It has arrived. 2014's most fervently awaited album is here. Taylor Swift has released 1989: the follow up to 2012's smash hit Red - a collection of songs about a crippling heartbreak. The newly appointed princess of pop adamantly denies that 1989 will be an echo of Red - this is not an album where she pines over the past; this is the soundtrack to self-discovery, as she writes in her linear notes: "These songs were once about my life. They are now about yours.". This phrase defines her success as a songwriter and a performer, and explains the Swift-hysteria bubbling across the world at the moment. And here I am, with my physical copy of 1989, waiting with bated breath to experience her latest offering. What will follow is my immediate, embarrassing reaction to each song as fast and as truthfully as I can type it. Stream of conciousness type, and it's gonna make no sense. I apologise in advance for the capital letters.
TRACK 1: WELCOME TO NEW YORK
lbr that bass drop just knocked me out. The lyrics are pure poetry (but what is this production??? can we? not?). I'm fully ready to body roll to that electric and cheesy chorus thooo. It's all quite obviously an extended metaphor for her self-growth. This is all very sad I miss New York a lot, where was this album when I was there? Or when The Carrie Diaries was still on air? Tbh this is pretty ~funky and further proof that the world needs a Taylor Swift trance album. Is the vibe of New York captured? Yes, but lay it out there - it's no State of Grace. Album opener game maybe not that strong :(
SECRET MESSAGE: we/begin/our/story/in/new/york
TRACK 2: BLANK SPACE
Ladies and gentlemen, Nicki Minaj part 2 is here and reincarnated in the form of BLANK SPACE. These beats are too sick, I am floored. That line "you look like my next mistake" is incredible yeaaassshhhhh !!!! This is so the vanilla version of What You Know Bout Me it hurts, I am so in love. So sharp, so witty, so insightful. This is slick and smart, and most importantly, very sophisticated. Bubblegum pop at its most prestigious: Lorde has definitely left her acidy mark on Taylor. I love the self-love! She is no longer the victim - she is the femme fatale. Plus the chord progression is mint af.
SECRET MESSAGE: there/once/was/a/girl/known/by/everyone/and/no/one
TRACK 3: STYLE
I mean, upon seeing this song on the track lists there are certain premonitions; the subtlety scale is on a beautifully round zero like helllloooooooooo. But fuck, those guitar licks SLAY from the outset all the way to the chorus. Curiously, very Girls/Robbers-esque - the enigmatic love child of the two. Maybe a salute to Daft Punk for beating her out for 2013's Album of the Year at the GRAMMYs? oH my god amazin g i kove haylor. Could this be a the very mature Treacherous? The 80s are upheld, yet she is still crisp and fresh and modern HOW??? Madonna would be proud.
SECRET MESSAGE: her/heart/belonged/to/someone/who/couldn't/stay
TRACK 4: OUT OF THE WOODS
honestly Can;t deal with another Haylor classic - this has completely grown all over me like an ivy vine. I can't stop singing this. There is an ominpresent aura of anxiety and fear which weaves so well with the impossibly strong chorus. I'm unbelievably elated that despite the new direction, she can still stay #TRU to the autobiographical chapters that we all fell in love with. nahhh though some seriously sly SBTRKT vibes going on here... LMAOOOOOO HARRY STYLES CRYIN REMINDS ME OF:
SECRET MESSAGE: they/love/each/other/recklessly
TRACK 5: ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS STAY
Her cited Annie Lennox influences were so evident in that first ten seconds. hmmmm can't help but think this might work better if it was minimalist up to the bridge? Oh YES LUV a good finger click. Sounds like one of those dittys in the chick flick when the guy does something dumb before he wins her back.
SECRET MESSAGE: they/paid/the/price
TRACK 6: SHAKE IT OFF
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! okay, honestly, I didn't originally get the pure brilliance of this but the BRASS and the GIRL POWER is irresistible. This is indisputably an anthem. I just want to Taylor dance and flip my hair to this and yep that's exactly what I'm doing. bruuuuuu the cheerleader chant will forever be GENIUS ~~~ HELLA GUD HARRRRRRRR (foot in mouth btw)
SECRET MESSAGE: she/danced/to/forget/him
TRACK 7: I WISH YOU WOULD
Slot this into a John Hughes movie and it's the missing puzzle piece, put it on the radio in 2014 and it could be a smash hit. Its big and sprawling production works so timelessly. She is classy pop that deserves to be screamed along drunk to. And I will take this task onto myself.
SECRET MESSAGE: he/drove/past/her/street/each/night
TRACK 8: BAD BLOOD
FUUUUUUUUCCKCCKKCKKCKCKCKCKCKCKKCKCKSSKDNJKSDNJKCD OH MY GOD EVERY OTHER ARTIST ASPIRES TO HIT YOU STRAIGHT IN THE NOSE WITH A TRACK LIKE THIS. I am dead. On the floor. I just wanna skank. These vocal chants have killed me. I mean that chorus is OUCHHHHH - "still got scars on my back from your knife" - shots are FIRED. This song alone will fill STADIUMS. lit fuck every """friend""" that turned their back on me lmaooooo.
SECRET MESSAGE: she/made/friends/and/enemies
(photo creds: @taylorswift13)
TRACK 9: WILDEST DREAMS
Define sweeping ballad. Maybe they got a bit confuddled over at the place where they mix CDs, because surely this is a Lana Del Rey track? Without You is one of my favourite songs, and this Taylor rip-off is beyond belief, I am seriously heart eye emoji rn. This encompasses how the percussion and synths of this album are astronomical. It's like you can feel her heartbeat? WOAAAAAHHHH "his hands are in my hair / his clothes are in my room" I think I just died and went to lyric heaven ???mayb??? Don't abandon ship yet, the desperate heartache from her previous albums is STILL HERE!
SECRET MESSAGE: he/only/saw/her/in/his/dreams
TRACK 10: HOW YOU GET THE GIRL
ACOUSTIC GUITARS ARE BACK OH BLESS THE LORD. Stay strong, country roots. Is this the wild younger sister of Girl At Home? okay Taylor has done it again - she has captured the universal feelings of the female species: we don't like games, boys. BE HONEST W/ US. I feel resurrected and renewed; it's so reminiscent of her old stuff...with an incredibly pop edge.
SECRET MESSAGE: then/one/day/he/came/back
TRACK 11: THIS LOVE
Metaphor and symbolism game still strong I see. I feel whisked away, this is the Taylor Swift trance record I have always hoped for. This is what I wished for after hearing a remix of the acoustic version of State of Grace: I am FULFILLED. This has to be acoustic live though, and maybe it will set the world record for most spines simultaneously chilled. It's almost, but not quite, All Too Well. Will there ever be another All Too Well though? That's a huge precedent to live up to.
SECRET MESSAGE: timing/is/a/funny/thing
TRACK 12: I KNOW PLACES
fuck ma lyyyyyyyfffff, I thought this was gonna be some twisted version of Mine and I was about to DROP DEAD. This would work wonders as a piano version (and where is the piano version of I Knew You Were Trouble please??????? i deserve that). The progression from a really encompassing and dark evil (lmao 1d fangirls) to a sunnier, surging intoxication is impressive even though it shouldn't be. oiiiiiii the lit student in me is reading to much into this but could it be a reflection of Mine because this guy really is the best thing that's ever been hers ???? au revoir
SECRET MESSAGE: and/everyone/was/watching
TRACK 13: CLEAN
That stuttering tho, bravo Imogen. The simplistic production is magical - it's Taylor but it's also brand new. This is the best example of her reinvention. God these lyrics are HARSH and angry ??? Hitting home like....something that hit homes v hard lol. That vocal range BAAAABE! "I think I am finally clean" are sublime final lyrics.
SECRET MESSAGE: she/lost/him/but/she/found/herself/and/somehow/that/was/everything
just when you think it's all over...BONUS TRACKS
TRACK 14: WONDERLAND
the lit nerd that I am is obsessed with the Lewis Carroll-ness of this. This is literally Taylor on acid: it's rowdy, raucous, and over the top but it works so well.
TRACK 15: YOU ARE IN LOVE
Reminds me of candle-lit nights, or that scene in Tangled (you know da one). This is definitely how the narrator of Clean feels when she's warm and safe. I don't know if I'm crazy about the melody but the lyrics are RELATIONSHIP GOALS and oh mY gdo "one night / he wakes / strange look / on his face / pauses / then says / you're my / best friend" - best lyric of the album by far. Lol did she just say fuck??!!! That was very nice.
TRACK 16: NEW ROMANTICS
Completely reminds me of Sky Ferreira's early synth-pop stuff. Easily the more realistic version of the utterly candified life of 22. Oh jeeeeez, can you say Foster the People??!!?! "heartbreak is the national anthem" haha Taylor trusssss. Set in an urban landscape, she's lost like the hoards of teenagers growing up with her. If this song isn't played during my first clubbing experience I s2g turnin around and GIVING UP ON LIFE.
(photo creds: Michael Buckner)
FINAL WORDS - 1989 makes you read between the lines. At first, there may be a crippling nostalgia flooding you like all that bloody water she talks about in these lyrics, because you want the old Taylor who can universally speak to the hearts and minds of teenage girls. It may not be my favourite Taylor album ever but 1989 is the album for a new age. Her collection of songs can't all be Bibles for Breakups - 1989 is our chapter for growing up and facing the world head on independently. Sure at one point, much like in Taylor's life which often can run so parallel with our own, life is all about stupid boys who don't scrub up to our expectations and who, quite frankly, treat us like shit. But with this new wave of feminism enlightening the lives of our generation, we've had to learn that boys will always treat us badly and the only person we can rely on is ourself. I think that's the message that she's trying to portray. Be beautiful, independent individuals, surround yourself with healthy people, and your life will be filled with sunshine and ecstasy.
