Review Summary: On 1989, Taylor Swift reaches her pop star manifest destiny while delivering her most polished and mature album to date.
Is Taylor Swift the most important pop star of the past decade? Sure,
Katy Perry has charted hit after hit after hit dating back to “I Kissed a Girl”, but she’s never received the critical love of many of her peers, and for good reason; her albums are generally characterized by a few instant classics surrounded by filler.
Rihanna is another strong contender, but it feels like her cultural significance has waned over the years as her niche has shifted towards the R&B side of the spectrum. Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, and Kesha deserve a spot in the conversation too, but their output is a little too scattershot, and perhaps even too diverse, to warrant any pop superlatives. When it comes to the modern pop landscape, no one has juggled mainstream adoration (sprinkled in with the inevitable hate), critical kudos, and cultural clout (by way of TMZ headlines and online fanbase wars) than Ms. Swift.
With all that in mind, it’s interesting that
1989 is being marketed as Taylor Swift’s
Big Pop Album. Sure, she started as a supposedly out-and-out country singer-songwriter. The first song she ever released was called “Tim McGraw”, and she was signed to Nashville-based Big Machine Records, under whose supervision she still operates. But even in her earliest days, she had songs on the pop charts, and by the time her 2008 album,
Fearless, was released, she was already looking to ditch the whole down-home persona on songs like “You Belong With Me” or “Love Story”. By 2012, we were getting served singles such as the Max Martin produced “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and dubstep/goat-core “I Knew You Were Trouble”, and if it wasn't clear that the pretenses had been dropped before, it was now apparent.
So, while 1989 has gotten the
Big Pop Album rollout it certainly deserves, it’s important to remember that this is the end of a natural progression rather than a dramatic swing in a different direction. Lyrically, Ms. Swift has the mannerisms of the singer-songwriter she has always been at heart; basically, it’s like reading the diary of a young lady who is really good at writing pop songs. The record is packed with motifs and personal anecdotes that reward careful listening, like repeated references to a boyfriend’s (the internet says One Direction's Harry Styles, if you’re into that kind of stuff) reckless driving that landed her in the hospital. There’s also a sort of emotional vulnerability, as well as a self-effacing attitude, inherent to Swift’s music. On “Blank Space”, we see the latter, when Swift flippantly remarks “Got a long list of ex-lovers/they’ll tell you I’m insane”. Album closer “Clean” showcases the former, playing with the duality of breaking up with someone harmful while simultaneously wanting them back with remarkable eloquence.
With that said, perhaps the most frustrating thing about Swift’s music, as well as
1989 as a whole, is the force with which she pounds the themes of heartbreak and romantic loss into your skull. On “How You Get The Girl”, we’re treated to a 3 minute treatise on how exactly a guy should try to win her back, and “I Wish You Would” contains ugh-inducing Swiftisms like “2 am, in your car/ windows down, they pass my street, the memories start”. It’s interesting and sort of unfortunate how clear it is that Taylor Swift is not necessarily over the relationships she’s singing about here, and songs littered with lines like “I wish you would come back/Wish I never hung up the phone” almost provoke a reaction like a best friend would have best friend in a bad rom-com; “Guurrl, you can do so much better”. Perhaps the album could have benefitted from another track like “Bad Blood”, a chant filled kiss-off in the vein of “Hollaback Girl” that seems tailor made for karaoke and cardio workouts.
Swift’s tendency towards melodrama can weigh down otherwise enjoyable pop songs, but it often works to her advantage. “Welcome to New York”, a song criticized by New York figureheads like El-P for being cheesy, really does capture a certain romanticism that surrounds the city that never sleeps. Sure, Taylor Swift is writing about Manhattan and Times Square when she talks about bright lights, but what is she supposed to write about? Living in a six-story walkup in Fort Greene? Working two jobs to scrape together rent in Washington Heights? “Welcome to New York” is written from personal experience, and it’s an infinitely relatable and appealing one, especially when taking place in a Robyn inspired electropop song. “Out of the Woods”, the best song on this record, also uses emotional heft to its advantage, using perhaps the most intensely personal lyrics Swift has ever written to build to a soaring, anthemic chorus that could easily fit on last year's CHVRCHES album.
Also tallying in
1989’s favor is the Max Martin led production, which finds a way to make even the album’s blander cuts appealing. We’re treated to weird flourishes like the cheap sounding trumpet sounds of “Shake it Off” and the tape recorder click of “Blank Space”, but Martin is able to craft backdrops which can easily keep the listener engaged over the course of entire songs. In fact, the first 7 or so songs breeze by in what seems like 10 minutes, mostly because they're so damn FUN to listen to. “Style” is a disco-infused strut that heightens Swift's romantic delusions of grandeur, and “All You Had to Do Was Stay”, introduces a high pitched, almost choral vocal sample that makes for an sonically compelling, infectious chorus. The modus operandi here is actually quite similar to pal
Lorde, but Swift’s willingness to emulate her peers occasionally proves detrimental. “I Know Places” sounds like a song that’ll get rejected from the next hunger games movie soundtrack, and on “Wildest Dreams”, an otherwise interesting (SEX???) jam devolves into what seems like a Lana Del Rey impersonation.
Is
1989 Taylor Swift’s best album? Too soon to tell, although
Red will likely be recognized as her high water mark when it’s all said and done. Is it essential? If you think the best "big" pop album of the year is essential, certainly. 1989 may not convince over the “haters” or elevate Taylor Swift into the pantheon of Great Pop Singers, but it’s certainly a sign that she’s on the right track.
