WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.280 - Listen, not every piece of media 2 00:00:02.280 --> 00:00:05.250 is going to hit the way an artist meant it to. 3 00:00:05.250 --> 00:00:08.070 Despite going through multiple phases of writing, 4 00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:10.260 editing and recording or shooting, 5 00:00:10.260 --> 00:00:12.330 some of our favorite shows and songs 6 00:00:12.330 --> 00:00:15.711 have made recent attempts to rewrite their own history. 7 00:00:15.711 --> 00:00:19.230 This is a term I like to call the post-release edit 8 00:00:19.230 --> 00:00:20.730 where for whatever reason, 9 00:00:20.730 --> 00:00:23.490 a piece of media is retroactively edited 10 00:00:23.490 --> 00:00:25.650 after it has already been released. 11 00:00:25.650 --> 00:00:27.450 As we delve deeper and deeper 12 00:00:27.450 --> 00:00:29.760 into the digital infrastructure of streaming 13 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.220 through services like Spotify and Netflix, 14 00:00:32.220 --> 00:00:34.710 this problem will likely only get more common 15 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:36.960 as less people purchase physical media. 16 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.960 Here are some prime examples of the post-release edit. 17 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:42.060 Taylor Swift released her hotly anticipated 18 00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:45.480 10th studio album titled Midnights just a few weeks ago. 19 00:00:45.480 --> 00:00:48.510 Alongside the album's release, she debuted the music video 20 00:00:48.510 --> 00:00:51.330 for the record's lead single called Anti-Hero. 21 00:00:51.330 --> 00:00:53.490 In it, Swift visits her deepest fears, 22 00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:55.470 guided by a darker version of herself 23 00:00:55.470 --> 00:00:58.110 that she identifies as the problem. 24 00:00:58.110 --> 00:00:59.730 In the original cut of the video, 25 00:00:59.730 --> 00:01:02.640 Swift steps on a scale that simply reads fat, 26 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:05.340 a nod to her struggles with an eating disorder. 27 00:01:05.340 --> 00:01:07.800 However, after some backlash from a vocal group 28 00:01:07.800 --> 00:01:09.630 who believed that the scene was fat phobic, 29 00:01:09.630 --> 00:01:12.990 Swift's team edited out the shot of the scale itself. 30 00:01:12.990 --> 00:01:15.990 Stranger Things released its fourth season this past summer. 31 00:01:15.990 --> 00:01:17.610 Stranger Things four takes place 32 00:01:17.610 --> 00:01:21.090 throughout the spring of 1986 and Mike, El, and Will 33 00:01:21.090 --> 00:01:23.640 visit a roller rank on March 22nd. 34 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:25.980 But in season two, we learned that Will's birthday 35 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:27.450 is on March 22nd. 36 00:01:27.450 --> 00:01:28.883 - Do you know what March 22nd is? 37 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:33.120 It's your birthday. 38 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.820 - Weird that it's never brought up by El and Mike. 39 00:01:35.820 --> 00:01:37.560 Well, it turns out that the Duffer brothers 40 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.230 actually forgot when Will's birthday was and 41 00:01:40.230 --> 00:01:41.940 considered editing Will's birthday 42 00:01:41.940 --> 00:01:44.430 to May 22nd in past episodes. 43 00:01:44.430 --> 00:01:46.560 - We wrote his birthday six years ago. 44 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:47.970 I just don't, I don't remember, 45 00:01:47.970 --> 00:01:51.480 and I don't sit down and re-watch my season like, 46 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:53.940 I don't know last time I saw season two. 47 00:01:53.940 --> 00:01:55.200 - While the Duffer brothers chose 48 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.720 to leave that discontinuity in the series, 49 00:01:57.720 --> 00:02:00.150 they did admit in an interview with Variety 50 00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:03.840 that they did edit something in season four, volume one, 51 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:08.010 after it had been released, but didn't specify what it was. 52 00:02:08.010 --> 00:02:12.180 - If you watched season four, the night it came out 53 00:02:12.180 --> 00:02:15.150 versus if you watched it one day later, 54 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:15.983 - Friday. 55 00:02:15.983 --> 00:02:16.980 - Friday, it's different. 56 00:02:16.980 --> 00:02:19.980 - People across the world were eagerly awaiting 57 00:02:19.980 --> 00:02:23.610 Beyonce's first original studio album in six years 58 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:24.960 titled Renaissance. 59 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.810 Well, everyone except R&B Singer, Kelis. 60 00:02:27.810 --> 00:02:29.384 You probably know her song Milkshake. 61 00:02:29.384 --> 00:02:31.512 ♪ My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard ♪ 62 00:02:31.512 --> 00:02:33.685 ♪ And they're like, it's better than yours ♪ 63 00:02:33.685 --> 00:02:35.775 ♪ Damn right it's better than yours ♪ 64 00:02:35.775 --> 00:02:37.890 ♪ I could teach you, but I have to charge ♪ 65 00:02:37.890 --> 00:02:40.350 And track five on Renaissance titled Energy 66 00:02:40.350 --> 00:02:43.350 actually features an interpolation of the Kelis song, 67 00:02:43.350 --> 00:02:46.830 but Kelis was not aware of this when it was released. 68 00:02:46.830 --> 00:02:49.470 The singer expressed her discontent on Instagram 69 00:02:49.470 --> 00:02:51.840 accusing Beyonce and Pharrell of theft. 70 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:52.673 - It's frustrating. 71 00:02:52.673 --> 00:02:53.880 I have the right to be frustrated. 72 00:02:53.880 --> 00:02:56.100 Why? Because no one had the human decency to call 73 00:02:56.100 --> 00:02:58.530 and be like, yo, hey, would like to use your record? 74 00:02:58.530 --> 00:02:59.363 Which by the way, 75 00:02:59.363 --> 00:03:01.530 the reason I'm annoyed is because I know it was on purpose. 76 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:03.660 - The sample was then removed from the song, 77 00:03:03.660 --> 00:03:06.240 but it can still be heard on the album's vinyl pressings 78 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:07.890 which obviously can't be edited. 79 00:03:07.890 --> 00:03:12.060 Netflix's 13 Reasons Why is a highly controversial show 80 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:14.070 depicting the fallout of Hannah Baker, 81 00:03:14.070 --> 00:03:16.710 a teenage girl who dies by suicide. 82 00:03:16.710 --> 00:03:19.500 The end of the show's first season sheds more light 83 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.230 on the circumstances leading up to Hannah's death, 84 00:03:22.230 --> 00:03:24.780 as well as an incredibly graphic scene 85 00:03:24.780 --> 00:03:26.880 where she dies by suicide. 86 00:03:26.880 --> 00:03:29.940 Netflix removed the scene over two years after 87 00:03:29.940 --> 00:03:32.100 the season was released in 2017, 88 00:03:32.100 --> 00:03:34.800 following a ton of public backlash and 89 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.780 research from the American Academy of 90 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:39.030 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 91 00:03:39.030 --> 00:03:41.430 who found a link between an uptick in suicides 92 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:43.200 following the show's release. 93 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:45.450 This is all an interesting conundrum 94 00:03:45.450 --> 00:03:48.780 and it can all be boiled down to the way we consume media. 95 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:52.140 Over the last 10 years, we have almost completely shifted 96 00:03:52.140 --> 00:03:55.350 to listening and watching via streaming services. 97 00:03:55.350 --> 00:03:57.780 When's the last time you purchased physical media? 98 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:00.900 Like a CD, a DVD or a blueray? 99 00:04:00.900 --> 00:04:04.710 All that to say, it's a lot easier to retroactively edit 100 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:07.050 a digital copy as opposed to issuing 101 00:04:07.050 --> 00:04:09.540 an entirely new piece of physical media. 102 00:04:09.540 --> 00:04:11.700 Succumbing to criticism and changing media 103 00:04:11.700 --> 00:04:13.080 is usually unnecessary, 104 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:15.450 like the example of changing Will's birthday, 105 00:04:15.450 --> 00:04:18.450 and it begs the question, where's the line? 106 00:04:18.450 --> 00:04:21.030 What warrants keeping something controversial in 107 00:04:21.030 --> 00:04:22.383 versus taking it out? 108 00:04:23.610 --> 00:04:26.343 Check out more videos here on gizmodo.com.