Taylor Swift breaks down on New Heights podcast while recalling how her masters were sold, ‘Really ripped my heart out’

An emotional Taylor Swift described on the New Heights podcast how she felt when the masters to her six studio albums were sold for the first time in June 2019.

Joining Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason, on the New Heights podcast, Taylor Swift revealed that her heart was "ripped" out of her chest when her masters were first sold. Recalling the incident, the global superstar became emotional and began to cry.

Taylor Swift breaks down on New Heights podcast while recalling how her masters were sold (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (AFP)

While sharing the backstory of how she bought them, Taylor got emotional and choked up. Her voice cracked before she paused to collect herself. She revealed that not many people know that artists generally do not own the master recordings of their own music.

Taylor explained why owning her masters mattered to her. "If I never bought back my music, one day someone else would be leaving it to their kids in their will," she said.

‘I thought about not owning my music every day’

An emotional Taylor described how she felt when the masters to her six studio albums were sold for the first time in June 2019. "The first time it was sold -- my music has been sold a few times -- the first time that it was sold, it really ripped my heart out of my chest," she said. "I thought about not owning my music every day.”

She added, "And I told everybody exactly how that felt for me and what I was going through. And I started, basically, defiantly re-recording my music because I wanted to own it, and this was the only way I thought it was ever going to happen."

Taylor revealed that record labels own the rights to music of artists until they buy the masters. She said that since her teens, she had been saving to purchase her masters when Big Machine Records sold her first six studio albums to Scooter Braun in 2019. The masters were resold by the music exec to Shamrock Capital the next year. Taylor revealed in May 2025 that she had finally owned the rights to her masters.

Taylor Swift recalls telling Travis Kelce about buying her masters

Taylor revealed how she emotionally told Travis that she finally owned the rights to her first six studio albums. She recalled that she rushed to break the news to Travis after her mom, Andrea Swift, called her and told her the same. Taylor said she was crying and trying to "get [her] s--t together" and "tell Travis in a normal way."

"I knock on the door, he's playing video games, and I'm trying to say it in a normal way, and I'm just like, 'Travis,'" Taylor recalled as she mimicked her tears at the time.

Taylor said that Travis thought something was wrong, and told his gaming friends he had to go.

Talking to Travis on the podcast, Taylor said, "You just come up and I'm just like, 'I got all my music back,' and then just start absolutely heaving."

Travis recalled Taylor being "dead weight," and the singer added that she "dropped" and "had no power" to support herself.