1000 on 1989 (Taylor's Version)
Or about 1/4 the length of my Speak Now post. You're so very welcome.
This is Ottavia Paluch and you’re reading Things You Otter Know.
I’m sure by now you’re all sick of me writing about Taylor Swift and only Taylor Swift. I get it and I’m sorry.
To recap:
There was a way, waaaay too long essay on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) that actually was at around 6k words before I cut it down because I care about the sanity of my Otters. It has aged a little poorly already…
And then not even a month ago I told y’all about my viewing experience of the Eras Tour concert film. Not my best writing by any stretch of the imagination…but it is a thing that exists!
Hopefully this is my last post written solely on Taylor for a good while. It feels weird writing about stuff like this while so much more important stuff is happening around us. I also feel the need to prove I can write about other things. This is more of a post acknowledging how good this re-record is. If something crazy happens in Taylorland, though, you will def hear about it.
So…what to make of 1989 (Taylor’s Version)? Not that much, which I guess is a good thing. In my view it’s difficult to improve upon an album that was already so perfect to begin with.
1989 was a game changer for Taylor, for the music industry, and for pop music. Reinventing herself at 24 was, to that point, the biggest risk Taylor had ever taken, and with it came career heights she had never reached before. Honestly, after all the stuff with Kim and Kanye happened most people thought she was done for, but she’s even bigger now than in 2014! Which defies all logic.
Most of the stats and records and stuff Swifties take for granted now were seen as historic when 1989 first came out.
Nearly 1.3 million copies in the States in its first week (though experts predicted it would debut with about half of that)
“Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Bad Blood” all went to #1. She plays them every night on tour and for good reason.
“Out of the Woods,” “Wildest Dreams,” “Style” and “New Romantics” didn’t hit #1 but they’re still songs everyone and their mom knows the words to. I known this because back in my Shoppers Drug Mart days — which longtime Otters will know are days that I do not miss — I’d hear “New Romantics” during every shift.
1989 won AOTY at the Grammys (for the second time — Fearless won in 2010!), and at the ceremony she gave the most badass acceptance speech imaginable.
And then the album’s associated world tour got a lot of attention because she’d bring special guests on stage every night. People got so pressed over that, my god. You don’t know how many articles I’ve read criticizing Taylor for having what was dubbed her “Squad’. Let the woman have friends, Jesus Christ!
I think it was Taylor herself who said that she has lots of friends in adulthood so as to make up for a lack of childhood friends. I feel you, girl. For some reason, tabloids never seem to attack John Mayer for being a friendless douchebag.
I remember asking to see Taylor on that tour when she came around to Toronto but I guess my parents thought I was too young. I was eleven when 1989 came out. Somehow too young for a concert but old enough for Twitter, which is how I found out that 1989 was coming in the first place. Come on, do you remember where you were when “Shake It Off” came out? Bet.
For the record, I was on the couch in the living room of our old house. I remember seeing the video for the song and thinking what happened to her? It was a very polarizing way to start off a new era. I remember seeing people all over my feed who hated it. But then the record came out and everyone shut up. Pop perfection does that to you.
Pretty much every standard track on this re-record sounds the same as it did before, maybe just a little more compressed and 2023-sounding. “You Are In Love” and “Clean” sound even more gorgeous. “Out of the Woods” sounds massive. There’s a growl present in “I Know Places” that wasn’t there before and which makes the song even better. Then there’s a fair smattering of small additions and changes which I noticed at 12:06 AM on October 27 (aka when I heard the new version for the first time). I’ve since forgotten all of that.
“Style” probably sounds the most different. I’ve been seeing a lot of hate for this new version of the song. Sure, it took a few listens before it clicked, but once it clicked, it CLICKED. It sounds even more indebted to the 80s than ever before. So much more disco and pizzaz and also dark energy. As the kids would say, they yassified this thing.
As for the Vault tracks: The Red vault still clears, sorry to say. Though it is better than the Speak Now TV vault by a solid margin. It feels like she either recorded these songs before or after recording Midnights because to me they sound like they’d belong more on that album than on 1989. Which is not a slight! They’re just more subdued than what most of us thought going into things.
“‘Slut!’” sounds so pretty and is and easily my favourite, though I can see why some are disappointed that it wasn’t the pop bop they hoped it would be. “Say Don’t Go” should’ve made the album. “Now That We Don’t Talk” caught me off guard but it’s got such great melodies. “Suburban Legends” is “Mastermind” in a trench coat. “Is It Over Now?” is the poppiest of the 5 tracks, so it made sense for it to be the lead single / #1 debut, although I wouldn’t call it my favourite Taylor song.
Boom! Exactly 1,000 words! Off to class now. See you later, Otters.