Taylor Swift has officially embraced her pop sound with her fifth album 1989…and she’s not here to make friends. Fun, punchy, angsty and downright poignant at times, 1989 is a dramatic shift from Swift’s fairytale adolescence to her roaring 20s. We have left behind the chaste days of “screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain” at 2am to sexier territory where “his hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room.” Strangely, the three best songs (“Wonderland”, “You Are In Love”, “New Romantics”) of the album are only available in the exclusive Target edition of 1989.
While few Taylor Swift fan were born before 1992, 1989 takes us back to a bygone era of ’80s synth-pop and echoes, such as in “Out of the Woods”. Taylor Swift has always been one of the great polarizing figures of our generation—you either hate her or love her. Although I have been waxing poetic about on the album’s success, 1989 is far from perfect. With cringe-worthy tracks like “Bad Blood,” perplexing lyrics like “you’re still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore,” and uninspiring flops like “I Wish You Would,” Swift exposes herself to criticism. However, she more than redeems herself with toe-tappers like “Blank Space,” the Lana del Rey-esque “Wildest Dreams” and “Clean” (or, as I affectionately call it, “the rehab song”).
