When pop sensation Taylor Swift originally released 1989 in 2014, it took the world by storm.
Nine years later and we finally have the long awaited 1989 (Taylor’s Version), with five new songs from the vault. Here’s a revisit into an album of pure pop perfection.
When you originally think of the album you probably think of smashing white cakes with knives, dropping phones in pools, Swift in a cheer costume singing about her ex man bringing his new girlfriend and Zendaya kicking a hole through a window.
But the album goes much deeper than the original 2014 music videos.
The song Clean is a firm favourite amongst Swifties, is about realising your completely over someone, with many relating it to personal events or people.
The heart-breaking line of “You’re still all over me / like a wine stained dress I can’t wear anymore” is countered later with “Ten months sober / I must admit / just because your clean, don’t mean you don’t miss it”.
The realisation of moving on is a prominent theme, also exhibited in the single Out of the Woods.
The album focuses on the idea of moving on, becoming someone new and escaping the woods you were previously stuck in.
While the vault track has the synthetic sound of the Midnights era, they were clearly written at the same time as the original songs, with Swifts’ naivety shining through in majority of the lyrics.
The vault songs are yet another credit in Swift’s never-ending list of talent.
The most anticipated vault track Slut! tells a harrowing story of accepting being sexualised and objectified for someone’s love – even if they wouldn’t do the same for you: “If they call me a slut / You know it might be worth it for once / I’ll pay the price, you won’t.”
Is It Over Now? is rumoured to be about Harry Styles, who Swift dated back in 2012/2013 in a short lived whirlwind romance.
The line of “When you lost control / Red blood, white snow” seems to be referring to the snowmobile accident also mentioned in another 1989 track, Out Of The Woods.
However the song brings things to light about their relationship that were not previously known with the line “You dream of my mouth before it called you ‘a lying traitor’ / You search in every model’s bed for something greater, baby.”
Seems all wasn’t as wonderful as it seemed to be between the pop sensations.
Other vault tracks include Say Don’t Go, Suburban Legends and Now That We Don’t Talk.
1989 (Taylors Version) is once again a masterclass in creative song writing, a showcase of Swift’s vocal maturity in the past nine years and as always puts a new spin on stories we’ve heard time and time again.
The rerecording and vault tracks are projected to be her biggest yet, if the steady climb in charts from the previous rerecordings is any indication.
Feature Image Credit: Taylor Swift
A first year student studying Journalism and English, with a love for all things music
