2014 was truly the era of Taylor Swift. From her getting her second Album Of the Year, to a sold-out world tour for her pop bible album, “1989”.
After Swift having her masters for her original six albums, “Taylor Swift”, ”Fearless”, “Speak Now”, “Red”, “1989”, and “Reputation”, stolen, Swift came back once again on October 27, 2023, to regain her fifth album back with her current re-recording, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”.
Initially, in 2012 her original album “Red” was nominated for Album Of the Year at the 2013 Grammys, but after having lost to the band Daft Punk, Swift said she felt that she had to make a better album.
That night Swift got the idea of “1989” and decided to do a huge genre shift and go full pop not knowing that she would go down with having one of the most iconic albums of all time in pop music history.
Taylor had traded in her vivid diary imagery for the sonic sound entries that were melodramatic, bright, and punchy, being ultimately inspired by 80’s pop sounds after her birth year.
Now her fourth re-recording to regaining her life works and dedication, but also providing new and improved “vault tracks” that reveal a more humanizing depth and context of that time in her career.
After streaming her original album for years of my life, listening to all the little nuances that she had added to the production style was incredibly eye-opening, and painted every song in a new light.
Specifically “Style (Taylor’s Version)” which had the most controversy on platforms like Twitter and TikTok because of how “different” it sounds.
While yes I may have some sort of bias and the electric guitar is way more prominent in her re-recording, I feel it still gives the same ambiance as does the original.
I mean, I get it, when putting out such iconic songs like “Blank Space”, “Shake It Off”, and “Bad Blood”, it’s hard to stray away from that. But for Swift to give the same feelings that the original does for most fans with her re-recording is such an impeccable way of showcasing her natural ability to mold herself completely to a whole different genre of music again.
Possibly one of her best re-recordings has to be “I Know Places (Taylor’s Version)” because of the growl that she does in the second pre-chorus when Swift says “…and we ride”. On her 1989 World Tour, her vocals within the tour were utterly insane, especially the “I Knew You Were Trouble (Rock Version)” that she does. The infamous growl gathered many fans’ attention and questioned why it wasn’t expressed like that in the original song, well with Taylor’s version she certainly did not disappoint.
Many expectations were going into the vault tracks, mainly because of how little there was for this re-recording. The excitement was mainly laid on the vault track “SLUT!” which ended up being completely different from what I think we all were expecting.
Considering the title, the assumption was that it was going to be a feel of “New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)” and “Blank Space (Taylor’s Version)”. Instead, it was more muted and not about a rejoice to society’s standards for her during the dating era of her life.
While it definitely was not about that, it was instead about hiding a relationship, similar to “I Know Places (Taylor’s Version)”, and how she doesn’t want to be the hot gossip rag because of it. So instead she lifts that relationship by saying “And if they call me a slut, I know it might be worth it for once”
Overall, while there were limited vault songs, they did not come to play for the title of best vault tracks – which is throned by “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” – with tracks like “Suburban Legends”, “Say Don’t Go”, and“Now That We Don’t Talk”.
But what caught listeners’ ears is, “Is It Over Now?” which is the first official single off of the album and reached number one on Billboard’s Hot 100.
All the lore that goes into Swift’s songs and how she puts so much and gives so much of her life to her fans shows how this song was one for the books because of how conformational it was about certain relationships she had developed at that point in her life.
Besides that, I think it’s incredibly important to reiterate that Swift writes for her fans and we have the privilege of the number of memories she has shared with us about her life, and the ups and downs that she goes through so we as fans should focus on her music rather than who it’s about.
This album has such an iconic memory to it and it’s truly one of the best works that she has curated in her career, and her having that ability to exude the same feelings that I got from originally listening to the album when it came out nine years ago is something so enigmatic as an artist. It will always take me back to when I was frantically dancing to “Shake It Off” on repeat in my grandma’s living room.