Review Summary: A good full-on pop reinvention for a country star.
From my first listen of "Shake It Off," I could tell that
Taylor Swift's newest album 1989 was going to be a must listen. This was a huge turn musically for her, going from a country-pop vibe to a slightly more experimental mainstream pop sound. As I heard more new tracks, I realized that this was a bigger turn than I thought it would be, intriguing me even more into Swift's new album. It was going to be either great or very bad, with not much room in between.
Thankfully, 1989's musical turn is a fantastic genre change for Swift. Diving into the deep end instead of wading into new territory was a little bit of a gamble, but it pays off. The overall vibe is very 1980's synthpop, which I personally loved. Not many artists could pull off this style and keep it relevant and listenable all at the same time, so Swift doing this is quite an accomplishment. Songs like "Style," "Out of the Woods," and "All You Had to Do Was Stay" exemplify how polished 1989 is as a whole and how well Swift's voice works with her new sound. They really feed off each other, with nothing she does vocally ever sounding out of place.
However, the album does has its rough spots musically. "Bad Blood" has an awkward vibe, attempting to mesh acoustic pop with a drum machine and heavy synth leads. It just doesn't work and feels really forced. "Wildest Dreams" is a straight-up
Lana Del Rey/
Lorde knockoff in its vocal delivery and sound, making it feel like filler. However, the rest of the album works quite well as a whole on the music side of things, with even the baritone sax of "Shake It Off" having its place.
Lyrically, Swift brings a new maturity to 1989 that we haven't seen from many current pop artists. Yes, she still talks about relationships and breakups and all that gushy stuff she used to, but she handles everything in a much more "adult" way. "Out of the Woods" speaks to the dark, uncertain points of a relationship with a very pleading chorus repeating "Are we out of the woods yet," while "Clean" describes the sometimes painful process of getting over a significant other. The more playful songs like "Shake It Off" and "Style" are no slouches either, bringing some relevant lyrics to the table while maintaining some downright fun material. Very little feels out of place lyrically on the record, with the only slight blemish being "Bad Blood" for not really making any sense.
Overall, 1989 is not my favorite Taylor Swift album. Fearless still holds that title in my mind. However, this is an excellent pop album for the year 2014, taking some musical and lyrical risks to make a very listenable record. I have a feeling that this is a prelude to something better, but this is a great album on its own. It is not the best record of the year, but it is one of my favorites due to its cool musical style.
