Sheryl Crow Says Taylor Swift is a 'Powerhouse' for Re-Recording Her Older Music

Sheryl Crow has been in the music business a long time. And perhaps because of that, she is amazed that Taylor Swift has gained control of her music by re-recording her older albums.

In an interview with Esquire, Crow, whose latest album Evolution dropped on March 29, expressed admiration that Swift has gone to the extreme lengths she has to take back her material. In 2019, Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings company bought Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group, which was Swift’s former label, for $300 million. This in essence made Braun the owner of all Swift's original studio albums: Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017).

How did Swift respond? By rerecording those albums with the suffix (Taylor's Version).

"I look at what Taylor Swift has done and think, she’s a powerhouse," said Crow. "The fact that she came up with solutions for how to not allow her music to be a moneymaker for other people when she should be owning it."

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In tandem with this, Crow also bluntly admitted: "There’s not a handbook for how to navigate, as a woman, a business that is predominantly run by men. Or for when you have a strong woman, how that challenges men and their feelings of importance."

Crow has felt this push in her career almost from the beginning, stating in the same interview, "I have been advised on numerous occasions to please just tone it down."

She echoed much of this sentiment when she spoke exclusively to Q last December.

"There was a time, especially a few years ago, when I felt like I was fighting with the Grammys' patriarchy," she said. "We have to figure out a way to get women inspired to pick up an instrument. It can't all be about moves and bodies and dance routines and Auto-Tune. We have to figure out a way to get women to pick up a guitar or a bass, or sit behind some drums, and really deliver some truth. And, not because of my mission, but because I think it was bound to happen, we're seeing so much more of it. Olivia, St. Vincent, Larkin Poe, Courtney Barnett. I mean, there's so much great rock, whether it's female or not. That gives me great hope, because you don't even see that many men or bands coming up now, where they're writing great rock songs that are resonating."

Following the release of Evolution, Crow starts a world tour kicking off on June 13 at The Piece Hall in Halifax, UK and winding through to November 23 at LoanDepot Park in Miami, FL. Tickets for all the shows are available here.