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Taylor Swift Shocks Fans by Performing ‘I Did Something Bad’ Without Announcing ‘Reputation’
Taylor Swift shocked fans all over the world when she performed “I Did Something Bad” as one of the surprise songs at her concert in London on Saturday, August 17. It’s been widely believed by Swifties that the pop star was saving the track to sing on the day she announced the release date for the rerecorded version of her album Reputation.
Instead, Taylor, 34, belted out the fan-favorite diss track during her third of five concerts at Wembley Stadium and did not share any updates about Reputation (Taylor’s Version). Although Taylor has repeated several surprise songs on the Eras tour, this was the first time she sang “I Did Something Bad,” which was also the last song from Reputation that she’d previously never performed during the acoustic set of the show.
In 2023, Taylor saved songs from Speak Now and 1989 to sing at the concerts when she announced the release dates for their rerecords (July 7, 2023, and October 27, 2023). Before that, she dropped the rerecorded versions of Fearless and Red in 2021 after announcements on Instagram. Now, Reputation and Taylor Swift are the only two albums that fans are still waiting for rerecords of.
The “Fortnight” singer decided to rerecord her first six albums – the ones she released on her old record label, Big Machine Records – in order to earn back the rights to the songs’ masters, which were sold in 2019. When label head Scott Borchetta revealed his plans to sell the masters, Taylor offered to buy them herself, but was told she could only earn back the rights if she recorded one new album with Big Machine for each of her previous ones (six total).
She opted not to take that deal, explaining at the time, “I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future.”
As an incentive for fans to buy and stream the Taylor’s Versions of the albums, the Grammy winner includes several tracks “from the vault” on each rerelease. These songs were written for the original albums but did not make the final cut the first time around, so many of them were never heard by fans before.
Fans are anxiously waiting for the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version), especially after Taylor confirmed that the vault tracks are “fire” in a 2023 interview. However, considering the superstar released a brand new album, The Tortured Poets Department, with 31 songs in April, it’s highly probable that she’ll wait until 2025 to drop the next rerecords.
Meanwhile, she has plenty to keep her busy until then. She’ll finish out the European leg of the Eras tour with two more shows in London on Monday, August 19, and Tuesday, August 20, before returning to the United States for several weeks off until October. During that time her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, will begin the 2024 NFL season, so fans are expecting Taylor to pop up at as many Kansas City Chiefs games as she can make it to.
The tour will conclude with more shows in the U.S. and Canada from October to December.
