1989 by Taylor Swift (2014-08-03)

Despite hearing the name, I've only recently become fully aware of Swift's music. I'm a rock guitarist of 30+ years. As a kid in the 80s I used to love pop, before moving on to rock and metal. After watching "Shake it Off" on Youtube I kind of dismissed it a little, and assumed that Swift was "manufactured" like many others. How utterly wrong I was. After going down a Youtube rabbit hole and exploring Swift's entire output the sheer talent of this girl/woman quickly became obvious. I now consider her to be one of the greatest pop song writers and performers of all time. Whilst many meanly attack her vocal technique (mainly in a live setting), I personally adore her voice, it has a crystal clear transparency, but with a punchy power in the lower part of her range. Her eagerness to whip out an acoustic guitar for a small crowd, or to a stadium of 75,000+, and to connect with the audience so powerfully is truly breath taking. Her authenticity as a performer is as good as I've ever seen, and rare amongst pop acts. As a song writer her sense of 'hook' melody and harmony is amazing. The album "1989" marked a full move away from country-pop-rock (and the amazing "Red" album) into full pop. Whilst inspired by the music of the 1980s (of which Swift is a fan) I wouldn't say it sounds particularly like 80s pop music. Yes, it does has the same kind of synth tones, but the songs/production are smoother and the sound quite "full" unlike the syncopated "space loaded" feel of actual 80s pop. As such "1989" almost has a unique timeless sound IMO, and I believe it will stand the test of time very well, and not date quickly like a lot of 80s music has. The most famous track "Shake It Off" (with just a drum, bass and saxophone) is actually very atypical of the rest of the tracks on the album which are mostly entirely synth loaded. The quality of the songs on 1989 is outstanding, every single track is wonderful. Taylor wrote the majority of the tracks on acoustic guitar or piano, before producers Max Martin etc. converted them into pop productions. On the Deluxe CD version, you can hear her play the demo version of the mega hit Blank Space (that she'd written on acoustic guitar) to the producers. Some people meanly claim the producers wrote the songs on 1989 and/or were solely responsible for its success. This is clearly nonsense, in fact I would say that ANY decent pop producer could make smash hits from Taylor's song ideas. Make no mistake, (bar a couple of tracks like I Wish You Would and Out of The Woods) the musical core of the songs is all her. Only the very, very best albums reach the heights of "1989". I never quite expected this, but Swift has moved me more than any musicians since Queen who I listened to for the first time as a kid in the 1980s, she's that good. Her music makes me feel like that kid again. She's now an icon, and graced a cover of Rolling Stone magazine with Paul McCartney, and rightfully so.

Taylor Swift- country star, superstar, now pop star. No matter what, she always delivers a solid album and this just show cases everything she has learnt from 8 years of her career. Do not judge this one on Shake It Off, not only is that song by far the weakest on the album, but does not tie in with the sound of the album.I will do a track-by-track review:Welcome to New York- Polished, 80's pop is the best way to describe this one.Blank Space- a funny number that makes fun of the way she is portrayed in the media. Catchy and sugary.Style- Slick, throwback and indulgent (in a good way) are some words that come to mind when you hear this. To me, reminiscent of the late 70s/ early 80s.Out of the Woods- This track tells a story through both the lyrics and the music, portraying a frantic, anxiety-driven relationship.All You Had To Do Was Stay- If there is any song that would make you want to dance and cry at the same time, it would be this.Shake It Off- I'm going to assume you know this one.I Wish You Would- Catchy in an un-obvious way. Synth-guitar driven pop at it's finest. This song shows you do not need to compromise good lyrics to make pop music.Bad Blood- Not a favourite. The most angry on the album, while the lyrics in the chorus lack, the lyrics in the verses are better.Wildest Dreams- One of the most beautiful songs I have heard in my life.Taylor sings this with a Stevie Nicks type drawl. Brings to mind a 70s California. Lyrics are beautiful, vocals are euphoric and the music is tragically gorgeous.How You Get the Girl- A fun song, pop at it's best. Gives me a 70s disco feel during the pre-chorus.This Love- Soulful, beautiful, melancholic. Surprisingly the only song on the album written entirely by Swift. Echoing vocals and guitars. Brings to mind a flickering lantern. "This love is alive, back from the dead"I Know Places- Dark, catchy and frantic best describe this song. Brilliantly produced and written. "They are the hunters, we are the foxes and we run"Clean- A euphoric, rainy song. About overcoming the addiction of a relationship, although Swift soon realised that this can also apply many other kinds of addictions. "When I was drowning that when I could finally breathe"I fully recommend this album to anyone. Beautiful.

I have been a huge supporter and fan of Taylor Swift since around 2009-2010 to the present day. She's always made me think twice about everything from the way she lyrically told me stories about her life and relationships. I've always admired her strength and beauty but after 1989 everything I felt and thought about Taylor just DOUBLED. 1989 has to be her best album yet! It has the catchiest lyrics, danceable background music and a beat that keeps your head bobbing throughout the whole 1hr 5mins and 18secs! Each song tells a different story but somehow they all seem to link in a way that she has never done on her past albums.However much I love her debut album self-titled, Fearless, Speak Now and Red, 1989 just blew me away. I couldn't stop listening to it when I first got it and the added 13 polaroids' made me love it even more!My favourite songs off the album are: Style, I Wish You Would, Bad Blood, Wildest Dreams, This Love, I Know Places, Wonderland, You Are In Love and New Romantics. I do love each song on the album for its own reason but those listed songs bring a different side of me out.I would definitely recommend this album to anybody who loves the Popular Music genre, fans of Taylor Swift, people with an interest to synth and computer-generalised music and anybody with any sense of REAL MUSIC. I recommended this to my best friend who bought the album off i-tunes and she is in love with it almost as much as I am and she isn't even a fan of Taylor Swift. I think that goes to show how amazing it truly is.Thank you Taylor for bringing such a beauty into my life<3