Welcome to the Music Industry (Taylor’s Version). On Monday (Aug. 25), Rachel Platten announced that she’s taking a page out of Taylor Swift‘s book by re-recording some of her biggest hits — including 2015’s Billboard Hot 100 smash “Fight Song” — in an effort to reclaim her voice, just like the pop superstar did.

Sharing her new project’s black-and-white cover art with the title Fight Song (Rachel’s Version), the New York native revealed in her caption that she will release a collection of new takes on a handful of her older songs on Sept. 26. The LP will also feature some live recordings, plus a “surprise from the vault” — much like Swift’s Taylor’s Version releases, each of which included previously unreleased “Vault” songs that had been scrapped from their respective albums’ original tracklists.

“As we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Fight Song, I had no idea when I wrote these songs in moments of vulnerability that they would go on to change my life,” Platten wrote in her caption. “For a decade, they’ve lived out in the world, carrying their own weight. They’ve been parts of your moments of strength, doubt, and connection.”

“I’ve gone back to some of my originals, not to change them, but to reclaim them,” she continued. “This is about more than just new versions of old songs; the new Rachel’s Versions are infused with the voice I have now, the wisdom I’ve gained, and the undeniable pride of owning my own masters. I’m grateful to @TaylorSwift for bringing this conversation to light and empowering artists to take back control over their work, their stories, and their futures.”

Released in 2015 via Columbia Records, “Fight Song” spent months climbing the charts before peaking at No. 6 on the Hot 100 that August. One person who was definitely a fan of the track just so happened to be Swift, who brought Platten out onstage with her to sing it for thousands of fans at a 1989 World Tour show in Philadelphia more than a decade ago.

“Fight Song” has since become one of the world’s best-known anthems for perseverance in the face of hardship, serving as Hillary Clinton’s campaign song the year after it was released. It would find a home in 2016 on Platten’s album Wildfire, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200.

And while Platten is just starting out on her journey to take back ownership of her life’s work, Swift recently reached the culmination of hers. In a move that wrapped up six-plus years of oftentimes tense negotiations between the 14-time Grammy winner, Scooter Braun and Shamrock Capital — during which time she re-recorded four of her first six albums, bringing discussions about artist rights and fair recording contracts into the general public’s consciousness — Swift was finally able to purchase the rights to her back catalog earlier this year.

“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” Swift wrote in a letter on her website announcing the deal in May. “I’m extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.”

See Platten’s post below.

It’s impossible to properly document the Kansas City Chiefs’ past two NFL seasons without mentioning Taylor Swift, whose presence at games amid her romance with tight end Travis Kelce has propelled the team to new levels of fame since 2023.

Luckily, ESPN’s new docuseries The Kingdom — which chronicles the Chiefs’ unsuccessful quest to win a third consecutive Super Bowl in 2024 — does just that. In an interview with People at the Sunday (Aug. 24) premiere of the six-part project, the team’s owner, Clark Hunt, confirmed that it definitely gives a “fun … little peek into Travis’ relationship with Taylor.”

“There were definitely some elements of that where there were some new things that we learned,” he continued on the red carpet. “We all lived the experience of having her join the Chief’s Kingdom a couple of years ago, and hearing the recounting of her coming to that first game, really from her perspective, I thought was really unique.”

The first game Swift ever attended was the Chiefs vs. Chicago Bears match-up in September 2023, an event that set the still-ongoing “Tayvis” mania into motion. The singer is now a fixture at Kansas City home games, often cheering on her boyfriend from a box suite at Arrowhead Stadium.

And while Swift was not present at the premiere of The Kingdom, Kelce and his parents, Donna and Ed, were. Also on the red carpet, the athlete’s father gushed that his son’s contagiously cheerful demeanor can be attributed to one person: “Taylor.”

“There’s no question about it,” Ed added at the event in Kansas City, noting that he thought Swift’s recent cameo on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast was “awesome.” “They’re two people obviously very much in love.”

Ookami Mio, a hololive VTuber, has released her second solo album, My Sparkle. It’s been roughly a year and a half since her first solo album, Night walk, whose theme was “night.” Now, on her new album, whose theme is “voyage,” she creates a soundscape that vividly embodies the worldview of her unique songs, like taking journeys to far-flung lands.

Ookami made her debut as a VTuber in December 2018. In August 2021, she released her first original songs, “Howling” and “Bowwow Ahwoooooo,” and then in December 2023 she came out with her first album, Night walk. Since then, she has been engaged in a wide range of musical activities, including being a member of units such as hololive GAMERS and AyaFubuMi. Billboard JAPAN recently had the opportunity to interview her, and she talked about topics like her approach to music over the past four years and how her motivations have changed.

“When I made my first album, my focus was on making the kinds of songs I like and writing songs that would be fun to sing. Of course, I still love singing, but looking at the fans’ reactions, I realized that really it all began with singing because I want people to hear me. Ever since then, when I write music, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the music will reach listeners and how they’ll react. I’ll google what people are saying about my music, and I’ve seen that there’s a lot of variety in people’s favorite songs. Some people interpret my music in the way that I intended, while others take it in totally different ways. I think that has kind of changed the direction I take when making music.”

Ookami also checks fan reactions on social media. She says she has seen some fresh, novel reactions there. “When I was working on my first album, I thought that people were looking for stylish songs like ‘Howling,” but there were a lot of people saying that they liked the ballads like ‘Camellia’ and ‘Insoluble Crystal.’ I cover a lot of Nana Mizuki songs when I stream, and I thought of myself as being good at singing that kind of stylish song, but the reality is that my fans also really like ballads.”

Her new album is stylistically more wide-ranging than her previous album, with many softer songs like “Dandelion” and “Shoushin Ryokou.” “When I was working on the second album, I thought about what listeners wanted from Ookami Mio. I decided I should try making more laid-back music that would be soothing to listen to. Also, personally, I love travelling, and I go on lots of trips with other hololive members. When on the Shinkansen or traveling by plane, I usually listen to beautiful, relaxing music. I wanted to make the kind of music people want to listen to when they’re traveling, or when they’re feeling anxious.”

“Dotta Batta Chindochu!” (meaning “crazy, slapstick journey”) includes memories from her own private travels. Last year, while visiting Las Vegas with fellow hololive artists Oozora Subaru and Sakura Miko, she encountered a spot of trouble. “It was my first time getting a passport on my own and traveling overseas. Sakura Miko and I don’t speak any English, and Oozora Subaru can communicate just a little, mainly through enthusiasm and vibes, so the three of us going on our own to America was just begging for trouble (laughs). Oozora Subaru’s energy is something to see, so even when the language barrier was in the way, she was great at looking people in the eye and expressing herself, driven by this powerful desire to communicate. The song “Dotta Batta Chindochu!” from the new album was inspired by that trip. I talked to BOTCHI BOROMARU about our experiences in Las Vegas, and that led to the creation of the song. The lyrics include the line ‘Don’t forget your wallet and your passport!’ That’s because I actually lost my passport in Las Vegas (laughs). Someone delivered it to the Lost and Found, and they were like ‘You girls have been blessed by a miracle.’”

“Whenever I travel with someone else, it tends to turn into a ‘dotta batta chindochu’-like trip, but I also travel by myself. Those trips tend to be more soothing, peaceful journeys, like my song ‘Shoushin Ryokou.’ There’s a lot to say about that song. After my first album came out, my manager and my music producer, who had helped me out so much, left my team. They had worked so hard with me on the first album, I’d just assumed we’d make the second album together, too. So their departure came as a shock. Of course, I took a really positive approach in working with the new team on the new album, but there were times when I missed the old team, and it was a little hard-going. That’s when I wrote ‘Shoushin Ryokou.’ I changed the kanji for writing ‘shoushin’ from kanji that mean ‘heartbreak’ to kanji that mean ‘timid.’ (Translator’s note: Normally, ‘shoushin ryokou’ means ‘a trip you take to relieve heartbreak,’ but this song’s name is written using different kanji.) It’s not like I dislike my new team, and now, having finished the album, I’m glad that I worked on it with them. I truly feel like I’ve been blessed by being able to work with wonderful people.”

When asked about what was behind the title of the album, My Sparkle. “The first song I ever posted was a vocal cover of was RADWIMPS’ ‘Sparkle.’ The song had a lot of personal significance to me, and my fans listened to it a lot, so I wanted to use the word ‘sparkle’ somewhere in the story of Ookami Mio. That’s why I named the album My Sparkle. When I released the album, I already had my first solo live show lined up, so I linked the album and the live show by titling the show [Our Sparkle]. Partly, this was inspired by the sparkle of the penlights people hold up at the show, and partly it represented the sparkling emotions of the audience,” she replied.

“I feel like my skills are improving with every song I write,” said Ookami. There are more soaring vocal songs on this album than the last, and you can get a real sense of how her vocal abilities and expressivity are evolving. “On the new album, ‘Lady of KEMONOHEN’ was particularly hard. Also, the album includes ‘Howling (Rearrange ver.).’ On both the last album and this album, ‘Howling’ has been the hardest song, and I’m still exploring ways of performing it. My vocal coach told me that when I perform ‘Howling,’ I get this deep furrow in my brow, so I need to try singing it with an expressionless face. I tried that out, and I really did get better at singing it. Until now, I found even singing the chorus difficult, but thanks to that advice, I can now sing it much more smoothly, and I feel like I’ve grown a lot.”

“On ‘Until spring comes,’ I wanted to give a bit of a feeling of the spring school graduation season, like saying your goodbyes to some and also meeting new people. With ‘Natsuyadori,’ I like this feeling of going back into your memories of the summers of long ago, and time just stopping. I included it on the album because it’s like taking a journey through your memories. I wanted it to conjure up the image of a bright, starry sky, so I didn’t put too much passion into my singing but instead tried to keep it feeling light. I think I managed to create a summery vibe. With Night walk, I used a lot of power to drive the album, but this time I worked on highlighting the different aspects of my voice. I hope that comes across to listeners.”

Her first solo live show, which will be in September, has been long awaited by both Ookami and her fans. “I’ve really been looking forward to this solo show, and I think the listeners who support me have been, too. I’m getting ready, making sure the show lives up to everyone’s expectations. I hope to put on a performance that will leave a sparkle in everyone’s hearts.”

—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan

“F–k, I used to not like him,” says British singer-songwriter Jack Garratt, speaking about a past version of himself. “He used to not be very kind to me. We have a much better relationship now.” 

Sitting in a hotel room in Liverpool, Garratt is reflecting on how he’s shown up for himself over the past few years – ever since the pandemic brought his Love, Death, & Dancing Tour to a halt and he battled his own ego and negative self-talk. He explores that journey on his third album Pillars, which arrived in August on independent label Cooking Vinyl (he was previously signed to Island Records). 

Of his first new album since 2020, Garratt believes it to be the most “me-sounding thing” — the majority of which he wrote, produced and mixed himself. Below, he shares how he pulled himself out of a difficult time and killed his egos, while he continues to work on mastering self-love.

“I’m now in a position where I really do have more ownership over my music and over my output,” he says. “I’ve always seen albums as as a stepping stone that I’m landing on and the rest of the map is loading. I’m not thinking about album four or what the next step is. This album is just gonna paint the map a little bit.”

Ahead of releasing Pillars, you signed a new management team and new record deal. What was that process like?

I’m only interested in working with people who want to check their ego at the door and come in, and make something great for a purpose greater than any of us — not to self-aggrandize or overcompliment the artistic process or making a record or anything. It is not the most important work, but it should be when we’re in the room together. When I met with Cooking Vinyl, I felt alignment, choice. It wasn’t a desperate plea from either of us. It was good-intentioned, like-minded people who take their independent roles seriously. I don’t want to be right — I want the right idea to come out of the room. 

Before finding a new team and recording Pillars, you’ve said you were ready to quit music. Album track “Catherine Wheel” changed things for you – tell me what led to that song.

I was going through a breakup, a situationship that destroyed the boat — didn’t just rock it. I went to Los Angeles to stay with my friend Sophia Bush and we did Christmas together. I was still deeply, desperately infatuated with this person, then this thing happened that made me know it was done. It woke me up to their behaviours and needs not necessarily aligning properly, but also my selfishness and people pleasing and how manipulative that is. It was really sobering and I wanted to write. With a lot of songs on the album that deal with that part of my life, the person singing it isn’t a hero. There’s still a lot of toxicity and issues. Some of the things that I’m saying in that song like, “Just use me, because my purpose now is to be used by you,” — I mean, that’s a red flag.  

What inspired the overall sound of Pillars?

I remember listening to “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The drums are so self-aware and they just sit in this pocket. They’re so slow, but they’re so loud in the mix. I remember going, “I know that’s the drums I want in the big moments.” The character is just so infectious. I love when you can hear production that’s a storytelling device and just sounds f—ing good. I often forget that’s part of my job.  

Who else inspired you?

For this record, The Waterboys — the storytelling, the lyrics on “The Whole of the Moon”— were a big inspiration for me. Adrienne Lenker — I’m obsessed with her storytelling voice. I’ve really tried to knuckle down with this record that I wanted to be a better songwriter. That was the most important thing — to know I was writing the best stories that I could. 

On Pillars, you explore different kinds of love — romantic, platonic, self-love. Why was that important to you?

I don’t think I will be able to love myself loudly forever. It is cyclical. I’m in a good place at the moment and I’m loving it and holding it rather than worrying about it disappearing. That comes from work, having built that pillar stronger. The album is called Pillars because I spoke to my therapist and said, “I have these pillars to my love — the way I give and receive self-love, romantic love and then platonic or familial love. I think my self-love pillar is so weak that it’s putting pressure on the other two pillars in ways that I’m terrified is gonna make them crumble as well.” So the job became to build the self-love pillar. Make it stronger. Tend to it.  

“Flower Girl Confetti, Hopeful Fidelity Lasts” is a standout track, what was the concept behind it?

Pillars isn’t a concept album, but there is something conceptual throughout the whole thing, which is how I give and receive my love. The first half of the record is about really letting yourself go into something. “Ready! Steady! Go!” is a song that encourages someone to be like, “You and I are feeling something. You either need to let me go fully into the feeling or you need to let me go so that I can do this somewhere else.” And “Two Left Feet” is an encouragement song — “We could really love each other.”

If the first half of the album is more shiny and surface-level, the second half of the album is the grey of it, the depth of it. It’s the second and third layers of ground underneath the fresh lawn. “Flower Girl Confetti” is very much one of those layers of ground where it’s sticky, repetitive, and monotonous. And that lyric, “I waited, waited and it’s over now” embodies the confusion and the self-[flagellation]. It’s like a sister song to “Manifest,” the opening track.

How has your journey to self-love and acceptance changed your creative process?

With this record, I’m actively doing parts work, just trying to enjoy the present moment and surrender everything else. I suffer from anxiety, which focuses you so much on your past and uses it as an excuse as to why you should overthink your future. My job is to just quiet those parts. That’s why a lot of the songs on the record feel so isolated, so singular, because I’m just trying to exist in the present moment. Like “Big of Me (Flight the Bee),” that opening verse came out of my mouth already written. The rest of the song was just a dissection of that present thought. That exists on “Shaftesbury Avenue,” “Two Left Feet,” “Catherine Wheel.” There’s other songs on the album that are repetitive mantras.  

You made a vision board for this album. What was on that? 

I wrote maybe over 20-25 songs for this album. I didn’t know who I was, who was singing them, what the story was or anything. I had this title and was looking at these songs like, “Is it three albums? Is it three pillars? Is it this mammoth work?” My friend Lapsley [and I] just sat in my studio and listened to a bunch of them. She was like, “Have you made a vision board yet?” She showed me the one that she was making for her album, and I was immediately like, “This is so inspiring.” I made a Google Slideshow that night with photographs and artwork. It was a creative vomiting of what this world [was going to] be. I took that to [photographer] Wolf James. She was like, “It’s amazing. It’s all Dalí and surrealism.” I would have never seen that. 

“Joy is an act of resistance” was a phrase that used to come up a lot for you. What idea or sentiment is front of mind now? 

I ask the listener, “Please play loud in service of joy.” There is too much about this industry and this job that encourages joyless spaces. Having a campaign exist entirely on Instagram, a campaign that entirely exists around servicing streaming services, is joyless. And I need the joy. I have for so long punished myself and not allowed myself access to it, and this is me taking that back and reclaiming it. I lost myself and I couldn’t see the wood for the trees and I almost quit. But in making this album, I have found the joy in the job. It’s in the people. Of course, it scratches the ego a bit, but the joy that I’m watching people experience because of this record allows me to access joy as well.

Raise a glass, Swifties. Another version of Taylor Swift‘s The Life of a Showgirl has bubbled up to the surface.

At 4 p.m. ET on Monday (Aug. 25), the pop superstar unveiled yet another limited-quantity vinyl variant of her upcoming 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, this time called the “Tiny Bubbles in Champagne” edition. Featuring an exclusive alternate album cover, the new iteration’s front shows Swift surrounded by red feathers while modeling a bejeweled star headpiece.

The “Tiny Bubbles in Champagne” edition marks Swift’s third total vinyl variant for the Oct. 3-slated project, not counting the fact that each one has been available in two different colored discs (the latest comes in “Under Bright Lights Pearlescent” and “Red Lipstick & Lace”). Just like with Swift’s past two vinyl drops, the new one became available for pre-order on her website after time ran out on a cryptic online countdown that went live hours prior.

Also similar to last week’s now-unavailable Showgirl variants — the “Shiny Bug Edition” and the “Baby, That’s Show Business Edition” — these latest discs come with exclusive photos and poetry, and they are only available for 48 hours while supplies last.

Monday’s unveiling marks just the latest exciting development in Swift’s Showgirl rollout, which officially kicked into gear on Aug. 12, when she announced the project’s existence in a teaser clip for her guest appearance on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast. When the full episode dropped a day later, the 14-time Grammy winner shared the album’s main cover, tracklist, release date and sole feature (Sabrina Carpenter, who appears on the title track).

Swift also emphasized at the time that Max Martin, Shellback and herself are the only producers who were involved in making the 12 tracks on Showgirl — which she described on New Heights as being “bangers.” “[The album is] a lot more upbeat, and it’s a lot more fun pop excitement,” she added on the show. “My main goals were melodies that were so infectious, you’re almost angry at it.”

The Life of a Showgirl will mark Swift’s first full-length since 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department, which spent 17 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The album, along with the “Tiny Bubbles in Champagne” edition, are available to purchase on the musician’s online store.