Taylor Swift has done it again. Her newest album, “1989,” released Monday became an instant sensation. The album is on track to have a million sales in its first week, making Swift the first artist to have three albums to sell a million copies within the album’s first week.
“1989” features 13 upbeat tracks, and the physical copies come with several Polaroids of Swift.
Swift’s transition from country to pop is finally complete with “1989.” After four albums of different styles and sounds, “1989” is the album that features the best of Swift. She has found her niche, and the fun, sugary songs featured in “1989” show a confident and capable Swift.
“1989’s” clean, powerful and simply catchy tunes will have people singing all day will be songs that stand the test of time.
The album opens with “Welcome to New York.” The song further illustrates Swift’s move from Nashville and country music to her present state in New York and pop music. Though this type of song has been done plenty of times, Swift’s version is light and dazzling, making for a great lead-in song for the rest of the album’s happy theme.
The second song, “Blank Space,” illustrates Swift’s attempt to make fun of her reputation for dating multiple guys, and she shrugs off the negativity surrounding her by creating a hit song.
“Style” is about Swift’s relationship with Harry Styles. This song is already a favorite among many listeners, and Lorde tweeted about the song, “I first heard ‘Style’ driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, and it was so EVERYTHING I chair-danced so hard you have no idea.”
Swift does not criticize Styles or the relationship; rather, the song is just the captured feeling of freedom and the invincibility of youth.
“Wildest Dreams” has a sleepy, alluring sound as Swift croons, “he’s so bad, but he does it so well.” This song has the tone of a grown-up Swift without being overly sexualized.
“Bad Blood” refers to Swift and Katy Perry’s tense relationship. The song is brutally honest and powerful, and her lyric, “Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes/ You say sorry just for show/ If you live like that you live with ghosts,” is a pretty straight-forward slight. The song is akin to “Mean” and will resonate with many people.
Swift keeps to her traditions of using personal heartbreaks and struggles to influence her songs and albums, and the overall lively theme of the album relates back to her happiness and contentment in life right now.