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’
“The reality that Kendrick would go back in and re-record ‘Bad Blood’ so that I could reclaim and own this work I’m so proud of is surreal and bewildering to me”
Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar at the 2016 Grammy Awards. KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES
The sun is barely up, and Taylor Swift is already adding bonus tracks to 1989 (Taylor’s Version): On social media Friday morning, Oct. 27, Swift announced that the re-record was getting a fresh version of the famous “Bad Blood” remix featuring Kendrick Lamar.
In her note, Swift celebrated Lamar’s contribution to the remix: “Watching @kendricklamar create and record his verses on the Bad Blood remix was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life,” she said. ”I still look back on this collaboration with so much pride and gratitude, for the ways Kendrick elevated the song and the way he treats everyone around him. Every time the crowds on The Eras Tour would chant his line ‘you forgive, you forget, but you never let it… go!’, I smiled.”
Swift also expressed her deep gratitude that Lamar fully took part in the Taylor’s Version endeavor: “The reality that Kendrick would go back in and re-record Bad Blood so that I could reclaim and own this work I’m so proud of is surreal and bewildering to me.”
The “Bad Blood” remix was originally released in May 2015. At the time, Swift was still enjoying the long-tail success of 1989, and Lamar was reaching similarly stratospheric heights following the release of his acclaimed third album, To Pimp a Butterfly. The remix helped propel the song to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. It was given a blockbuster music video featuring not only Swift and Lamar but also Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, Hailee Seinfeld, Gigi Hadid, Ellie Goulding, Cara Delevingne, Zendaya, Hayley Williams, Karlie Kloss, Mariska Hargitay, Ellen Pompeo, Cindy Crawford, and more.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) marks the fourth album in Swift’s ongoing re-record project and the second she’s shared this year, following the release of Speak Now (TV) in July. The re-record includes five vault tracks, four of which she worked on with frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, while the fifth — “Say Don’t Go” — was penned with Diane Warren.
From Rolling Stone US.
