REVIEW: 1989, Taylor Swift.

There are hundreds of people who have written Taylor Swift off as too-country, too-girly or simply just not their taste. That’s not their fault, they’re entitled to their opinion and this is mine – so let me have it.

Taylor Swift’s 2012 album Red sold 1.21 million copies in the US during it’s first week as well as debuting at the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Receiving Grammy Nominations for Album of The Year and Best Country Album weren’t the only accolades; We Are Never Getting Back Together was nominated for Record Of The Year (Grammy) along with Begin Again going on to win Best Country Song (Grammy).

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should know that Taylor herself is no stranger to awards and honours, having previously won;

7 other Grammy’s
15 American Music Awards’s
11 Country Music Awards’s
7 Academy of Country Music Award’s
12 Billboard Music Awards

...as well as two Golden Globe nominations, two back-to-back honours of being ACM’s Entertainer Of The Year and the first ever female to receive the Country Music Association’s Pinnacle Award which has only ever previously been awarded to Garth Brooks in 2005. She was also the first ever candidate to win Billboard’s Woman of the Year twice and when Rolling Stone calls you immortal, telling the world her songs will live on for years – you know you’ve pretty much made it. I

The point is, there’s so much hype every time she releases anything – and rightly. On October 27, 2014 Taylor Swift released 1989; the album she’s been working on for two years. That seems to be her formula now – every two years; we’ve learned to expect a new album.

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Opening the new album with ‘Welcome To New York’ seems like the logical move – welcome to a new album; new sound, new producers, new style. However, aside from being a pretty cool LGBQT anthem with her discovery that in NYC you can be with whoever you want, the song IMHO is a little lacking. This song was also released before we heard the full album which bothers me. It didn’t fill me with confidence for the record.

Track Two, Blank Space blew my mind. It then went on to be the first post-release song to be given a music video. It’s cheeky and a little reminiscent of a ditty from way back – ‘Permanent Marker’. It’s strong because she knows you’re taking the piss out of her - that’s obvious in the track, even more obvious in the video. She’s more than happy to let you run with that while she sits in one of her five homes and counts her millions of dollars. Both pre-chorus and chorus are brilliantly written and shows that Swift has started to wear her backbone where her wishbone used to be.  The song comes complete with kitsch pen-click mid-chorus, telling you all she’s serious about scrawling your name into her next hit.

Oh my god, look at that face, you look like my next mistake. Loves a game, wanna play?
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And I know you’ve heard about me, so Hey. Let’s be friends. I’m dying to see how this one ends.

So it’s gonna be forever, or it’s gonna burn down in flames.
You can tell me when it’s over if the highs were worth the pain.
Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane
...but I’ve got a blank space baby – and I’ll write your name.

Out of The Woods was an awesome song – especially in terms of having it as a pre-release. ‘Not a single, but the song that most accurately represents my new record’ Swift said and she was not mistaken – Shake It Off & Welcome To New York give off a slightly younger vibe, but Swift brings back her song writing prowess with Out Of The Woods that has as much catchiness as I Knew You Were Trouble and maybe even more than 22. The vocals in her performance of OOTW on Jimmy Kimmel were so on point which just underlines that Swift is back from touring Red around the world with vengeance. Fans started casting out their theories on which of Taylor’s supposed flights of fancy this one was about; the predominance of them weighing in that Harry Styles was the main inspiration for the album – especially the track not so subtlety titled Style.

You’ve got that James Dean, day dream, look in your eye and I got that red lip classic thing that you like.
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Long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt and I got my good girl faith and a tight little skirt.

Probably my favourite track of the album is track eight – Bad Blood. Slightly less beat-driven that the majority of the album, Bad Blood brings a similar anger to that of Better Than Revenge and questions her friends who hurt her beyond repair, when she thought they were fighting her corner all along. Betrayal and misplaced trust lace this song way down deep into the stripped bridge and way up into the chanting chorus, which I can only imagine stadiums of crowds roaring when the time comes for Taylor to tour again.

Oh my god, who is she? I get drunk on jealousy.
But you’ll come back each time you leave,
‘Cause darling I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream.

Taylor treats us to her ninth track, singing with a smirk and a tone that sounds a lot like Lana Del Rey. A sunshine- dreamy track, full of breathy vocals, that tells us a story of his hands in her hair and his clothes in her room. 

Baby, I know places we won’t be found, they’ll be chasing their tails trying to track us down
 but I know places we can hide.
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Lights flash and we’ll run for the fences.
Let them say what they want, we won’t hear it.
Loose lips sink ships all the damn time.

I Know Places, although thematically awesome, lacks in production for me – however, some of the best lyrics however are in the chorus – They got the cages, they got the boxes – and guns. They are the hunters, we are the foxes – we run.

It’s poker – you can’t see it in my face, but I’m about to play my ace.
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The rumours are terrible and cruel, but honey most of them are true.

The DLX edition comes with three extra tracks plus three song writing voice memo’s – the new tracks include Wonderland, You Are In Love and New Romantics. New Romantics screams out the same up tempo pop anthem ways as 22 and begs you to jump up and down singing with your girlfriends to it. Wonderland features new vocal acrobatics for Taylor and it works – it’s a little darker, the lyrics are brilliantly whimsical and there’s a light peppering of Rihanna-esque ‘eh eh eh eh...’ going on in the chorus. What more could you ask for?

Didn’t they tell us don’t rush into things?
Didn’t you flash your green eyes at me?
Haven’t you heard what becomes of curious minds?
I should have slept with one eye open at night.

Unfortunately, Swift made a blunder by teasing fans with most of the best lyrics, so the remainder of the album, barring a few bits here and there, was a small anti-climax. However, songs like Bad Blood and Blank Space make up for it. 

Make no mistakes, this is a pop album. There’s no essence of country in there – although, there are still nuances of Swift’s journalistic writing which is highly apparent in her collaboration with Imogen Heap. All kinds of imagery conjure wine stained dresses, burnt toast, twenty stitches and keeping his shirt... 

A reminder of where Swift started and where she intends to go now she has the world’s attention and no intention of relinquishing it. 

(Disclaimer - All picture credits go to their respective owners, I don't own anything except every Taylor Swift album. So what? Bite me.)