“1989 Taylor’s Version,” the classic pop album by the world-famous singer, Taylor Swift, was rereleased on Friday, Oct. 27. The album was originally released in 2014, but now, almost ten years later, the singer is reintroducing it with five extra songs that have never been heard by fans.
Taylor’s Version is a phrase you might’ve heard if you’ve seen anything about Swift recently. But what does it mean? When Swift was 16, she signed to be a part of Big Machine Records. With this label, she released six original albums. Things went south in 2019 when the rights to her music were sold without her permission. She wasn’t aware of this until it was released to the news. Swift was heartbroken. The only way to gain back the rights to her music was to re-record these albums. Since 2021, Swift has worked on rereleasing this original music. So far, she has released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”, “Red (Taylor’s Version)”, “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and now “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
The album was Swift’s first pop album and was a major milestone in her career. The original album is considered the most awarded pop album of all time. On Oct. 27, Swift broke her own record for the most streamed album in a single day. The title was originally held by her album “Midnights” which was released in 2022.
Swift leads “1989” with “Welcome to New York,” an iconic pop hit that topped the charts both times it was released. She follows it with “Blank Space,” a song about the assumptions the media makes of her and the unfair stereotypes towards women about dating. The song originally went number one in 2014 and is expected to top the charts again. The third and fourth tracks are “Style” and “Out of the Woods,” two songs rumored to be about the singer’s relationship with fellow musician, Harry Styles. The fifth track, which is believed to be the most important and heartfelt on any of Swift’s albums, is “All You Had to Do Was Stay.” This song reveals the singer’s wishes for a relationship to last and her resentment towards her former partner for leaving her. Her sixth track “Shake It Off” spent nearly six months in the top ten of the Hot 100. It is expected to reach the same level of success.
Many fans have said that track seven, “I Wish You Would” sounds quite a bit different than the original. The bass is not as strong, but some fans like the cleaner, “more euphoric” sound. Track eight, “Bad Blood” was the fourth single on the original album. It reveals the problems Swift has had with friendships. Tracks nine through 12, “Wildest Dreams,” “How You Get the Girl,” “This Love,” and “I Know Places” talk about the experiences Swift has gone through in relationships, both good and bad. The final track on the original album, “Clean,” focuses on the feeling of freedom Swift felt after she found herself again after a bad breakup. It is considered a fan favorite.
There are three deluxe tracks on the album. The first “Wonderland” talks about her past relationship with Harry Styles. Taylor wrote “You Are In Love,” the 15th track, about her producer Jack Antonoff and his then-girlfriend Lena Dunham. She revealed that this relationship inspired her. The last track of the deluxe album, “New Romantics,” talks about something completely different from the rest of the album. It describes Swift’s friendships and the romanticization of living in New York City. The lyrics, “Oh baby, I could build a castle/Out of all the bricks they throw at me” refers to the hate Swift received from the media at this time and how she turned it into something positive.
The new songs on her re-recorded albums, called the “vault tracks” surpassed many fans’ expectations. The first, titled “Slut!”, is a slower, love song that leans into the hate Swift received in 2014. She had been branded as a “slut” by the media but embraces as long as she’s with “the one” in this song. “Say Don’t Go,” the next vault track, is described as a “heartfelt narrative of heartbreak and longing.” It is similar to track five “All You Had To Do Was Stay.” Swift longs for this person to stay with her and if they were to tell her not to leave, she wouldn’t. “Now That We Don’t Talk,” the next track, talks about the feeling of freedom the protagonist feels after the ending of a relationship. She realizes the things in the relationship that she doesn’t have to pretend to like or do just for the sake of her partner. Track 20, “Suburban Legends,” describes the “magnetic attraction and the complexities of love.” The last song of the album, “Is It Over Now?” is by far the most popular vault track. It was allegedly written about the ending of Swift’s relationship with Harry Styles. Many fans have pieced together lyrics with paparazzi photos and lyrics from other songs by both Swift and Styles.
Overall, this new release of the “1989 Taylor’s Version” has been a smashing success, and it looks like it’s only going to get more popular.
