While it may seem hard to remember a time when Taylor Swift wasn’t the biggest popstar in the world, there was a time when the singer was also shopping her demo around. A CD of recordings from before she was famous was recently sold in an auction by Goldin for a whopping $12,505. The rare disc was also signed by the “Fortnight” singer, 34, making it even more special.
The disc had Taylor’s full-name written across the top in a fancy script font. It also had a portrait of a young pre-teen Taylor on one side, with the tracklist next to it. The tracklist included two of the singer’s original songs that haven’t been released (though maybe they could find life in a “Vault” track in the future): “Am I Ready for Love” and “Can I Go With You.” Later, the album features covers of The Chicks’ “There’s Your Trouble,” Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again,” and Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”
On the bottom of the CD, there’s also a phone number, email address, and a URL for Taylor’s website. That’s also where Taylor signed the CD with a black marker. Goldin noted that the autograph had been authenticated, and a certificate proving so would be sent to the bidder.
Of course, the demo CD was from early in her career, but Taylor still makes her autograph available as well as many of her demos. When she releases a new album, the singer often makes a limited number of signed copies of her albums available online in her store for a short window of time, and copies of those albums occasionally show up on resale sites like eBay, for those fans eager to have their own copy of her music with her John Hancock on it. She also regularly shares demos of some of her biggest hits on deluxe versions of her albums, giving fans ideas of the rough sketches of each song before they’re completed.