Taylor Swift Revisits '1989' In A New, Romantic Light

back from hiatus!

Genre: Pop

Sound: Layered vocals over drums and 80s inspired synthesizer production

If you like: Sabrina Carpenter, Lorde, Mamma Mia (2008), summertime in NYC

Why you should listen: In 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift dives head first, fearless into pop music. She revisits her role in popular culture, high-drama romances, and wounds from relationships

Favorite tracks: I Wish You Would, Slut!, Now That We Don’t Talk

Essential tracks: You Are In Love, Say Don’t Go, Blank Space

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Author’s Note: This was originally written for my school's News Network, and adapted for Auxiliary Complex. Thanks for sticking with me these past few weeks.

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Released October 27th 2023, Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has garnered much attention in youth circles. 1989 (Taylor’s Version), often referred to as 1989 TV, is a re-recording of her 2014 fourth studio album 1989 as a response to her master’s being sold in 2019. It is the fourth album to be re-recorded, following Fearless, Red, and Speak Now. The album features 5 “vault” tracks, or, recordings of songs from the era that didn’t make it in the original album.

1989 represented a pivotal change in Swift’s music, serving as her first official pop album. Blunt bob and classic red lip in hand, Swift gained much positive acclaim for the album. In a review of the original 2014 album, Jon Caramanica, a music journalist for The New York Times is quoted as saying, “By making pop with almost no contemporary references, Ms. Swift is aiming somewhere even higher, a mode of timelessness that few true pop stars even bother aspiring to.” 1989 is also Swift’s second album to receive the “Album of the Year” award from the Grammys. 

One of the new vault tracks of the album, Slut! is reminiscent of Blank Space, as they both follow the public’s perception of Swift as a serial dater. However, Slut! doesn’t satirize this persona, rather, she shook it off in favor of enjoying herself and being “drunk in love” despite criticism. In Slut! Swift sings:

Lovelorn and nobody knows 
Love thorns all over this rose 
I'll pay the price, you won't

Swift has previously stated her desire to keep her relationships private, such as in her 2022 song Paris, in which she states: “Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours.” Her usage of “thorns and roses” also parallels Blank Space. She sings about how the public portrays her in a way that leaves her with the image of an insane girlfriend, while her lovers’ reputations are never affected. 

Swift continues in the chorus:

But if I’m all dressed up 
They might as well be lookin' at us 
And if they call me a slut 
You know it might be worth it for once

Again, talking about disregarding the public’s opinion towards her in favor of having a good time.

While all of the vault tracks touch on a relationship, they all come from vastly different stages–though all ending with the sighed notion that she knows it won’t work out. Say Don’t Go, the album’s second vault track, follows the themes previously established in songs such as Wildest Dreams, in which she sings of an intense and dramatic romance. As the production crashes around her, and metaphorically, the relationship, Swift sings:

Why'd you whisper in the dark? 
Just to leave me in the night? 
Now your silence has me screamin', screamin'

The third vault track, Now That We Don’t Talk, is the shortest song from Swift’s discography thus far, at just 2:26 minutes. Though it might sound crazy, since this is TS and she’s known for her easter eggs, I have to mention that the 31 seconds could be a nod to her favorite number, 13. On a more rational note, the song explores the distance between the narrator and a past lover now that the relationship is futile. 

You grew your hair long 
You got new icons 
And from the outside It looks like you're tryin' lives on 
I miss the old ways 
You didn't have to change 
But I guess I don't have a say 
Now that we don't talk

The shortness of the track could be an allusion to how short-lived this period of doubt was, as the song ends on a note that has finally accepted the nature of the relationship. In the outro-turned-TikTok-trend where people say various things they’ve pretended to like for favor of a romantic interest, Swift sings,

I don't have to pretend I like acid rock 
Or that I'd like to be on a mega yacht 
With important men who think important thoughts

Some tracks such as Suburban Legends have a noticeably different approach compared to other songs, especially production wise. Orion Jackson (10)¹, an avid “Swiftie,” spoke about the slight production differences between the stolen and re-recorded versions,

The production of this album is very powerful, yet, not as heavy as the original 1989. I would say certain aspects of the production are decently/notably different than the original, whereas other songs are mostly the same with improved vocals or a sharper sound. I’d say the most sonically changed has to be I Know Places or Welcome To New York. They both sound so much more reinvented. As for changes that aren’t as welcomed, Style could have been produced a lot better, and the vocals in Shake It Off’s verses are bothersome compared to the original. However, I feel like she really accentuated songs like Bad Blood and New Romantics and gave them a much more intriguing sound compared to the originals

Where Say Don’t Go embraces the synth-pop, Suburban Legends uses beats similar to her previous studio album–Midnights, such as a glittering end to the song. While both use a layering of vocals, Midnights used distorted vocals and 1989 was an era in which Swift wanted the performance aspect of her work to be upped, the vocals being more of a focus.

Is It Over Now? the last vault track, ends the album with Swift’s signature storytelling–specific yet relatable enough to be a success, such as All Too Well, a deeply personal song that has received much critical acclaim. The song features fan-favorite lyrics ²about betrayal, lust, and lingering feelings such as:

Let's fast forward to three hundred awkward blind dates later (Oh) 
If she's got blue eyes, I will surmise that you'll probably date her (Oh, no)
You dream of my mouth before it called you a lying traitor (Oh) 
You search in every model's bed for somethin' greater, baby

Despite the majority high praise of the album’s contents itself, the release has became somewhat controversial. Jackson disagrees with Swift’s decision to release “1989 TV” so fast after “Speak Now TV,” which was released just 3 months earlier on July 7th. Jackson notes, 

[Swift] couldn’t release a vault because the vault tracks were leaked and there was not NEARLY enough promotion for it compared to 1989 TV.

It seems Swift releases two re-recorded albums in a single year, with the second one being the more popular, such as in 2021. Swift released her Fearless (Taylor’s Version) on April 9, 2021 and her Red (Taylor’s Version) on November 12, 2021. It’s clear that for all Swift’s lyricism, production, and presence, she still has her musical strategy. 

Overall, 1989 serves as a principal pop album, serving as the perfect combination of nostalgia with a modern twist.

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Hi! I decided I’m going to start something new and put up a playlist for whatever I listened to while writing the article that you just read in hopes of immersing you more into my process and the though behind it.

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1. Orion is a dear friend interviewed for the initial piece!

2. the blue eyes line is a MAJOR win for the girls of color even if it’s not what TS meant in the context of the song