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Review Summary: Despite the general idea that mainstream pop is meaningless, Taylor Swift's transition away from country gives her a chance at her best songwriting yet. Oh man, never before have I become as immediately turned on to an artist as T-Sweezy here. From her fantastic and humorous online presence to her musical content itself ever since Red, I've gone from dismissing her as another bland superstar to actually being able to not only enjoy her breed of pop, but better enjoy pop as a whole. After Red, I was hoping she would continue on her movement away from country with 1989. Let's see how she did. 1989 kicks off with the heavily synth-based "Welcome To New York", an ode to her home while writing this album. It personifies the city, praising its ability to create opportunities and new lives (as well as its acceptance of LGBT+ communities). The hopefulness of this track combined with the repeating synth riff and bass-clap drum lines sets an interesting tone for this album; a revival of the early 2000's revival of 80's synth pop. "Blank Space", one of the two huge hits off this record, showcases a different conceptual style. Where the lead track is brash, and somewhat repetitive, this song displays subtleties in such areas as reverb on bass and snare drum and vocal isolation, making for an excellent danceable track that also makes you listen. Of course, the subject matter for this is her signature: crazy wild love, which will carry to the next song, "Style". "Style" also happens to be the most 80's-sounding track, with its echoing smooth guitar lick. This is a very soft and loud track at once, with sexy string and synth instrumentation. And, I like when Swift writes about relationships. It's what she's best at, supporting this entire track with an extended metaphor about what's "in", saying her and him go "round and round" but also come back. "Out Of The Woods" is an extremely bassy and hard-hitting song about being played victim by frivolous romance, showcasing Taylor's storytelling abilities with its sweet uptempo bridge. "All You Had To Do Was Stay" has her pushing away a lover who pushed her away first. I'm not a huge fan of this track and "Welcome To New York" because of their synth brashness and repetitiveness which doesn't fit well with the feel of the album. But here's the big one: "Shake It Off" is a ***-you to those haters, defending her right to make "boyfriend songs". The snare focus on this track, along with the horn lines and white-girl-rapping guilty pleasures make this a danceable song, but unlike Blank Space, this one doesn't require deep lyrics, it's just fun. The bouncy and rhythmic chorus on "I Wish You Would" is a high point on the album, off a song which calls back to 2000's pop with vocal loops and a poppy guitar. Unlike the other somewhat angry songs up to this point, this is just a love song, and provides a refreshing break from that idea before bouncing right back into it with "Bad Blood". This track was so well-marketed as a single that it broke a VEVO record, and could stand to be the only music video that I've fangirled over. As for the track, I didn't think much of it initially except for the bridge and ending, but the Kendrick verses on the remix did it for me. While not his greatest lyricism, he brings excellent flow and catchiness to this previously bland track. This song comes closest to today's pop, with track influences, a rap collab, and a huge final chorus, and does it well. "Wildest Dreams", one of the best tracks on here reminds us of Swift's ability to restrain her voice, and the airy vocals and hollow bass make this a great ballad. However, if I have a problem with this track, it's the bridge, which goes for too long. The lyrics on "How You Get The Girl" are arguably the best on the album, described by the queen herself as "a how-to guide for boys", telling a whole story of a romance from a third party. The folky guitar and vocals remind me of "I Knew You Were Trouble", in a good way. Country returns on "This Love", a R+B/guitar slow song which really isn't anything special other than the smooth vocals. "I Know Places", an EDM-influenced song sounds like an Ellie Goulding song, with rebellious lyrics but formulated instrumentation. This one just feels like there's something missing, but whatever.
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Try and limit your output to 1 review a day. Or at the very least, not the 7 you tried to submit all at once. All you end up doing is forcing other people's work off of the front page, replacing it with just more of your work. We're all for user content here, but it's sort of akin to forcing your stuff down people's throats as well as not allowing other people's work enough face time as well.
Also, if you go to your profile and click on "edit albums/reviews" you can go through and give this an edit, and add in paragraphs etc.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
those other 6 reviews were walls of texts like this one weren't they
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
"never before have I become as immediately turned on to an artist as T-Sweezy here."
She's spoken for. Ahem.
But on a serious note, it's nice to see someone with a strong drive to review - just keep it in check by spacing out your submissions (no more than 1 per day). Also, there's a lot going on here structurally and grammatically that could be cleaned up. Edit the review from your profile page. The proofreading thread in the site forum would be useful as well. Post reviews there before submitting them and get some valuable feedback from more established writers. With that said, keep up the enthusiasm for Taylor Swift because she's the shit.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Oh sowing that 4.5 makes my life a tad bit brighter. :]
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Why are you now trying to post the same reviews under an alt account? This place isn't run by 12-year-olds. We're highly intelligent 15-year-olds, and we're wise to your game
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Needs paragraphs like a motherfucker
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if they're trying to post the same junk under a different name then they're probably just a troll but why am I telling you this you're a mod you already know this shuttup zaru. Also yeah put some spaces in there. Nobody wants to read a wall of text.
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My eyes!
Yeah needs paragraphs.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Blank space is the only really good thing on this tbh. Rest is mostly listenable but very bland.
Shake it off was her worst song, until the Baaaaaaad Bloooood Remix came out.
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