Taylor Swift’s 1989 in 2014

1989 was the year when Taylor Swift was born. She is now 25 years old. 1989 is also the title of her latest and first, all pop album. As she has done in the past, she tells stories in it, bits and pieces of her dreams and realizations about life, personal vignettes of how she came to be Taylor Swift. It is nothing profound or earthshaking but it sounds real. More than ever before Taylor’s music resounds with truth and we find ourselves in what she has to say. 

1989 is not the perfect album.  Taylor can be repetitive at times but it makes for a pleasant listen and she has a way with words that is endearing. It is obvious that at this point in her career that she is aiming more for cohesion rather than stand-out singles. This is the reason why the album comes across as initially unimpressive but grows on the listener with repeated plays. 

As always she is at her best with the lyrics as in these from Blank Space. “I’ll leave you breathless or with a nasty scar/ got a long list of ex-lovers/ they’ll tell you I’m insane/ but I’ve got a blank space baby/ I’ll write your name.” Or the simple but meaningful “Say you’ll remember me/ standing in a nice dress/ staring at the sunset, Babe/ Red lips and rosy cheeks/ say you’ll see me again/ even it it’s just in your wildest dreams” from Wildest Dreams.

The songs included are Welcome To New York, which sets the synth heavy music phase of the album; the hook-filled with amazing lyrics Blank Space;  Style, short, sweet and very stylish; Shake It Off the infectious and inspiring first single that took 1989 to new heights; the almost torchy Wildest Dreams; You Are In Love, the album’s intense romantic ballad; the danceable New Romantics, plus Out Of The Woods, All You Had To Do Was Stay, I Wish You Would, Bad Blood, How You Get The Girl, This Love, I Know Places, Wonderland and Clean.

Take note though that music is not all that 1989 has to offer. Taylor has created a delightful package filled with goodies that should satisfy her fans. If your budget can stand it, I say buy the Deluxe edition of the album. This costs P850 but it comes with three bonus tracks and that means 16 songs in an album.

Taylor has also included her songwriting voice memos, three studies about songs in progress, I Know Places, I Wish You Would and Blank Space.  This should give her followers an idea about how she works. And for the die-hard Taylor fan, there are 13 souvenir picture cards, shot and printed to look like polaroid shots from 1989 with notes in her handwriting. I will not say this is her best but she has truly made this album her most personal ever.

Now for that other 1989, the year when she was born. Twenty-five years after 1989, Taylor notched what is surely her most accomplished year so far. I believe that 2014 is the year when she came into her own as a matured young woman. Red and Speak Now, those albums she created only a few years ago now seem so nondescript in terms of what she has done. Taylor has transcended all that she began. Biggest proof is she was in fact, named Billboard Magazine’s Woman of the Year, one of the youngest music stars to be conferred the much-coveted industry honor. 

Then 1989 sold a record 1.287 million copies on its first week in the market last October. She also broke out of country music and emerged a full-blown pop star with the album.  Then would you believe that she bravely took on Spotify and withdrew her music from the site, a move that in a way brought spotlight to the battle for better contractual terms for music artists and deals for users with the streaming giant.

On the lighter side, Taylor was a glamorous presence in most industry events and a big seller on magazine covers. She was even in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show where she held her own alongside those towering models. She also made her mark in social media with a huge 15.8 million followers on Instagram. And wonder of wonders, she was not linked to any male celebrity by the tabloids all year. 

She has indeed grown up and she has done it remarkably well. Taylor is truly music’s Woman of the Year. I am now so excited to find out what she will do next.