Taylor Swift.Photo: Gavin Smith/Ford Fields
Taylor Swift’s tear-jerking single “Ronan” is going to be on theremasteredRedalbum.
Maya Thompson — the mother of 4-year-old Ronan Thompson, whose death from cancer at age 4 inspired the ballad — revealed in a blog post recently that Swift, 31, asked her permission to include the song on her upcoming album,Red (Taylor’s Version).
Taking it back to where it all began, Thompsonannounced on her blog, Rockstar Ronan, that the singer asked for her permission to include the single — originally meant to benefit cancer organizations — on the upcoming album, which will be released on Nov. 19.
“[Taylor] is and will always be one of the things I hold dearest to my heart,” Ronan’s mother wrote.
“Ronan” was originally a standalone single, which Swiftperformed at the 2012 Stand Up to Cancer telethon. The song grabbed direct quotes from Thompson’s blog and was written from the grieving mother’s perspective,according toBillboard.
Elsewhere in her post, Maya explained that Swift sent her an email to make sure it was okay to include “Ronan” on the remasteredRedrecord. Maya instantly got emotional when reading it.
“Tears sprang to my eyes,” Maya recalled. “It took me an hour to absorb the words in front of me. I cried while sharing the news.”
Taylor Swift.Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock
In the email, a partial version of which Maya shared, Swift reportedly penned, “I’ve recently completed the re-recording of my 4th album,Red. It’s really exceeded my expectations in so many ways, and one of those ways is that I thought it would be appropriate to add ‘Ronan’ to this album.”
“Redwas an album of heartbreak and healing, of rage and rawness, of tragedy and trauma, and of the loss of an imagined future alongside someone,” Swift said, according to Thompson. “I wrote ‘Ronan’ while I was makingRedand discovered your story as you so honestly and devastatingly told it.”
The pop star continued, “My genuine hope is that you’ll agree with me that this song should be included on this album. As my co-writer and the rightful owner of this story in its entirety, your opinion and approval of this idea really matters to me, and I’ll honor your wishes here.”
Ronan’s mother “of course” gave Swift permission to include the song on the upcoming album, she wrote in her blog post.
“I tried my best to articulate how much this meant to me through my tears, but there are not enough words in the English language that will ever be able to appropriately convey my feelings about this,” Maya revealed.
Her blog post was addressed to her deceased son.
“Taylor has anchored you to this world so you will never be lost, and now she has ensured you will forever be safe in a new, permanent home,” Maya said. “She is once again going to give a voice to the often voiceless, the bereaved parents of the world.”
RELATED VIDEO:Taylor SwiftSays She Went ‘Line By Line’ on Every Fearless Song to See What to ‘Improve’ on Re-Record
In June, Swift announced that thenext album she will be revisitingis 2012’s Grammy-winningRed. TheTaylor’s Versionof the album will feature all 30 songs originally meant to be on the LP.
“I’ve always said that the world is a different place for the heartbroken. It moves on a different axis, at a different speed. Time skips backwards and forwards fleetingly,” she wrote. “The heartbroken might go through thousands of micro-emotions a day trying to figure out how to get through it without picking up the phone to hear that old familiar voice. In the land of heartbreak, moments of strength, independence, and devil-may-care rebellion are intricately woven together with grief, paralyzing vulnerability and hopelessness.”
“Imagining your future might always take you on a detour back to the past. And this is all to say, that the next album I’ll be releasing is my version ofRed,” she continued.
Swift explained that the album “musically and lyrically” resembled a “heartbroken person.”
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She ended: “Sometimes you need to talk it over (over and over and over) for it to ever really be… over. Like your friend who calls you in the middle of the night going on and on about their ex, I just couldn’t stop writing.”
The newTaylor’s VersionLP is the second album she re-recorded, after releasingFearless (Taylor’s Version)in April.
source: people.com
