Going Back to 1989 with Taylor Swift
Having released four hugely successful Country albums and won countless Country Music Awards, Taylor Swift’s fans were left divided at the news that her fifth offering ‘1989’ would be a predominantly pop album. However, upon hearing the album they would definitely not be disappointed.
By Nicole Williams
Track 1, ‘Welcome to New York’ sets the scene with an electro-infused melody. It tells the story of Swift’s move to the big city which seems to be something she has always wanted to do. 16 year old Taylor, sitting in her room writing songs like ‘A Place in This World’ (from her self-titled debut album) would be extremely proud of her 24 Year Old Self.
‘Blank Space’ is the next song, which is clearly designed to poke fun at how the media portrays Swift as a serial-dater. The lyrics talk about how a relationship with her is a gamble and could go both ways and the song has such an overall sassy feel to it that it’s hard to hate.
Track 6 is the hit single of the album, ‘Shake It Off’. I still don’t understand why this is the lead single because it is so out of place with the rest of the album. While the lyrics are about not caring what people thinking and not letting comments get to her, which fits with the journey of self-discovery Swift describes the album as, the melody is missing the electro synth-pop vibe that most of the other songs have. How strange.
Other songs which deserve honourable mentions are Track 9; ‘Wildest Dreams’ and Track 11; ‘This Love’ which are what I’d call the ballads of the album. ‘Wildest Dreams’ is a song about how Swift would like to be remembered by the person she is singing to as he breaks up with her, which is kind of sad. In total contrast, ‘This Love’ sounds like it’s about losing someone who came back. The lyrics “this love is alive, back from the dead” only serve this theory more.
The standard version of the album wraps up with Track 13; ‘Clean’ which is about having a completely clear conscience. It’s like the message from Swift in this song is that she has said all she needs to say and has nothing else to tell. This is a fitting end for the album, which almost tells a story.
As with all her albums, Swift is known for leaving clues about the songs in the lyrics printed in the album booklet. Usually they are a word of phrase which give context to each song and usually stand alone, however in the booklet for 1989 the clues come together to tell a story of a girl who loved a guy which she lost, but when he came back it was too late and she was done with him.
Fans speculate that the clues allude to her relationship with Harry Styles because in many of the songs there are references to him or their relationship, but seemingly they tell the story of a fictional girl and boy rather than Swift’s experiences.
Overall, Swift’s shift from country to pop is a huge success in my eyes. As with all albums there are some songs which missed the mark a little but mostly this is a fantastic album and it seems her fans agree. ‘1989’ has become the first album to go Platinum this year and almost outsold the highest amount of albums sold in one week by a female artist which was set by Britney Spears in 2000 with ‘Oops… I Did It Again’.
Top songs: 'Blank Space', 'Style', 'Wildest Dreams' and 'Clean'.
Songs you wouldn’t want to miss: 'All You Had to Do Was Stay' and 'I Wish You Would.'
