The evermore Project

In December 2020, Taylor Swift surprise released her ninth studio album and announced preorders for two vinyl pressings of the deluxe version of the album. Target stores received their established colorway exclusive on Red vinyl, but the one that's given collectors the biggest headache, however, is the standard version: the green vinyl edition.

In May of 2021, there were initially five green vinyl edition subvariants: each manufactured by various pressing plants with different green colors and levels of opacity, with various degrees of overlap. Today, there are at least 9* subvariants of the green vinyl edition.

*as of 2024-10-03

Simply put: there are no differences between the gatefold designs, so the only differences we can use are the hype stickers. However, none of any of the sticker designs I've come across are exclusive to one year or opacity.

The vast majority of collectors know of the 'opaque vs translucent' variants, but unfortunately it's much more complicated than that:

While the original opaque vinyl options were initially limited to the EU-exclusive 'Made in France' pressing on 'forest green' colored vinyl and the US-exclusive 'Made in Canada' pressing on 'teal green' colored vinyl, a Chinese reissue as well as a French repress and Czech Republic reissue has increased the opaque vinyl count to 5.

At the time of release in May 2021, the allocation of translucent versus opaque vinyl stock was not made clear. Online sources such as discogs suggest that the opaque vinyl were made available from Taylor's webstores while the translucent vinyl were initially only available from retail stores. Allegedly, when the opaque stock ran out online, it was replaced by the same translucent inventory found in stores.

As for the translucent vinyl pressings, the differences are even less obvious. Available only in the US, these were likely manufactured simultaneously by the original two pressing plants as before: MPO in France, and Precision Record Pressing in Canada.

A repress of the translucent green occurred sometime between the original 2021 release date and the first week of 2023, likely manufactured at the end of 2022–this was done by the Czech GZ Media. At this point, there are 3 translucent green pressings. 

Now, It Gets Confusing

In May of 2023, the Czech GZ Media company (refresher: the same people that own Precision Record Pressing in Canada and Memphis Record Pressing in Tennessee) announced the opening of a second US-based record pressing plant: Nashville Record Pressing.

Not too long after, another reissue of the green vinyl edition appeared in stores in the US–this time, it was on transparent teal vinyl. Distinctly more clear than the previous three pressings from MPO, PRP, & GZ, this pressing also leaned heavily into a blue tint rather than the early yellow-ish green pressings. 

Unmarked, meaning it did not come with a 'Made in [Country]' sticker, this release was not initially clear where it originated. Upon inspection of the runouts, runout ID from GZ Media indicated that it originated from GZ or its subsidiaries. Additionally, the shape of the release's Parent Advisory sticker on the bottom left corner of the front cover shrinkwrap looked identical to those previously made available on Precision Record pressings. 

The problem was: US regulations are strict about the labelling of products that originate outside of the country, which is why 'Made in [Country]' stickers are so common. Without a clear 'Made in USA' marking somewhere on the release, however, vinyl databases such as discogs have difficulty determining how to credit the right pressing plants for manufacturing. Since Memphis Record Pressing releases usually have a 'MRP####' inscription laser-etched in the runouts (or, in rare cases when they're reusing externally produced metalwork to pressing vinyl, they'll have a '#[XX]' plating mark hand-etched into the runouts), the collective information above means that it has to have either been pressed by:

• GZ Media, and missing a 'Made in Czech Republic' sticker but with a Canadian style Parent Advisory sticker

• Precision Record Pressing, and missing a 'Made in Canada' sticker/stamp

• Nashville Record Pressing, which is too new to know much about, and could be using the same PA sticker design as its fellow subsidiaries.

Ultimately, my gut says that the new teal pressing is from the newly established Nashville plant, given the unique transparent vinyl color. Unfortunately, because it doesn't have any unique marking that proves it comes from that specific plant, the current discogs listing indicates Czech origins, because the only thing we can be sure of is that GZ Media, whose job number ID is present in the runout matrix, had something to do with the release.

These are the nine pressing of evermore on green vinyl (that I know of):

• (2021) Made in Canada Opaque Teal Green Available in US Original Pressing Webstore

• (2021) Made in France Opaque Forest Green Available in EU Original Pressing Webstore

• (2021) Made in Canada Translucent Green Available in US Original Pressing Retail

• (2021) Made in France Translucent Green Available in US Original Pressing Retail

• (2021) Made in China Opaque Green Available in China Reissue Retail

• (2022) Made in Czech Republic Translucent Green Available in US Reissue, Repress Retail

• (2023) Made in France Opaque Forest Green Available in EU Reissue, Repress Retail

• (2023) Made in Czech Republic Opaque Teal Green Available in EU Reissue, Repress Retail

• (2023) Made in United States(?) Transparent Teal Green Available in US Reissue, Repress Retail