Hello everyone. Well, it's finally here. Taylor Swift's fifth album, 1989 is finally here. And you know what that means, it's time for a full review of 1989. Now, here's our review of 1989. I hope you enjoy it.
Taylor Swift has been around for 8 years since her debut in 2006 and she is going strong. In fact, it was Big Machine's only pop star ever in existence. Now, i'f something pop music should be Big Machine's label instead of country in Nashville. Let's not forget Speak Now and Red sold more than 1 million copies in the US on its first week. Today, Taylor Swift's fifth album, 1989 will be Taylor Swift's first pop album. It is also Big Machine's first pop album. That's right, 1989 is Taylor Swift's first pop album and the first pop album released by Big Machine Records.
Now, here's what critics has to say about 1989:
"Deeply weird, feverishly emotional, wildly enthusiastic, '1989' sounds exactly like Taylor Swift, even when it sounds like nothing she's ever tried before. And yes, she takes it to extremes. Are you surprised? This is Taylor Swift, remember? Extremes are where she starts out." -- Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone.
"Executive-produced by Swift and [Max] Martin, two of the all-time biggest hitmakers, the LP could have been an overstuffed Frankenstein of battling ideas. But instead it's Swift's best work -- a sophisticated pop tour de force that deserves to be as popular commercially as with Robyn-worshipping bloggers; an album that finds Swift meeting Katy and Miley and Pink on their home turf and staring them down." -- Jem Aswad, Billboard.
"At her best (2010's ''Dear John,'' 2012's ''All Too Well''), she's the most vivid songwriter of her generation, able to summon the storm clouds of every heartbreak you've ever had with one couplet and then sweep them away with another. But too often on '1989'she's trying to win at somebody else's game, whittling her words down to generic love stuff over flowy synthesizers." -- Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly.
"Swift's fifth record is a bold, gossipy confection that plays to her strengths -- strengths which pretty much define modern pop, with its obsession with the private lives of celebrities and its premium on heightened emotion. The album's one failing? There's no obvious single here as unequivocally great as 'I Knew You Were Trouble.'" -- Kitty Empire, The Guardian.
"The era of pop she channels here was a collision of sleaze and romanticism, of the human and the digital. But there's barely any loucheness in Ms. Swift's voice. Her take on that sound is sandpapered flat and polished to a sheen." -- Jon Caramanica, The New York Times.
"Swift's genius -- or part of it, anyway -- has been to turn the same mix of unabashed neediness and cunning that can make her tough to defend as a celebrity into rock-solid musical assets. On '1989,' she matches deceptively simple, irresistibly catchy melodies with lyrics that can seem by turns confessional and elusive, playful and aching." -- Elysa Gardner, USA Today.
"As long as Swift writes autobiographically, her romantic affairs will be the subject of speculation, but it's the expertly crafted sound of '1989' that marks her most impressive sleight of hand yet -- shifting the focus away from her past and onto her music, which is as smart and confident as it's ever been. Who are these songs about? When they sound this good, who cares?" -- Sam Lansky, Time.
Tell us: What do you think of Taylor Swift's "1989"? We do. Even MTV loved it.
Anyway, off to my review of 1989. Now, as you may know that 1989 is a big hit for Taylor Swift and pop music and with 1989 becoming Taylor Swift's pop album, it looks like Taylor Swift will be leaving country for good. That means, Taylor Swift can no longer play her country music on country radio. Keep in mind that her pop music will only play on pop radio, crossover hits for both country and pop like Love Story aside. But, 1989 will not have any country music. Only pop music as Taylor Swift mentioned.
Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records, told Rolling Stone: "Taylor fans are going to love it. Will country stations play a complete pop song just because it's her? No. But when she comes to town, her friends at country radio will come and see her."
There you go. You don't need country radio to play Taylor Swift's pop songs. Country radio is for Taylor Swift's country music. But unfortunately, all her country songs including her country songs that weren't played on pop radio are pop songs on Vevo. So, will pop stations play a complete country song just because it's Taylor Swift? Yes, of course it can. All Taylor Swift's country songs like Tim McGraw and White Horse can work well on pop radio. Now, let's continue.
Since 2008, Taylor Swift gets to do pop music too starting with her first true pop song, Change. That came out in 2008 after her first crossover song, Teardrops On My Guitar was played on pop radio in 2007. Following Change, we have The Story Of Us, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Boo!), I Knew You Were Trouble, Taylor Swift's most play song on the radio with more than 200 million airplays, the underrated fan favorite pop hit, 22, Everything Has Changed with Ed Sheeran and a UK only single, The Last Time. After her fourth album, Red sold more than 1.2 million copies in the US during its first week in the US, it's time for Taylor Swift's pop music to have a Taylor Swift album all to themselves and 1989 is born. 1989 is amazing. It's the first Taylor Swift album to not have any country music at all which means all Taylor Swift's country songs like Sparks Fly and Begin Again can now join pop music stations like Fuse. With Taylor Swift now bringing her country music to the pop world, she will no longer make country music and she will no longer appear on country music stations. Vevo was lucky since all Taylor Swift songs were categorized pop on Vevo. That includes Tim McGraw's number 1 country song, Highway Don't Care which Taylor Swift was featured. So a Taylor Swift MTV marathon will do the trick.
OK, that's just my humble opinion. I want social media and physical broadcasts to collaborate with each other now that Taylor Swift is no longer country and she is now pop. So it's perfect for Taylor Swift music videos. We want all Taylor Swift music videos on mainstream music channels like MTV, not channels in general like CMT. We want Taylor Swift's country music videos like Mean music video on MTV/VH1/Fuse. It needs to happen. Trust me, all Taylor Swift's country songs needs to be pop songs. Now then, let's review 1989. To start things off, guess who's producing 1989? That's right, Max Martin and Shellback. Max Martin and Shellback who produced We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Boo!), I Knew You Were Trouble, and 22 also worked on 1989 and 1989's tracks like Shake It Off. Jack Antonoff and Ryan Tedder have also worked on 1989.
So first things off is her lead song called Welcome To New York (Boo!). Welcome to New York is the album's opening track that was released as the second countdown single on October 20, 2014. It is a synthpop song written by Taylor Swift alongside Ryan Tedder and produced by Taylor Swift, Ryan Tedder and Noel Zancanella. Welcome To New York is inspired by Taylor Swift visting New York as she sang her country song, Mean, "Someday I'll be living in a big old city". Mean inspired that. By the way, Mean should've done better if this Taylor Swift country song should be played on pop radio, not country radio. This is why all Taylor Swift's country songs like Picture To Burn should be pop, not country, pop. Let's continue.
Unfortunately, Welcome To New York is a mediocre lead song that rely on copy and paste pop anthem and a lazy New York anthem. Stay away from Welcome To New York.
Her second track, Blank Space is without a doubt the best Taylor Swift song in this album and resembles a 1999 song like Backstreet Boys's I Want It That Way. This is the Taylor Swift we’ve been waiting for. So I was expecting to have this song to have a music for for later in 2015. So Black Space can make a great post album launch single or a late 1989 single.
After Blank Space, there's Style which you'll hear on a Target commercial and later, Out Of The Woods. Out of the Woods is a lead countdown single from the album on October 14, 2014 in order to promote the album. It is a synthpop song written by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff and produced by Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift, and Max Martin. Out Of The Woods would be perfect for a music video later on. So I was thinking about a music video for Out Of The Woods directed by Trey Fanjoy.
After All You Had To Do Was Stay, we have Taylor Swift's hilarious lead single, Shake It Off. Shake It Off is a lead single released on August 18, 2014. Shake It Off debuts at number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Other great songs include I WIsh You Would, Bad Blood, Wildest Dreams, How You Get The Girl, This Love, I Know Places and Clean. Bad Blood will be her angriest track to date. And guess who's Bad Blood is about? That's right, Katy Perry. Bad Blood is about Katy Perry. We definitely want the pop-rock Bad Blood to be a single and have a music video there. So a music video that is directed by Trey Fanjoy (or something cheaper) for Bad Blood will do the trick.
This Love is the only song to be written by Taylor Swift herself and it's the only song in the album produced by Nathan Chapman. It is a mature anthem ballad about Lorde.
Clean is the only collabo song since Taylor Swift will be teaming up with Imogen Heap. That's right. Taylor Swift and Imogen Heap written and produced Clean together.
Overall, 1989 is definitely the album that Taylor Swift fans old and new alike have all been dreaming of. This is where Taylor Swift has joined pop music and she will not be coming back to country forever. With a touch of late 80s pop music mixed with modern pop songs and Taylor Swift's emotions, 1989 is the reason why all Taylor Swift's country songs are pop rather than country. So pick one up right now. What are you waiting for? Get 1989. You will love this album.
Good:
Taylor Swift's first pop album
The first Taylor Swift album with no country music
Out Of The Woods
Taylor Swift's hilarious lead single, Shake It Off
Max Martin and Shellback returns
Ryan Tedder and Jack Anonoff produced this album
Bad Blood is about Katy Perry
This Love is about Lorde
Nathan Chapman is back
Bad:
Welcome To New York
Only 2 ballads
More than half of songs are mostly anthems rather than emotions
Rating: 9/10
With 1989 becoming a huge success for Taylor Swift and pop music, Taylor Swift will no longer make country music and Taylor Swift is no longer country. She will only make pop music starting with this album and all her country songs that you won't find on pop radio has now joined pop radio. Taylor Swift is 100% pop and 0% country. That includes her country songs like Tim McGraw's Highway Don't Care. Let's hope music needs to move on to marketing like advertising albums and Vevo commercial. Make it happen, music industry and Taylor Swift.
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