On October 27th 2014, 1989 was released. No, not the literal year, Taylor Swift’s new album. Taylor has recently made a really big comeback with some of the songs in this album, but a few songs were a hit and miss. Two songs managed to hit number one in the charts, Shake It Off then Blank Space. I have taken time to listen through all the songs and have decided my favorite and least favorite songs out of the whole CD.
Welcome To New York:
The sounds in the song are very strange and don’t add anything good to the song. There was one part of the song where the lyrics went “And you can want who you want boys and boys and girls and girls.” This gave the song its only positive note as showing Taylor as a supporter, in a small way, of LGBT. The chorus of this song was way too repetitive. It does embody the same kind of excitement you feel when you go to New York, but it’s a bit more bubbly and happy. It sounds like it would come from a musical with a snazzy dance number, which could represent the “Broadway” of New York, but doesn’t really make for a good song. From her performance of the song on the David Letterman Show, it seemed to be more of a power chant as in “I’ve finally made it to New York.”
Blank Space:
This is my favorite song from the whole album. It’s a song about the media’s obsession with Taylor Swift’s love life. She knows these guys that she dates are players but she wants to have these relationship experiences to try and find real love, just like any other person would. She performed this song at the 2014 American Music Awards, and I loved her performance. It so well fit with the song and her acting during her singing was on point. I consider her live performance as better than the music video.
Style:
Catchy tune but the lyrics make no sense. It’s talking about how two peoples love for each other never goes out of style but then it switches and they have problems because they’re also dabbling with other people but still love each other. She talks about how he’s taking her out then bringing her home and it’s so scattered that I’m not really sure what’s going on in the song.
Out of the Woods:
Great beat in the song right from the start. The lyrics don’t make sense at first, but as you go along you notice it’s a girl remembering all these moments in a relationship that she had that were very prominent to her and she still remembers. Even with all of these memories, she still questions if they are right for each other. All the memories provide you amazing pieces of visual imagery. The chorus may be repetitive, but it mixes well with the beat of the song. I like this song and think it should get more recognition.
All You Had To Do Was Stay:
The lyrics made more sense in this song compared to others as it was a song about a boy who couldn’t make up his mind about a girl and didn’t know whether to be with her or leave. The girl is saying it’s really easy, you just had to stay with me. However, the beat of the song brought down the value of the lyrics, and I especially didn’t like in the chorus when the word “stay” was sung in a high pitched note that came off as annoying.
Shake It Off:
This is already a very popular song and some people are annoyed by it because the chorus is slightly repetitive. The song really seems to be quite similar to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, but it’s different in some ways. It differs because this song is more connected to the artist that wrote it instead of directed towards everyone, even if people can still relate to it. Taylor Swift has a lot of things assumed about her by people that haven’t even met her or that don’t really know her, and this is her basically sending the message that she doesn’t care what the public thinks or what the media portrays her as. She just wants to live a happy life and make music, because thats what she loves to do. To that, I say “You go girl.”
I Wish You Would:
This whole song constantly repeats itself with the lyrics. The music in the song changes randomly with fast and slow parts, making it a strange combination that just doesn’t work. I can understand the lyrics were about regretting fights and cutting yourself off from people, which doesn’t necessarily have to be about a guy, this song can relate to a friend as well. Overall, not a song that stuck out as anything other than ordinary.
Bad Blood:
One thing to point out before I even talk about the song, the title has already been used for a song by Bastille, and i’m sure its hard to find an original title with how much music is out there, but Bad Blood is literally the name of Bastille’s debut studio album. Anyways, the song itself is a mix of good and bad. The lyrics bring up really good metaphors and imagery. Only the chorus had good music, the other parts just clashed badly with the chorus.
Wildest Dreams:
A slower song than others, but I enjoyed this song. I think this song fit really nicely with Swift’s voice and the lyrics went with the music. Everything worked together really well in this song. I also like that the lyrics are very relatable for a girl, as in “I found this great guy, it’s too good to be true, this can’t really last, but I want to be able to be remembered in some way by this great guy, I want to create a lasting impression.”
How You Get The Girl:
I despised the beat of this song. Throughout the whole thing, it grated on my hearing. The lyrics suggest for guys to get a girl back by basically recalling good memories and begging to be taken back. I can say this doesn’t always work, but in certain situations I guess it could produce some results. I didn’t have a preference for the song otherwise.
This Love:
Every other song in this album is written by Swift and one or two other people, but this song was all Taylor. This song felt more emotional and slow than the others. I didn’t really care about the lyrics, it was a very beautiful song from just the music and Taylor’s voice.
I Know Places:
The beginning of the song started off fantastic with a powerful push, and then the chorus came. I was so disappointed. The words being drawn out in the chorus and how it slows down and loses power in the words just muddles the chorus and brings down the quality of the song as a whole.
Clean:
It was too slow at the start and the line in the beginning “You’re still all over me like a wine stained dress I can’t wear anymore” was a simile that made no sense. The song was too slow and the lyrics didn’t come across well with any meaning.
I would say this album is alright, just don’t buy the CD. Buy the individual songs on iTunes, because only four of the songs are really worth the money and that’s Shake It Off, Blank Space, Out Of The Woods, and Wildest Dreams.
3/5 Stars.
