By now, many of you have been made aware of the latest entry
into the pop culture canon by Ms. Taylor Swift. It’s an album called 1989,
named after the year of her birth, and it contains thirteen songs (plus three
bonus tracks! Available at Target® now!). And it’s currently sweeping the
nation, sure to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts, as each of the last three
Swift albums have done.
You may also have been aware that the album is Swift’s first
“documented, official pop album,” a veering away from the country-influenced,
teardrops-on-my-guitar love songs that have made Swift famous and successful
for the past eight years. As many critics have written, the album is indeed
different, and yet, each song distinctly sounds like a Taylor Swift song (with
the exception of one, which I’ll get to later). It’s a confusing, uncharted
area for many of the millions who listen to Swift, either voluntarily or
forcibly. So I’ve decided to shake the dust off the blog to provide a
comprehensive guide to each of the songs, from the perspective of a Swiftian
superfan.
1. Welcome to New York
The album opens with Welcome to New York, a song that was
released last week as an album teaser. I had listened to this song about twenty
times before the album was even released, and I’m still not sure I even like
it. It’s a clear album-starter to get us warmed up to the synthy, electronic
sound, but it’s pretty overworked and the lyrics are somewhat elementary. But
it’s a pop song, and as pop songs do, it wiggles its way into your brain, and
after about five listens, the hook of “we can dance to this beat (beat),
/forevermore” is permanently lodged in there.
It’s also the song on 1989 that has brought Swift the most
criticism. If it were about the lackadaisical, forced catchiness, then I might
agree, but instead, critics have pointed to the unrealistic nature of Swift’s
lyrics. Taylor Swift, they argue, is not a true New Yorker. Taylor Swift does
not ride the subway. She does not get harassed by countless numbers of men on
her walk to work. She does not have to carry a couch three flights up the
stairs in a broken down apartment building in West Harlem, only to find that
there are bed bugs, and the last tenant’s condom wrappers strewn about the
dirt-streaked carpet. And they’re right. She does not have to do those things,
because Taylor Swift is rich and famous, and bought two penthouse apartments,
and did not have to carry her luggage because she was busy hanging out with
Lena Dunham.
But, I mean, come on. Do we criticize Beyonce for clearing
out the hordes of people at the Louvre in Paris so she could stand unobstructed
with Jay-Z for a picture in front of the Mona Lisa? No, because apparently,
that’s a normal, real way to experience that museum. Taylor Swift is a pop
singer, singing about her idea of New York, and the city as a metaphor for a
new type of sound she is going for in her music. New York is a representation
of the new, and the bold, and the different. It’s not meant to be anything else,
except for maybe the song played during New York Knicks montages on ESPN, or as
the introduction song for the next time the VMAs are held in Brooklyn.
The fact that I just wrote 500 words in defense of Welcome
to New York, an admittedly poor Swift song, makes me sad. Let’s move on.
2. Blank Space
Blank Space is the most mature song that Taylor Swift has
ever made. It’s also incredibly well-placed on the album, and one of the best,
sound-wise. “Got a long list of ex-lovers, / they’ll tell you I’m insane,”
Swift sings, directly addressing her status as pop culture’s most famous
ex-girlfriend. As Welcome to New York introduces the sound of the album, Blank
Space introduces the lyrical themes. Swift gives us a nod of understanding here
– she knows she’s famous in a major part due to her relationships with
celebrities. As tabloid-addicted Americans, we want to know everything about
these relationships. And Swift knows this. She wants us to be interested, and
ask questions. Why do these relationships always crash and burn? Why does
Taylor Swift always write songs about them?
Because writing songs about jilted love has always been what
Swift has done best. But here, she takes the blame away from her lover, and
allows us to take a look at a question long gone unanswered in the Swift canon:
How does she actually view herself in the context of these relationships? As “a
nightmare dressed as a daydream,” apparently.
3. Style
Style is one of the rare occasions where I enjoy the verses
more than the chorus. They’ve got a rhythmic build-up to them, instead of
staying on the same wavelength. It’s got a pretty good drum beat, which makes
it a decent walking song as well. The chorus doesn’t do it quite as much for
me, until the last minute, where Swift steps on the gas a bit more and brings
the song home.
I do appreciate the song’s lyrics, which discuss the seeming
honeymoon period of a relationship with a dude with “that James Dean look” in
his eyes. My detective skills tell me the song’s title is a hint to the mystery
man – One Direction’s Harry Styles, who we were already told back in 2012 was
“trouble when he walked in”. Honestly, the identity of the celebrity in [insert
Taylor Swift song here] doesn’t matter to me – it’s a famous, always has been,
probably always will be. The spark of meeting someone and spending a night with
them, though, is really well explained in this song, celebrity or not.
4. Out of the Woods
This song was produced and co-written by Fun. guitarist Jack
Antonoff, who is also the boyfriend of aforementioned Lena Dunham, one of Taylor
Swift’s best friends. The song, released a couple weeks ago, has also been the
most critically acclaimed of the album so far. I don’t really get that. It’s a
great song, with a fantastic production value and driving, powerful drums in
the background. Swift’s vocals, long her most criticized element as a
singer-songwriter, actually do the song wonders.
But for God’s sake, the repetition. Taylor, you’ve asked us
37 times if you’re out of the woods yet. I think you made it. I hope Harry
Styles doesn’t have a scar from the twenty stiches he got because he drove his
snowmobile erratically.
Actually, on second thought, putting this song on repeat has made it one of my favorites. Repeat away, Ms. Swift.
5. All You Had To Do Was Stay
This is my favorite song on the album. It’s pretty in line
with the Swift formula of lyrics, discussing a former lover trying to return to
the relationship. Taylor, though, is full of [insert celebrity here]’s crap,
and decides that keeping the relationship from starting again is the right move
to make.
But musically, it does everything a pop song should. Its
verses move quickly, and build up momentum to the chorus. The chorus is a
classic driving-with-the-windows-down powerhouse. The bridge slows the song
down slightly, and then we get the classic Taylor moment where the vocals go up
high and bring the song home. Nothing else to it, really, and nothing much else
to discuss. Fantastic song.
6. Shake It Off
Taylor Swift’s sorry-I’m-not-sorry moment.
The song is a testament to her staying power. So much
criticism, for her vocals, for her one-dimensional lyrics, for her status as a
lovelorn celebrity whose problems are not real/important. And instead of
dancing with molly, or shaving off her hair, or over-sexualizing herself,
Taylor Swift reminds us that she is rich, and famous, and that she can write a
song about dancing like a ridiculous person who has no idea what she’s doing,
and that song will get 800,000,000 hits on YouTube and she will go back to her
penthouse and watch Law and Order without even batting an eyelash.
I think Taylor Swift has excellent parents.
7. I Wish You Would
This song seems to be an antithesis of “All You Had To Do
Was Stay”. Taylor, do you want him to come back or not?
I don’t know, and it seems, neither does she.
(Taylor shrugs and wins another Grammy)
8. Bad Blood
Apparently, Katy Perry pissed off Taylor Swift, and Taylor
Swift responded with “Bad Blood”. I write this with a fair amount of anti-Katy
Perry bias. I don’t like any of her music. So good for Swift, I guess. But the
song could be about anybody, even [insert celebrity here]. We only know otherwise
because of a Rolling Stone interview.
But this song is awesome. Swift really stretches the vocals,
and the drumbeat is pounding, and the emotion is just so present. She goes up
high and destroys some of the notes on this song. Hopefully she can do it with
as much fervor in a live performance.
9. Wildest Dreams
This song was written and sung by Lana Del Rey and I refuse
to be told otherwise.
It’s fantastic though.
10. How You Get The Girl
I didn’t quite like this one at first. Its melody pretty
closely mimics All You Had To Do Was Stay, and while at first I found that to
be lazy, I quickly came to the conclusion that that melody is catchy and fun
and enjoyable to listen to.
The backbone of the song is a light, fruitful guitar riff,
which gives it a bit of a throwback feel to the Fearless album. Swift comes on
strong late with a couple of vocal change-ups that make it yet another
enjoyable driving song. It’s not the best on the album, but it’s not one to
skip.
11. This Love
The only truly boring song on the album, and the only one
that I’ve skipped regularly in my eleven (twelve? fifteen?) listens of the
album so far. It’s nicely written, and it deals with a lost relationship in a
sad manner rather than an angry one. Written singularly by Swift, it’s the de
facto love ballad of the album, a Swift trademark.
One of my favorite Swift songs, and arguably one of her
best, is All Too Well, an emotional and powerful song that’s anchored, instead
of hindered, by her vocals. That song works because it builds up the emotion of
the lyrics into a fantastic crescendo at the end of the song. With This Love,
I’m waiting for that moment to come, where Swift drives the song home, but it
never does. She steps on the brakes, and the song stays slow throughout. It’s a
bummer.
12. I Know Places
A Lorde-ian sound accompanies I Know Places, a song about
evading the paparazzi that is sure to shock suburban parents with the word
“damn”. It’s unique, for sure, but that’s about all there is to it. The verses
need saving, which the chorus does for it, maybe. I don’t think there’s quite
enough emotion in it to make it great. So it’s a listenable song, but far from
my favorite.
13. Clean
Imogen Heap provides some backing vocals and a hefty amount
of influence on the album’s closer. There’s a nice, soothing xylophone in the
background, which I guess is the point, because the song is about the morning
when Taylor sees [insert celebrity here] isn’t there, but that’s okay, because
she’s finally clean and can move on from the relationship, and presumably, her
status. It’s a good note to end on, lyrically. So I appreciate the song.
Musically, it could be doing more, but Swift has never been one to end an album
with a cannonball, so I give her a pass here.
An afterword:
If it seems the song reviews became a bit scant towards the
end, that’s purposeful – 1989 is decidedly front-loaded, with all of the best
songs in the first eight tracks of the album. But it’s listenable and enjoyable
from the first to the last track, which is all I was hoping for. Thematically,
I appreciate the moves Swift makes – these relationship songs really aren’t
like her older ones. Even in naming a song “Style”, she’s much less direct,
speaking about relationships in a more profound, pluralistic manner. When the
lyrics lose some of their bite, they’re backed up by the sound, and the
production, and, in many cases, the vocals.
By now, I’ve written two thousand words on thirteen songs,
almost all of which I enjoy. I’ve listened the album in the teens of times. And
obviously, I’m a 21 year old male, a senior in college. I’m not the target
audience for 1989. I’m not supposed to be a Taylor Swift fan (even if I was,
not nearly to the level that I am), and it’s an oddity about me that I accepted
long ago.
But it’s not just about the music, because I don’t even like
a bunch of Taylor Swift songs. It’s about a deep respect for how she deals with
herself as a cultural figure. Who else gets so much attention for being
“one-dimensional”? For writing love song after love song, for having mediocre
vocals? I don’t think any other pop musician does. But Swift takes that
attention and turns it back against the critics in such a singular manner. She
admits she’s “a nightmare dressed as a daydream,” laughs about it, and shakes
it off. No over-sexualization. No elopement with backup dancers. Just an admission
and a laugh. She’s got nothing to prove other than that. And I respect the hell
out of Taylor Swift for it.
