Taylor Swift’s 1989 is arguably the most impactful pop album of the 21st century. With hits like “Shake it Off,” “Style,” and “Blank Space,” it’s hard for somebody to be oblivious towards this album. In 2014, 1989 was released, indicating that Swift had officially shifted from her original country roots into a glamorous popstar. 1989 is one of Swift’s most successful albums, selling 12.3 million units and winning Album of the Year at the 58th annual Grammy Awards. This era of her life was very successful, but also led to a career low when an old feud with Kanye West resparkedt. West wanted to call Swift a derogatory term in his song “Famous”. Kim Kardasian, his ex-wife, recorded a phone call without Taylor’s permission and it was edited to seem like Swift allowed Kanye to use her name in the song. Even though it has been proven that Swift was telling the truth about the video being edited, people still called her a “snake”.
After Reputation released in 2017, Swift’s life seemed to be dream worthy, but it was a different story behind closed doors.. Scooter Braun, known for managing artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, bought the masters from Swift’s old record label, Big Machine Records, and was unaware that her masters were bought until it was announced to the public. Kelly Clarkston, praised for her pop hits like “Since U Been Gone” and “Stronger”, suggested to Swift through X ( formerly Twitter) that she should re-record her old albums so she could earn money back on the albums that she worked hard for.
So Swift did just that. She has re-recorded her albums Fearless, Red, and Speak Now, adding “Taylor’s Version” to the end of every title. She announced on tour that she would release 1989 (Taylor’s Version) on Oct. 27.
1989’s re-recordings are one of the better re-recording Swift’s done. However, songs like “Style”, “Shake It Off”, and “How You Get the Girl” could be confused withKidz Bop. The rest were arguably better than the original. Songs that have improved and matured include “Out of the Woods”, “Wildest Dreams”, “This Love”, “Clean”, and “You Are in Love”. Swift released five songs, “From the Vault,” written for the original album but never released, including a re-recording of “Bad Blood” featuring Kendrick Lamar. The Vault songs were very catchy, but it felt like they belonged more on Midnights, a more electronic and dance based music theme,than 1989. Out of all the vault songs, Red (Taylor’s Version) had the better songs, but 1989 is a close second. This re-recording is very important to both Swift herself and her dedicated fans, deemed“Swifties”. The release has been anticipated since Taylor announced that she will be re-recording the albums. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) lives up to the anticipation of hearing the popular songs that all Swifties love in Swift’s mature voice and even getting new ones. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) deserves a ⅘ stars.
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