Taylor Swift on a beach @taylorswift on Instagram
On Friday, Oct. 27, pop icon Taylor Swift released “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”, a re-recording of her 2014 album “1989” which features recreations of all the original tracks from the “1989” album, along with five unreleased records from “The Vault,” as Swift refers to them.
Along with the success of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”, Swift has also been embarking on her massively successful “Eras Tour,” which takes audiences through each of the many “eras” of Swift’s career, from the 2006 release of her self-titled debut album until her most recent album, 2022’s “Midnights”.
“1989” is Swift’s most purchased album to date. It is the record that established her as a pop star after abandoning country music, the genre of music she had been famous for for eight years prior the original release of “1989.”
Swift shocked the world with this record, being one of few artists in history to successfully transition from one genre to another.
“1989” is full of classics, from the heated “Bad Blood,” presumed to be about her long-running feud with singer Katy Perry, to my personal favorite: the euphoric, romantic, summery “Style,” which many fans speculate is written about Swift’s ex-boyfriend Harry Styles. Or, who could forget the fun, lighthearted “Shake It Off,” which debuted at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at the time of its original release.
One of the lesser known songs on the record that I found particularly impressive was the poetic twelfth track, “Clean”, which demonstrates Swift’s lyrical genius in a way that is often seen in her more recent work, such as in the 2020 “Evermore” album.
“Clean” contains many metaphors to convey a message about a tumultuous relationship.
Swift mournfully sings. “When the flowers we’d grown together died of thirst,” making a comparison between the death of a flower to the breaking of a bond between two lovers.
The narrator of “Clean” also compares the ex-lover to a wine stain on a shirt that she can no longer wear and rejoices as she is finally “clean” and “sober” from the relationship, in which “the butterflies turned to dust that covered [her] whole room.” This is one of the earliest examples of Swift’s uncommonly advanced ability to use metaphors and plays-on-words to tell a story through her music.
Prior to the release of the full “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift released two updated “1989” tracks as singles. The first, “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version),” was released in September of 2021. “Wildest Dreams” is another “1989” hit, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.
The second “1989” track to be re-released as a single was the less popular “This Love,” a somber melody that has also become another “1989” treasure of mine.
“This Love” tells a tale of a stormy romance between two parties that cannot seem to just fizzle out, no matter how many times they attempt to sever ties. Swift again uses metaphoric language in a brilliant way, comparing the on-again-off-again relationship between the two individuals to the coming and going of the ocean waves.
“This Love” is a beautifully tragic track, one that I believe should’ve received more critical acclaim.
I found a fair amount of the “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” tracklist to be underrated.
The fifteenth track, “You Are In Love,” is unlike many of the other songs on the record and the rest of her discography for that matter. It is a mellow tune that is more optimistic than the sorrowful tracks Swift is universally known for. “You Are In Love” explains the unexplainable feeling of falling in love through Swift’s rare songwriting capabilities.
“Wonderland” is a fast-paced, energetic song that reflects the premise of it: a romantic relationship that ends just as quickly as it begins. “Wonderland” is a story of two lovers who hastily fall in love with one another, despite being advised not to rush things, and inevitably face the consequences.
Being a biased Taylor Swift fan, I usually enjoy any music Swift releases. Because of this, I am reluctant to admit that there were songs that fell short of my expectations.
I found “I Know Places” to be one of the more boring tracks that I actually deleted after listening to.
I can appreciate and am even fond of the idea of the song, which is a secret romance which, for some unknown reason, must be hidden at all costs. However, the rhythm threw me off and the song didn’t speak to me in a way the others did.
One unpopular opinion I have is my distaste for the Vault track “Slut!” I found the lyrics to be all over the place and without a clear message behind them.
However, “Suburban Legends” from the Vault is one that pleasantly surprised me when I first heard it.
Though I definitely take more pleasure in Taylor Swift’s newer work, it cannot be denied that “1989” is a classic Taylor Swift record that established her as a pop artist and plays a pivotal role in her career.