Swiftmas Review: 1989 (Taylor's Version)

Hello, and welcome back to my Swiftmas series. I am Lyss Ku, and I was born in 1998 but this review is going to be for 1989: Taylor’s Version. Now this album was very exciting as it made Taylor Swift a mainstream pop star after starting out as a country artist. It is also the most recent re-recorded album of Taylor, and I do hope it isn’t the last since there are two other albums of hers that have not been re-recorded as of yet.

Taylor Swift’s 5^th album, 1989 was released on October 27, 2014 by Big Machine Records at 24 years old. Now the album title is named after the year she was born (December 13, 1989) and it also symbolizes the rebirth of her music career departing from country to full-on pop. Now, I previously mentioned that her last album, Red was a major evolution as it mostly had pop and hardly country. However, that was Taylor experimenting with different genres besides country and it might sound more pop in the re-released version. Therefore, this is her first official pop album after her last album was highly successful with a different genre of music just to clear up any confusion. Another reason for the genre switch could also be because the original version of Red was completely snubbed at the Grammys especially when she lost “Album of the Year” to an pop/electronic duo. The “Taylor’s Version” of this album was released on October 27, 2023 by Republic Records which is exactly 9 years after her original version was released. It was announced during her final show of the Eras Tour in the US in Los Angeles.

1989 debuted at #1 on the US Billboard chart along with selling 1.28 million copies in its opening week making Taylor Swift the first artist to have three albums sell more than one million copies in the opening week. That earned her a Guiness World record, and it also became the best-selling album in the US of 2014. It was even the second album to be certified diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies in the US (the first one was Fearless). She made a comeback at the Grammys winning Album of the Year (was actually the first female artist to win it twice), “Best Pop Vocal Album,” and “Best Music Video” for “Bad Blood.” It even received nominees for “Record of the Year,” “Song of the Year,” and “Best Pop Solo Performance” for both “Shake it Off” and “Blank Space” along with “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” for “Bad Blood” remix ft. Kendrick Lamar making it the most awarded pop album in history. It also won 4 VMAs including “Best Female Video” and “Best Pop Video” for “Blank Space,” “Best Collaboration” and “Video of the Year” for her “Bad Blood” rendition with Kendrick Lamar. And it won, 4 AMAs for “Favorite Pop/Rock Album” and “Song of the Year” for Blank Space and Taylor received the “Dick Clark Award for Excellence” that same year. Other awards include multiple Billboard Awards such as “Top Artist” and “Female Artist” and Billboard 2014’s “Woman of the Year” making her the first artist to win the award twice.  Despite shifting away from the country music genre, Taylor Swift received the “50^th Anniversary Milestone Award” at the 2015 Academy of Country Music Awards. The re-recorded version of this album was also successful also debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and had the biggest sales week for any album in eight years. It broke records in Spotify becoming the most-streamed album in a single day in 2023 and the second-biggest album debut in history. This album also marked Taylor Swift’s 4^th tour called, “The 1989 World Tour” which was the highest grossing North American tour by a female artist at the time, earning over 250 million dollars.

There are a total of 16 songs in this album which are listed below, including 5 songs from the hidden vault.

1. Welcome to New York (Taylor’s Version)

2. Blank Space (Taylor’s Version)

3. Style (Taylor’s Version)

4. Out of the Woods (Taylor’s Version)

5. All You Had to Do was Stay (Taylor’s Version)

6. Shake It Off (Taylor’s Version)

7. I Wish You Would (Taylor’s Version)

8. Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)

9.  Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)

10. How You Get the Girl (Taylor’s Version)

11. This Love (Taylor’s Version)

12. I Know Places (Taylor’s Version)

13. Clean (Taylor’s Version)

14. Wonderland (Taylor’s Version)

15. You Are in Love (Taylor’s Version)

16. New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)

17. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Slut!

18. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Say Don’t Go

19. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Now That We Don’t Talk

20. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Suburban Legends

21. HIDDEN VAULT TRACK Is It Over Now?

Beginning with1989: Taylor’s Version, it is all instrumental elements for pop music going forward. Those include drum programming, synthesizers, pulsating bass, processed backing vocals, and guitars. Because the title is referring to the year 1989, it is musically influenced by Taylor’s favorite 1980s pop acts, including Annie Lenox, Phil Collins, and Madonna. Even though this album sounds like music from the 80s, it is still very popular and relevant in today’s music.

Just like the first 4 albums, 1989 Taylor’s Version continues the trend of having the 5^th song in the tracklist be the most vulnerable and emotional.  That song would be “All You Had to Do Was Stay” which I was actually surprised at. Originally, I thought it was “Out of the Woods,” (which I will get to in a moment) until I actually looked at the order of songs. I mean I listened to this album in its entirety a few times, and never did I think of this song to be emotional and vulnerable. I think this is where switching to a full-pop genre has a disadvantage as this song sounds like the background music you would use for a 2010-style Youtube video. Maybe if this song was slowed down a bit while still having that 80s-type music, then it would fit the mold of the 5^th song.

Once again there are so many good songs in this album that it is hard to pick just two. However, the two songs I enjoy are “Out of the Woods,” and “New Romantics.” “Out of the Woods” is my choice for the 5^th song trend because the song is so heartbreaking even though it sounds like an 80s song. Even though the theme of the song is about relationships, it is a perfect anthem for going through hard times especially this decade so far. In fact, it almost reminds me of the 2020 pandemic. “New Romantics” is the perfect way to close out the album (before the hidden vault tracks) as it is energetic and wraps up the theme of rebirth with a new genre. It even shows how happy Taylor is as she is describing moving on from bad relationships and heading into new one(s). This song is also a perfect metaphor for going through life no matter what obstacles are thrown at you.

My favorite hidden vault song from this album has to be “Now That We Don’t Talk.” Even though it is short, it feels like it has grown on me especially with the catchy music. Plus, it still keeps that “1989” theme as if was always part of the original album. Honestly, this song is so underrated that I wished it was played on the radio more when the “Taylor’s Version” of the album released. It is even a strong relationship song or works as a song to move on from a bad friendship like I have experienced numerous times especially how the line “now that we don’t talk” sounds abrupt in tone. Once again, another great song has been released from the vault of Taylor Swift.

My personal thoughts are that this was such a fun and unique album. I really didn’t mind that Taylor Swift changed genres in this album to full pop. I loved Taylor Swift back when she was a country singer, but I love her even better with this album. Besides almost everyone is a fan of Taylor Swift no matter what genre, and she manages to push the boundaries with 1989 Taylor’s Version. Even the re-recorded version sounds similar to the original but with better instrumentals. I also liked how these songs were produced to sound like 80s music, but still made it relevant and popular to younger listeners of todays’ music. I do wish however, that this re-recorded version had the “Bad Blood” remix with Kendrick Lamar. That song along with the video was so iconic that it won multiple awards, and I am pretty sure Kendrick would’ve been happy to re-record this rendition with Taylor. Nevertheless, I am not complaining about the album overall as it feels like a breath of fresh air for Swifties.

Since I gave a full 10/10 to Red: Taylor’s Version, I have increased the rating score to 15 just to give a bit of higher expectations. Therefore, my overall rating for 1989 Taylor’s Version an 14/15. I had to take one point off because of that 5^th song tracklist choice, and I know I am being a bit nitpicky but when I review and rate these albums, I take every factor of it into consideration, including the 5^th song trend. However, it is still a strong rating and it deserves to take the top spot on my final ranking listed below:

Ranking of Taylor Swift Albums:

1.    1989 (Taylor’s Version)

2.    Red (Taylor’s Version)

3.    Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

4.    Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

5.    Taylor Swift (Debut)

Just like how I always end these Swiftmas reviews, I will show a crochet symbol of that respective album. The symbol I crochet for 1989 Taylor’s Version is a mini amigurumi seagull which was shown on the album covers for both the original and “Taylor’s Version.” Seagulls are also known to populate New York time to time which is where Taylor moved to prior to this album, and it also further symbolizes the rebirth and freedom she experiences. I also put the photo in a polaroid fame template via Canva because that is the what the artwork of the album comprised of to add to that vintage aesthetic.

That is it for this latest review for Swiftmas. I hope you guys are enjoying this series so far. Next time will be the halfway point, and since it is also Christmas these next two reviews are going to be a mix of NAUGHTY (Reputation) and nice (Lover). Also, another reminder that my student loan challenge is currently running so again, for every view, like, and comment on this blog post and on the IG page, @pressure.shock, I will contribute 13 cents each to my student loans. And always remember to “Shake it off” even if the haters are going to “hate, hate, hate, hate.”