She’s a pop icon who’s changed her image dramatically over the last few years, but is her new album worth 49 minutes of your time?
Taylor Swift has been on the music scene for what seems like an eternity. She was 17 when her self-titled first album debuted with much interest on the US Country rock scene and due to her last album, Red, she’s managed to move away from that past sound. Swift herself has said that 1989 is her first real pop album and its been garnering a lot of interest in the press. She’s also known as a songwriter, although she had collaborators here, so what is 1989 actually like? The answer is a few things…
Swift’s first track warmly invites you in with emphasis on its title Welcome to New York. She also sings happily, “searching for a sound we hadn’t heard before,” and so far it seems the pop sensation hasn’t quite found hers. That’s not to say this is bad. The drum beat and keyboard dominated track, as with many of the tracks on 1989, is well orchestrated. This is one of the best catchy tracks on the album. It’s just Swift’s power vocal above the music gives it the usual candy sound of most current pop artists. On first impressions this is Swift up to her old tricks. Albeit doing them very well.
Swift’s no stranger to big dance orientated songs; her previous tracks 22 and I Knew You Were Trouble are dance anthem stonkers but this album seems remarkably lacking. Perhaps she’s not vying for Rihanna and Katy Perry fans anymore with her ‘new sound.’ Only All You Had to Do Was Stay has the potential to become a great remix dance anthem but it’s been deliberately left short of this title on the album. The track has a great deal of energy and electronic sounds placed perfectly for adaptation but it’s clear she’s going for a cleaner pop sound this time round.
Following this is first single Shake It Off. With tonnes of Radio 1 plays to its name it’s undeniably the shining light of the album. Well-placed trumpets, backing vocals and a quick energy chorus make this instantly likeable. The lyrics are also the seminal piece of the album expressing a happy-go-lucky attitude expressed throughout the 49 minutes. She wants to be free, have fun and no longer cares if people criticise her for it. That pretty much sums it up, and although it’s not revolutionary it beats the love story antics of her female pop singer contemporaries. And have you seen the video? Swift is having a great time and that attitude is reinforced with her dancing around in loads of outfits while having a merry time. It sort of makes me want to be Taylor Swift.
The album moves forward with noticeable mentions to I Wish You Would and Wildest Dreams. I Wish You Would is hugely reminiscent of stand-out pop band Haim with its quick speech pattern in certain parts and crashing drum beat. That’s not to her detriment though. While Wildest Dreams is largely a carbon copy of a Lana Del Rey song. It’s a worthy inclusion but its doubtful Del Rey would want the song for herself. Swift utilises her own higher vocal range to push the chorus up above Del Rey’s but, by doing so in her particular way, Swift makes the songs chorus much more candy pop than Del Rey’s melancholic creations ever turn out.
The album does contain a few duds though. Blank Space is perhaps the albums worst offender (yes the name is appropriate) along with How You Get the Girl and This Love. It’s not that they’re terrible; it’s just that they are painfully generic. I feel like I’ve heard them a million times already. The third track on the album, Style, is ironically about fashion and not music. And perhaps this is why the album lacks it’s own clear sound despite Swift banging on about it in Welcome to New York. Is she more bothered about appearing visually stylish?
1989 is appropriately eighties influenced and the album is made up largely of vocals, drumbeats and keyboards but perhaps it’ll take a little longer for Swift to find her own musical route as at the moment she’s fantastic at candy pop and recreating other peoples sounds but doesn’t quite have her own yet.
This might not be the height of music but it is a cracking pop album. A stocking filler? Definitely.
