By Emily Ducker
1989 is the fifth studio album by Taylor Swift, and was released October 27, 2014 by Big Machine Records.
Track 1 – “Welcome To New York”
While this song is insanely catchy, it’s also pretty cheesy, especially when Swift sings about how she “wouldn’t change anything, anything, anything” about the city. The song isn’t terrible, but if I were Swift I would not have picked it to start the album. Luckily, it gets better from here.
Track 2 – “Blank Space”
This song is good. That’s all there is to it. It’s clever, it’s catchy, and it’s fun. It’s a good, wholesome, pop song, which is exactly what Swift wanted this album to be. The most genius part of this song is definitely the pen click between “I’ve got a blank space, baby” and “and I’ll write your name”.
Track 3 – “Style”
This song is an extremely thinly-veiled love letter to Harry Styles of One Direction. It almost hurts how obvious it is. Nonetheless, it’s a fun song. The music builds really well and the lyrics are easy to remember. Again, it’s exactly that it’s designed to be: the perfect pop song.
Track 4 – “Out of the Woods”
I can’t stand this song because of how insanely repetitive the chorus is. “Are we out of the woods yet/ Are we out of the woods yet/ Are we out of the woods yet/ Are we out of the woods” is about as complex as it gets. The one redeeming part is the final bridge, when Swift sings about a car accident and a trip to the hospital. This part is different from the rest of the song and is somewhat promising, but the rest of the song really falls flat.
Track 5 – “All You Had To Do Was Stay”
This song is fun, upbeat and catchy, which seems to be what Swift does best. Swift’s talk/shout of “all you had to do was stay” is empowering and just sassy enough. It doesn’t have a ton of lyrical gems, but “All You Had To Do Was Stay” is the perfect song for jamming out to at the top of your lungs.
Track 6 – “Shake It Off”
On this song, Swift takes her best shot at a spoken-word interlude and doesn’t fall flat. Her catchy chant about her “ex-man and his new girlfriend” is funny and fun. The best part about this song is that you can tell from it that Swift doesn’t take herself too seriously, which is entirely too uncommon in today’s mega pop stars.
Track 7 – “I Wish You Would”
Swift seems to have a problem on this album of trying so hard to make catchy songs that they all come out a bit repetitive, and this one is definitely no exception. It’s not a bad song, but there’s nothing about it that really stood out to me.
Track 8 – “Bad Blood”
I didn’t like the album version of this song until I heard the single version featuring Kendrick Lamar. This song is a refreshing change however, because its about a friendship gone wrong rather than a romantic relationship, which tends to be all Swift sings about. This song isn’t bad, but it isn’t great. It’s just kind of there.
Track 9 – “Wildest Dreams”
This song is tied for my favorite on the album. It’s just slow enough to be enticing and the instrumental track is beautiful. The lyrics could use a bit more complexity, but over all it’s one of the best on the album.
Track 10 – “How You Get The Girl”
The chorus of this song is extremely fun to sing along to, but that’s about all the track has to offer. It’s quintessential bubblegum pop, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there’s not much to talk about in terms of musicality and finesse.
Track 11 – “This Love”
This song is too slow and simple for its own good. Quite frankly, it’s boring. I wouldn’t be surprised if many people didn’t listen to this track all the way through. It’s unremarkable and unmemorable.
Track 12 – “I Know Places”
This is my other favorite song on the album. It’s a song about a relationship that gets taken down from the outside, because of public opinion and influence. I absolutely love the simplicity of the metaphor in the pre-chorus: “they got their cages, they got their boxes/ and guns/ they are the hunters, we are the foxes/ and we run”. This song is one of the more sophisticated on the album, but its still very fun. That’s one thing that Swift never seems to have a problem achieving.
Track 13 – “Clean”
This song frustrates me endlessly because I just can’t condone the idea of comparing getting over a relationship to overcoming a drug addiction. There’s not much more too it. It could be a good song if it wasn’t so completely melodramatic.
Overall Rating: 3/5
Stand-outs: “I Know Places” and “Wildest Dreams”
Skip these tracks: “Clean”, “This Love” and “Bad Blood”
Buy the album here.
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