Taylor Swift Shows Her Kindness with a Thoughtful Flower Delivery to Kelly Clarkson Following '1989 (Taylor's Version)' Release
Kelly Clarkson shares how Taylor Swift's thoughtfulness shines through as she graciously sends her flowers for every release of a rerecorded album, highlighting their beautiful friendship
Kelly Clarkson Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Audacy
In an interview published on Thursday, November 9, Kelly Clarkson expressed her appreciation for Taylor Swift's friendship and thoughtfulness. Clarkson revealed that Swift had recently surprised her with a bouquet of flowers and a cute cardigan after the release of Swift's album, 1989. Clarkson described Swift as a genuinely kind person.
Swift's gesture is likely a form of gratitude. In 2019, Swift's masters were famously sold by her former label, Big Machine Records, to Scooter Braun's media company, Ithaca Holdings, for $300 million. This meant that Braun became the owner of Swift's first six albums with Big Machine Records: her self-titled debut, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. (These albums were later sold to Shamrock Holdings.)
At the time, Swift publicly criticized the sale and expressed that she had been actively trying to buy her masters for years but had not been given the opportunity. Once news of Braun's sale broke, Clarkson took to social media and proposed a solution for Swift to reclaim her music.
“Just a thought, you should go in and re-record all the songs that you don't own the masters on exactly how you did them, but with new artwork and some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions,” she wrote via X (formerly Twitter) in July 2019. “I would buy all of the new versions just to prove a point.”
Four months later, Swift revealed her plans to re-release her music and has since released four out of six albums: Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), which were dropped in April 2021, October 2021, and July 2023, respectively. Additionally, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was released last month.
While talking to E! on Thursday, Clarkson praised Swift's kindness and intelligence, affirming that the Grammy winner would have independently conceived the notion of rerecording.
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"She is an exceptionally intelligent businesswoman, so she would have undoubtedly considered that," Clarkson remarked. "Yet, it is disheartening to witness artists whom you admire and respect, yearn for something so dear to them. If there is a way to exploit a loophole, they will find it. And she certainly did, becoming what feels like the best-selling artist of all time."
Clarkson also expressed her awe at Swift's devoted fanbase, affectionately known as Swifties, rallying behind her endeavor. "She is renowned for her extraordinary songwriting skills, creating soundtracks that resonate with countless lives. It's her very existence," she added. "Therefore, having the opportunity to possess that is only fair."
Swift's rerecordings have achieved significant success. After the release of 1989 (Taylor's Version), she experienced the best sales week of her career, with 1,653 million equivalent album units sold in the United States during its debut week, according to Billboard. Additionally, her label, Republic Records, reported that the album sold 3.5 million units worldwide. This album is Swift's 13th No. 1 album and her sixth to reach over a million sales in a single week.
Aside from rerecording her music, Swift has also been busy selling out stadiums on her Eras Tour, which began its international leg in Argentina on Thursday. Furthermore, her concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, propelled her into billionaire status based on a Bloomberg News Analysis conducted last month.
