After taking home her record-tying third Album of the Year trophy this year, Taylor Swift is diving headfirst, fearless, into the 2022 Grammys — with evermore, rather than Fearless (Taylor’s Version). A Swift representative at Republic Records told Billboard on July 20 that the star singer-songwriter would not be submitting Fearless (Taylor’s Version), her first of six planned re-recorded albums, for consideration at the upcoming Grammys or Country Music Association Awards. Instead, Swift will focus her Grammy efforts on her ninth studio album, evermore, which came out in December 2020. (It’s unclear if Swift is submitting folklore or evermore for the 2021 CMAs, where both could be eligible, after both spawned charting country songs.)
Fearless won Swift her first Album of the Year trophy at the 2010 Grammys, along with sweeping her nominations in the country category. As the Republic statement noted, it’s the most-awarded country album of all time, accomplishing the rare feat of earning Album of the Year at the CMAs and Academy of Country Music Awards, along with the Grammy for Best Country Album; it’s only one of two such albums to also win the Album of the Year Grammy, along with Kacey Musgraves’s Golden Hour. evermore, meanwhile, is the sequel album to folklore, which earned Swift that third Album of the Year Grammy, giving it good odds at the 2022 ceremony. If evermore wins Album of the Year, Swift would become the performer with the most Album of the Year awards, and only the third to win the award in two consecutive years, after Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder — both of whom she’s already tied with for most total trophies, at three.