1989 is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 27, 2014, by Big Machine Records. Titled after Swift's birth year as a symbolic rebirth, the album recalibrated her artistic identity from country music to pop.
1989 was promoted with the 1989 World Tour, the highest-grossing concert tour of 2015. Seven singles supported the album, including the Billboard Hot 100 number-ones "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood", and the top-ten entries "Style" and "Wildest Dreams". In the United States, 1989 spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and was certified nine-times platinum. The album has sold 14million copies worldwide and received platinum certifications in countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia–Pacific. Swift and Big Machine withheld the album from free streaming services for nearly three years, which prompted an industry discourse on the impact of streaming on record sales.
Taylor Swift had identified as a country musician up until her fourth studio album, Red, released on October 22, 2012.[1] Promoted by Big Machine Records to country radio and awards shows,[2]Red incorporates pop and rock styles in addition to the country pop sound that had characterized her discography, leading to many critics regarding it as a pop or rock album as much as a country one.[3][4][5] Its two most commercially successful singles—"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble"[6]—are pop songs with electronic productions that solidified Swift's popularity in mainstream pop music.[7][8] The media questioned her status as a country artist, to which she responded in a 2013 interview in The Wall Street Journal that it was not her concern to label herself with a specific genre.[9]
Swift's rising fame was accompanied by media scrutiny on her love life.[10] Her relationship with the English singer Harry Styles that lasted for several months in 2013 received extensive tabloid coverage.[11] This and multiple previous short-lived romances blemished her "America's Sweetheart" image: they overshadowed Swift's artistic considerations and turned her into a target of slut-shaming.[12][13] In March 2014, she relocated from Nashville, Tennessee to New York City.[14] To reclaim narrative on her public image, Swift stayed single and went out in public with her female celebrity friends in a New York street style: bob cut, midriff-showing high-cut outfits, miniskirts, and high heels.[15][14] The geographical pivot, media scrutiny, and single status informed the songwriting for her next album.[16][17]
Concept and development
Swift began writing her fifth studio album in mid-2013 while on the Red Tour.[18] According to her, Red was an album where she pursued both pop and country, and she wanted its follow-up album to be both "sonically cohesive" and "blatant pop", believing that "if you chase two rabbits, you lose them both".[19][20] She considered Red's single "I Knew You Were Trouble", which spent seven weeks atop the Pop Songs chart, her "signal flare" to do so.[8][9]
To realize her vision, Swift took inspirations from the experimental nature of synth-pop from the 1980s decade, when musicians abandoned the once-popular drums and guitar instrumentation for synthesizers, drum pads, and manipulated vocals.[20][21]Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel were formative influences: Swift was inspired by the former's "intense" ways of conveying thoughts and emotions and the latter's atmospheric synth-pop sounds.[22] Naming her fifth studio album 1989 after her birth year, she both referenced the influence of 1980s synth-pop and signified a symbolic artistic rebirth.[20][23]
Swift enlisted Max Martin and Shellback, who had produced "I Knew You Were Trouble", as key collaborators,[8] crediting the former as co-executive producer for helping her create a coherent album and providing uncredited production credits on several tracks.[6] Martin and Shellback produced seven tracks for 1989's standard edition and two additional tracks for its deluxe edition.[24]Ryan Tedder, contacted by Swift via an iPhonevoice memo,[25] co-wrote and co-produced "Welcome to New York" and "I Know Places".[24] He used a Juno-106 synthesizer to create four demos for the former, and Swift chose the first demo and reworked on it as the final version.[26] For the latter, Swift played what she had written on piano and elaborated to Tedder the specific melody she wanted, and the two finished recording the track after one day.[27]
Jack Antonoff, who shared mutual interests in 1980s music,[6] had worked with Swift on her new wave-influenced single "Sweeter than Fiction" (2013).[28] His productions on two tracks for the standard edition and one for the deluxe edition[20] are characterized by the Juno-6 synthesizer, which he thought to have both "a sadness" and "a glory".[29] "Out of the Woods" and "I Wish You Would" started as instrumental tracks.[30] Antonoff built the former on the Yamaha DX7 and Minimoog Voyager synthesizers and sent the track to Swift while she was on a plane, and she wrote the melody and lyrics based on it;[31] the whole process took 30 minutes.[19] The latter began as Antonoff's sampling of the snare drums on Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" (1988). He played the track to Swift on his iPhone and sent it to her to re-record,[21] and the final track is a remix that retains the snare drum sounds.[32]
Swift approached Imogen Heap to collaborate on "Clean". Swift had written the lyrics and melody, and Heap helped complete the track with her instruments and backing vocals. The recording completed after two takes in one day at Heap's Hideaway Studio in London.[20][33]Nathan Chapman, who had produced Swift's country pop albums, co-produced "This Love",[34] which is the only 1989 song that Swift wrote by herself.[24] The standard edition contains 13 tracks, and the deluxe edition features three bonus songs.[35] Recorded at studios in Sweden, the United States, and the United Kingdom, 1989 was mastered by Tom Coyne in two days at Sterling Sound Studio in New York City.[20][24] The album finalized after the conclusion of the Red Tour in mid-2014.[36] After listening to the album, Big Machine's president Scott Borchetta asked Swift if she could include several country tracks with instruments such as fiddle, but she rejected his request.[6] Borchetta agreed with her to not promote the album to country radio, which had been formative in driving Swift's career.[37][38]
"Welcome to New York" exemplifies 1989's sound: its 1980s-inspired synth-pop production incorporates pulsing synthesizers, programmed beats, and multitracked vocals.
A homage to 1980s pop music,[39][40]1989 is a synth-pop album whose electronic arrangements incorporate synthesizers, programmeddrum machines, and pulsating basslines, abandoning the acoustic textures that had defined Swift's past albums.[41][42] The songs are characterized by mid-tempo rhythms and memorable melodies, hooks, and refrains,[43][44] constituting a consistent palette[4] that stays faithful to 1980s synth-pop without overt influences of contemporary, popular hip-hop or R&B.[34][39][43] Several reviews opined that the album also incorporates 1980s styles of rock,[43] namely pop rock,[44]synth-rock,[45] and new wave.[46] In this regard, critics generally considered the music of 1989 old-fashioned and retro.[a]Carl Wilson, in his review for Slate, disagreed and argued that while Swift's 1980s framing of the album establishes the overall aesthetic, its musical influences can be traced back to the 1970s, 1990s, or 2000s decades.[23]
Swift's vocals on 1989, mostly sung in her alto range,[43] are electronically processed, an effect that she first used on Red's pop singles.[45] Manipulated with multitracking, synthesizer tweaking, and looping,[45] her vocals are blended with the electronic instrumentation to create a unified texture, particularly in "Welcome to New York", "Out of the Woods", and "Bad Blood".[61] The musicologist James E. Perone wrote that the vocal processing evokes 1980s pop sounds as much as it does 21st century Auto-Tune effects, creating a retro but also contemporary listening experience.[62] For Wilson and NPR's Ann Powers, this synthetic rendering is a stark contrast to the naturalistic vocals of country music, but it helps Swift expand her emotional delivery through her versatile timbre and varied expressions.[23][45]
Lyrics and themes
In the past, I've written mostly about heartbreak or pain that was caused by someone else and felt by me. On this album, I'm writing about [...] looking back on a relationship and feeling a sense of pride even though it didn't work out, reminiscing on something that ended but you still feel good about it, falling in love with a city, falling in love with a feeling rather than a person. And I think there's actually sort of a realism to my new approach to relationships, which is a little more fatalistic than anything I used to think about them.
1989 is primarily about lost love, a theme that had been familiar in Swift's songs,[41][64] but it depicts her different mindset on it.[63] While her past albums situate her narrators as victims of ill-fated romance with vindictive and antagonistic attitudes, 1989 explores failed relationships through wistful and nostalgic perspectives.[19][65] Inspired by her disenchantment with a "happily ever after" romance, she became aware of the "gray areas" of real-life situations and realized she could feel content with a failed relationship.[63] According to Swift, the 1989 songs altogether constitute a story line;[63] its liner notes include 13 one-sentence "secret messages" for the songs, and they collectively narrate a past love that leaves Swift's narrator going through heartbreak, recovery, and self-discovery.[66][b]Molly Lambert, in her review for Grantland, opined that the central narrative revolves around a strong yet fragile sexual and intimate connection, with murky distinctions between love and lust.[43]
Expanding on Swift's autobiographical songwriting, the lyrics of 1989 were influenced by and contain references to her personal life.[50] They address romantic regrets caused by bad decisions and irreversible pain, but Swift's narrator remains empowered and unwaveringly hopeful that things will work in her favor.[68] Several reviewers opined that the songs showcased her jaded outlook on romance after the dramatic heartbreaks depicted in past albums,[19][34][69] with Swift saying that she became more pragmatic.[22] Sex and intimacy, which she had explored obliquely on Red, are more explicitly depicted here, particularly on "Style" and "Wildest Dreams".[43][69] "Blank Space", "Style", "Shake It Off", and "All You Had to Do Was Stay" showcase self-assurance and self-awareness, while "I Wish You Would" and "How You Get the Girl" demonstrate her starry-eyed visions of a lasting romance.[34][69] For Lambert, 1989 depicts a transformation in Swift's persona, "between her fairy-tale idealizations of love and her recently acquired cynicism".[43]
Although Swift's lyrics retain the storytelling aspect that had been nurtured by her country music background,[70] they show a strong influence of pop music songwriting: they are less detailed and more ambiguous, and contain more repetitions of the track titles to create memorable hooks.[71] Perone argued that the lyrics were less directly biographical and more metaphorical, allowing for wider interpretations.[50] According to the musicologist Nate Sloan, 1989 abandons the "Time-Shift paradigm" that had informed Swift's previous works. While her country songs tell stories with their verses detailing the different stages and final refrains detailing the resolutions, the 1989 songs have all of their refrains repeating the same phrases and use a "frozen-in-time song structure", symbolizing an emotional intensity lingering in the present without any progress or conclusion.[72]
Songs
"Welcome to New York" is about forgetting past heartbreaks to reinvent oneself while enjoying the bright lights and new sounds of New York City;[52][73] its synth-pop production incorporates pulsing synthesizers and programmed drum machines that create clapping-like rhythms.[73] In "Blank Space", Swift satirizes her public image as a woman having multiple romantic attachments but failing to maintain any lasting relationship: the narrator is a seductive but emotionally unstable woman whose romantic flings end up in disasters.[74] With a minimalist electropop sound, it features Swift speak-singing the verses and using her upper register in the refrains.[75] "Style" is about an on-again, off-again relationship that the narrator cannot escape because she and her lover are "never out of style" akin to timeless fashion staples.[54] Built on an electric guitar riff, "Style" evokes influences of both 1980s and contemporary styles, namely synth-pop, new wave, and outrun.[43][62]
"Out of the Woods" details a fragile relationship that instills great anxiety; its bridge depicts a snowmobile accident as a metaphor for how the relationship ended: the ex-boyfriend hit the brakes and injured himself, leading to a hospital visit that required twenty stitches. Its insistent production is driven by loud, echoing drums, multitracked vocals, and undulating synthesizers that build up towards the conclusion.[40][76] In "All You Had to Do Was Stay", inspired by Swift's dream that she shouted "stay" multiple times to an ex-boyfriend,[77] her narrator determines to move on from a past relationship despite the ex-boyfriend wanting to reconcile with her, although she admits feelings of hurt, grief, and longing.[78] The vocal hook includes repetitions of the word "stay" sung in Swift's high-pitched vocals.[45][78] "Shake It Off" is about Swift's indifference to her detractors and their negative remarks,[63] and its beat is driven by stomping sounds that Martin and Shellback created by banging their feet on a wooden floor.[79]
In "I Wish You Would", Swift's narrator pines for an ex-boyfriend, hoping he knows that she would never forget him.[80] The track incorporates an electric guitar riff, and its refrains include erupting synthesizers, snare drums, and layered vocals.[52][57] "Bad Blood", with lyrics about a fallen friendship, was inspired by a fellow female musician who made Swift feel betrayed.[19] Its hip-hop-influenced production features cheerleading-like chanting rhythms and booming drums.[81] "Wildest Dreams" describes a powerful romantic and sexual connection that Swift's narrator knows will ultimately end; she pleads with her lover to remember her and their fond memories while it lasts.[22] Its atmospheric synth-pop production incorporates a heartbeat-like rhythm, thick, insistent synthesizers and strings.[20][82] Described by Swift as a "tutorial" for men who want to rekindle broken relationships, "How You Get the Girl" sees her narrator instructing an ex-boyfriend with how to win her heart back[83] over acoustic guitar strums and beatboxing rhythms.[84]
"This Love", a pensive ballad that started as a poem in Swift's journal,[85] is about her letting go of a relationship that no longer served her, knowing that the timing was not right;[86] it uses ocean imagery to describe a love affair that comes back and disappears like waves,[32] and her vocals are multitracked to create a haunting atmosphere.[86] In "I Know Places", which is instrumented by sparse piano, stuttering vocals, and drum-and-bass beats, the narrator vows to protect a fragile love, comparing herself and her partner to animals being hunted down.[60] Swift was inspired to write the standard album's closing track "Clean" after spending two weeks in London and realizing that she no longer missed an ex-boyfriend who lived there.[33] With a sparse, minimalist arrangement, the track details the narrator's journey towards recovery after a heartbreak: she compares getting over a broken relationship to an addiction that leaves her in deep pain, to the point that healing makes little sense,[58] and after a destructive yet transformative torrential storm, the narrator becomes "finally clean".[87]
The three bonus songs for 1989's deluxe edition have varied themes. "Wonderland" references Lewis Carroll's fantasy book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) to describe a dangerous, intense, and alluring romantic relationship that leaves the narrator falling "down the rabbit hole". While the couple fantasizes about staying in their "Wonderland" forever, this relationship's ending is foreshadowed by their curiosity and others' scrutiny on them.[88] The aggressive bass drum instrumentation of "Wonderland" evokes hip-hop and alternative rock.[89] Inspired by Antonoff and Lena Dunham's relationship, the ballad "You Are in Love" recounts the ups and downs of a stable relationship through mundane daily activities over a soft electropop production.[90] "New Romantics", whose title references the New Romantic cultural movement of the 1970s and 1980s decades,[32] finds Swift's narrator reclaiming her broken heart and celebrating the pain that she has endured[28] with a euphoric new wave, synth-pop, and indie electronic sound.[91][92]
Artwork and packaging
Swift served as the creative director for 1989's packaging, which includes photographs taken with a Polaroidinstant film camera, a photographic method popular in the 1980s decade.[93] The photographic duo Lowfield shot over 400 Polaroid photographs, and they digitally mixed them to mimic those found in an old album.[93] The cover is a portrait of Swift's face cut off at the eyes, which she thought to evoke a mysterious atmosphere that concealed "the emotional DNA of the album" because she did not want the audience to immediately identify whether 1989 was a "happy" or a "breakup" record.[94] In the cover, she wears red lipstick and a lavender sweatshirt embroidered with flying seagulls.[95][96] Her initials are written with black marker on the bottom left, and the title 1989 on the bottom right.[97][98]Billboard in 2023 included the 1989 cover at number 50 in their list "100 Best Album Covers of All Time", deeming it one of Swift's most identifiable works.[99]
Each CD copy of 1989 includes a packet, one of five available sets, of 13 random Polaroid photos, made up from 65 different photos.[100] The pictures portray Swift in different settings such as backdrops of New York City and recording sessions with the producers.[101] The photos are out-of-focus, off-framed, with a sepia-tinged treatment, and feature the 1989 songs' lyrics written with black marker on the bottom.[97] Perone thought that this photo package appeared as though it were Swift's personal gift to album buyers.[102] Polaroid's chief executive Scott Hardy reported that 1989 propelled a revival in instant film, especially among the hipster subculture who valued the "nostalgia and retro element of what [their] company stands for".[103]
Release
Marketing
Swift marketed 1989 as her first "official pop" album[104] and, with her label Big Machine, implemented an extensive promotional campaign through product endorsements, media appearances, and fan engagements.[105] Swift announced 1989 via a Yahoolive streaming sponsored by ABC News on August 18, 2014.[106] She frequently posted on social media platforms to engage fans; based on their interactions with her posts, she selected the most engaged ones and invited them to "1989 Secret Sessions" album listening parties prior to its release.[107] These listening sessions were also attended by journalists and critics selected by Swift, and they were held at her properties in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville, Rhode Island, and London throughout September–October 2014.[108]
Throughout 2014–2015, 1989 was supported by four further singles, with two reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100—"Blank Space" and "Bad Blood", and two peaking in the top 10—"Style" and "Wildest Dreams".[115] The single release of "Bad Blood" was supported by a remix featuring Kendrick Lamar.[116] "Out of the Woods" and "New Romantics" were released as the two last singles in 2016.[117] All singles were accompanied by music videos that featured Swift's new persona and styles: whereas the videos for her country singles had incorporated linear narratives and everyday fashion, those for the 1989 singles featured fragmented storylines and elaborate mise-en-scène that evoke fantasy-like environments, Hollywood cinema productions, and lavish lifestyles.[118]
There have been commentary on the effects of 1989's marketing. The popular culture academic Keith Nainby argued that the music videos created Swift's "pop" and "rarefied" persona that contrasted with the earnest, everyday, down-to-earth personae in her country music videos.[118] Maryn Wilkinson, a scholar in media studies, described Swift's 1989 persona as "zany": she deliberately showcased that her "pop" persona was a construct of hard work, implying that her "real" persona existed beneath her "pop" performances in videos and interviews. In doing so, Swift reminded her audience that she still retained her authentic self from her country beginnings.[119] Wilkinson considered Swift's "zany" persona a means for her to both abandon country for pop, and retain fans from her country days,[120] while Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times thought that she did so via the intimate bonds with fans thanks to her social media usage and the "Secret Sessions".[107]
Distribution and streaming
Big Machine Records released 1989 on October 27, 2014;[100] the digital album was available for a discounted price via a Microsoft partnership.[121] Big Machine released the deluxe edition on CD exclusively via Target stores in the United States.[105] This edition includes three voice memos recorded on Swift's phone, containing her discussions of the songwriting process and unfinished demos for three songs: "I Know Places" (piano/vocal), "I Wish You Would" (track/vocal), and "Blank Space" (guitar/vocal).[122] For Perone, these voice memos personalized 1989 by providing an insider's view of her creative process.[123] According to Myles McNutt, a scholar in communications and the arts, Swift used the voice memos to claim authorship of 1989, defying pop music's "gendered hierarchy" which had seen a dominance of male songwriters and producers. While McNutt considered Swift's approach feminist, he argued that it was promotional rather than activist, and thus its impact on the music industry at large was limited.[35]
On November 3, 2014, Big Machine removed Swift's discography from Spotify, the largest on-demand music streaming service service at the time.[100] Swift argued that their ad-supported, free service undermined the premium service that provided higher royalties for songwriters and artists.[124] She had written an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in July 2014, expressing her concerns over the decline of the album as an economic entity following the rise of free music streaming,[125] and reinstated her stance in a November 2014 interview with Time.[94] Big Machine kept 1989 only on paid, subscription-required streaming platforms like Rhapsody and Beats Music.[105] This move prompted an industry-wide debate over the impact of streaming on declining record sales during the digital era[104] and a response from Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek, who defended the platform's royalty model.[126]
The deluxe edition bonus tracks were released onto the iTunes Store in February 2015.[127] In an open letter published via Tumblr on June 21, 2015, Swift stated that 1989 would not be available on Apple Music, criticizing its non-payment of royalties to artists during their three-month free trial period.[128] The following day, head of Apple Music Eddy Cue announced that they would reverse their initial decision and pay artists royalties during the free trial period, directly addressing Swift's open letter.[129] Swift agreed to put 1989 on Apple Music when it launched on June 30[130] and she later appeared in commercials for the service.[120] In June 2017, Big Machine reinstated Swift's catalogue on Spotify and all major streaming services, citing the milestone of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certifying 100 million song units across her discography.[131][132]
Swift announced the 1989 World Tour on November 3, 2014, via her Twitter account.[133] Spanning 85 dates and visiting 53 cities,[134] it kicked off on May 5, in Tokyo, Japan, and concluded on December 12, in Sydney, Australia.[135] The 1989 World Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2015, earning over $250 million at the box office.[136] In North America alone, the tour grossed $181.5 million, breaking the records for the highest-grossing US tour by a woman[137] and the highest-grossing US tour by any act, surpassing the Rolling Stones' record in 2005.[138] A documentary and concert film, The 1989 World Tour Live, was released for streaming exclusively via Apple Music on December 20, 2015.[139]
On various dates of the 1989 World Tour, Swift invited special guests on stage with her.[135] While Swift had invited fellow musicians to perform with her on the Red Tour, the guest list of the 1989 World Tour was more random.[140] There were 78 such guest stars; they were unannounced and included actors, singers, models, and athletes.[134][135] A specific group of female celebrities, consisting of mostly singers and models, was referred to by the media as Swift's "squad".[134][141] Kirsty Fairclough, an academic in the arts, considered the celebrity guest stars on the 1989 World Tour a means for Swift to showcase her star power and keep her name constantly in the news cycle, giving the impression of a self-centric and inauthentic pop star. Commenting on the female "squad", Fairclough said that it was a visual representation of Swift's newfound feminist identity, but its members of wealthy and conventionally attractive celebrities undermined the "underdog" relatability that she had curated during her career beginnings.[134]
Commercial performance
In the United States, record sales had declined sharply in the 2010s decade due to the rise of download and streaming, but Swift's albums had achieved strong sales: her last two, Speak Now (2010) and Red (2012), each sold over one million copies within one week.[104][142]1989's sales were subject to projections by music-industry publications, considering her withdrawal from country music, which had been formative in driving her career, and free streaming services.[104][105] During the week prior to the album's release, publications predicted that it would sell short of one million copies, with estimations from 600,000–750,000[142] to 800,000–900,000.[143] After its release, Billboard closely monitored its sales and raised the first-week prediction from 900,000[144] to one million within 24 hours,[145] 1.2million within 48 hours,[146] and 1.3million after six days.[147]
Through November 2, 2014, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 1.287million, according to data for the chart dated November 15, 2014. Swift became the first artist to have three albums each sell one million copies within the first week, and 1989 was the first 2014 album to sell one million.[148] It spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200[149] and one full year in the top 10.[150] With 6.215million copies sold by the end of 2019, it was the third-best-selling album of the 2010s decade in the United States.[151] The RIAA certified the album nine-times platinum, which denotes nine million album-equivalent units.[152] As of August2023, 1989 had accumulated 12.3million album-equivalent units in the United States.[153]
1989 reached number one on charts and was certified multi-platinum in Australia (eleven-times platinum),[154][155] Canada (six-times platinum),[156][157] Mexico (three-times platinum+gold),[158][159] New Zealand (ten-times platinum),[160][161] Norway (triple platinum),[162][163] and the United Kingdom (six-times platinum).[164][165] In other countries across the Americas, Europe, and Asia–Pacific, 1989 reached the top five on charts in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland,[166] Japan,[167] and Brazil.[168] It was certified platinum in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and Switzerland;[c] double diamond in Brazil;[175] triple platinum in Austria, Denmark, Poland, and Singapore;[d] and four-times platinum in Belgium.[180] In China, it had sold over one million units as of August 2019 to become one of the best-selling digital albums.[181]
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 1989 was the second-best-selling album of 2014[182] and third-best-selling of 2015.[183] By November2022, the album was Swift's best-selling worldwide, having sold 14million copies.[184] After Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, a career retrospective world tour, in March 2023, sales and streams of her discography resurged.[185]1989 reached new peaks on charts in Greece (number one),[186] Austria (number four),[166] and Sweden (number 17),[187] and it appeared on new charts of Argentina (number one),[188] Uruguay (number seven),[189] and Iceland (number 25).[190]
Initial reviews of 1989 were generally positive, although not universally so.[197][198] Based on reviews in mainstream publications, Metacritic assigns 1989 a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 29 reviews,[192] and AnyDecentMusic? gives the album a score of 7.4 out of 10 based on 28 reviews.[191]
Positive reviews generally complimented Swift's songwriting,[199] highlighting the multifaceted lyrics exploring lighthearted and bittersweet sentiments of failed romance that various critics found mature[40][41][52][200] and absent of the naivete portrayed in her past songs.[34][69][201] Critics felt that compared to her previous albums, 1989 was more playful[41][201] but still retained a deep emotional engagement.[64][87][202]Pitchfork's Vrinda Jagoda deemed Swift's persona of 1989 more self-reliant and confidant without dwelling too much on past pain,[195] while Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield characterized the album as a "deeply weird, feverishly emotional, wildly enthusiastic" record that explored her feelings to extremes.[84]
Critics considered Swift's embrace of 1980s synth-pop experimental[203] but were divided on its outcome. Many reviews praised the production as catchy;[52][87][201]Robert Christgau thought that the "treated hooks and doctored vocals" made Swift sound "at home" despite her intention to abandon her old sound.[193] Powers contended that the electronic processing of Swift's vocals brought forth new shades of expressions and emotions, resulting in a pleasurable listening experience.[45]Jon Caramanica of The New York Times and Alexis Petridis of The Guardian lauded 1989 as a faithful homage to 1980s pop, elevating Swift's status as a timeless musician ahead of her peers;[34] the latter attributed this success to her artistic vision despite the multiple collaborators and producers.[44]
Multiple reviews otherwise lamented that the synth-based musical approach eroded Swift's songwriting authenticity because they opined that its "capitalist" nature contrasted with country music's supposedly authentic values.[204] Several reviews criticized the heavy synth production that undermined the lyrical details[57][205][196] and came off as generic.[194] In his review for Grantland, Steven Hyden contended that 1989 showcased consistent songcraft but felt the 1980s synth-pop palette repetitive and made Swift lose her distinctive voice.[4]AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine summed up the album as "a sparkling soundtrack to an aspirational lifestyle" desperate to cater to mainstream tastes.[91]Kitty Empire of The Observer thought that 1989 played to Swift's strengths as a songwriter but was not as "unequivocally great" as her single "I Knew You Were Trouble".[64]
1989 transformed Swift's image from a country singer to a pop icon,[231] a status that has endured into the 2010s and 2020s decades.[134][232] It was the second album after Katy Perry's Teenage Dream (2010) to have at least five top-10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 2010s decade.[233] With Fearless and 1989, Swift became the second woman after Janet Jackson to have two albums each have at least five top-10 hits.[234] Its singles received heavy rotation on United States radio airplay for more than 1.5 years during 2014–2016, which Billboard described as a rare "cultural omnipresence" for a 2010s album.[235] The widespread popularity of 1989 put Swift "at the cutting edge of postmillennial pop", wrote Shaun Cullen, a scholar in the humanities.[236] Swift continued expanding on the synth-based pop sound on her next albums including Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), and Midnights (2022).[134][237] Antonoff worked with Swift on those albums and collaborated with other musicians to commercial success, and he credited Swift as the first person who recognized him a producer.[237]
Many journalists credited 1989 with inspiring other artists to experiment with new sounds without being confined by a specific genre.[238][239][240] Artists who cited 1989 as an influence included the singer-songwriter Conan Gray,[241] the actor and musician Jared Leto,[242] and the pop band Vamps, who was inspired by the album to compose Wake Up (2015).[243]Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, an actress and director, cited 1989 as an inspiration for her feature film directorial debut, Someone Great (2019).[244] The singer-songwriter Ryan Adams released his track-by-track cover album of 1989 in September 2015. Finding it a "joyful" record, he listened to the album frequently to cope with his divorce from Mandy Moore in late 2014.[245] On his rendition, Adams incorporated acoustic arrangements of strings and percussions, embracing styles of alternative country and indie rock.[246][247] Swift was delighted with Adams' cover and told him, "What you did with my album was like actors changing emphasis."[248]
Swift's success was accompanied by heightened media scrutiny on her public image. During promotion of 1989, she identified as a feminist after having avoided discussing this issue in the past.[249] Her public appearances with her "squad" and the routinely documented 1989 World Tour led to a media overexposure,[134] and the public was getting weary of her public persona that appeared too calculated and aspirational, as opposed to the down-to-earth image she had curated in country music.[250][251] In 2015–2016, Swift's online disputes with other musicians like Nicki Minaj and Kanye West blemished her carefully curated image, feminist identity, and sense of authenticity.[252][253][e] Swift announced a prolonged hiatus in 2016 thinking that "people might need a break from [her]".[252]1989's follow-up album, Reputation, was influenced by the media commotion surrounding her celebrity.[255]
Critical reappraisal
After Adams released his 1989 cover in 2015, Pitchfork attracted criticism from several fellow publications when it reviewed his rendition but not Swift's.[256] Multiple reviews praised Adams for transforming Swift's 1989 from a trivial or cheesy album to a more serious and authentic one.[68][257] The philosopher Alison Stone argued that this critical reaction was a result of both rockism and sexism. According to Stone, music journalism assumed that Swift's pop music had its "feminine" qualities of "superficiality and triviality", which it deemed inferior to Adams's indie-rock singer-songwriter identity that supposedly embodied authenticity and meaningfulness.[258] Stone and Slate's Forrest Wickman added that this was due to rock-music critics' prefererence of male-oriented, "edgy" musicians to "mainstream" acts,[256][259] while Vox's Emily St. James argued that Swift's 1989 already embraced complex emotions like sadness and anger underneath its upbeat pop sounds, and that the emphasis on Adams's "authenticity" and "sincerity" was a result of music criticism's favoritism of certain genres like rock or acoustic singer-songwriter.[68]
Retrospective reviews have considered 1989 an artistically accomplished album. Many have deemed it a masterpiece and a modern classic, upholding its 1980s synth-pop authenticity as an attribute of its timeless and nostalgic qualities.[f] According to The Ringer's Nora Princiotti, by deliberately avoiding popular musical styles of the day, Swift situated 1989 within the history of pop music itself, on par with classic pop albums like Michael Jackson's Thriller and the Beatles' Abbey Road.[264] The album was listed among the most significant albums of the 21st century by British GQ[265] and The Guardian.[266]The Guardian's Ian Gormely wrote that it made Swift the catalyst for poptimism—a critical reassessment of "mainstream" pop music that had been largely dismissed by "indie" music audiences.[267]1989 has been placed first in rankings of Swift's 11-albums discography by NME[268] and The Irish Times,[269] and second in rankings by the Alternative Press,[270]Spin,[271]Slant Magazine,[272] and the Star Tribune.[3]
Many publications ranked 1989 among their best albums of the 2010s decade,[273] with The A.V. Club[274] and Slant Magazine placing in their top 10.[275] The album featured in the top 50 on lists by Billboard,[276]Consequence,[277]NME,[278]Paste,[279]Rolling Stone,[280] and Uproxx.[281]Consequence additionally ranked it sixth on their list of the best 2010s-decade pop albums,[282] and Variety's Chris Willman ranked it first on his personal list.[283]The Times' Ed Potton dubbed it the "album of the century".[284] On Pitchfork's readers' poll for the 2010s decade, it ranked 44th.[285]1989 placed at number 393 on Rolling Stone's 2023 revision of their list "500 Greatest Albums of All Time"[286] and number 39 on Consequence's "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2022).[287]
In November 2020, after a dispute over the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she began re-recording her first six studio albums that had been released by Big Machine. By re-recording them, Swift had the full ownership of the masters, which granted her full authorization of using her music for commercial purposes and therefore substituted the Big Machine-owned masters.[288] Swift released the re-recording of 1989, 1989 (Taylor's Version), on October 27, 2023, nine years after the original release of 1989.[289]1989 (Taylor's Version)'s standard track-list contains re-recorded versions of all tracks on the deluxe 1989 edition and five previously unreleased "From the Vault" tracks.[290] After the announcement of 1989 (Taylor's Version), the original album re-entered the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart dated August 26, 2023.[291]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
↑ The "secret messages" of Swift's songs are decoded by arranging certain capitalized letters in each song's lyrics, printed in the album booklet, in the order they appear to spell out a certain word or phrase.[67]
↑ Swift and West had been embroiled in a controversy at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video. Their adversary re-emerged when West released his 2016 single "Famous", in which he incorporated a lyric referencing Swift. West claimed that he had asked for Swift's approval, which she objected to.[254]
↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 44.Týden 2014 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
↑ 2014年 年間音楽＆映像ランキング発表[2014 Year-End Music and DVD Ranking Chart] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 20, 2014. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
↑ 2015年 年間音楽＆映像ランキング発表[2015 Year-End Music and DVD Ranking Chart] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 23, 2015. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
Cullen, Shaun (February 17, 2016). "The Innocent and the Runaway: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, and the Cultural Politics of Racial Melodrama". Journal of Popular Music Studies. 28 (1): 33–50. doi:10.1111/jpms.12160.
Leung, King-Ho (2024). "Begin Again (Taylor's Version): On Taylor Swift's Repetition and Difference". In Robb, Catherine M.; Mills, Georgie; Irwin, William (eds.). Taylor Swift and Philosophy: Essays from the Tortured Philosophers Department. Wiley-Blackwell. pp.91–98. ISBN978-1-394-23859-0.
Nainby, Keith (2024). "More than Music: The Image 'Taylor Swift'". Examining Blank Spaces and the Taylor Swift Phenomenon: An Investigation of Contingent Identities. Lexington Books. pp.81–128. ISBN978-1-6669-4272-9.
Perone, James E. (2017). "1989 and Beyond". The Words and Music of Taylor Swift. The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection. ABC-Clio. pp.55–68. ISBN978-1-4408-5294-7.
Stone, Alison (2023). "Feminism, Gender and Popular Music". In Partridge, Christopher; Moberg, Marcus (eds.). The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music. Bloomsbury Academic. pp.57–68. ISBN978-1-350-28697-9.
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