Taylor Swift, popular American singer-songwriter, recently released her new album 1989, exciting fans all over the world. Swift, who began her career as a country music artist, has now made her first official pop album. This album, like all its predecessors, is bursting with love songs that some say were influenced by her former relationship with Harry Styles. Hint: There’s a track on this release titled “Style” and a mention of green eyes in “I Know Places.”
Swift began her musical career at 14 years old when she moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Her self-titled 2006 debut album made her career official when “Our Song” became number one on the “Hot Country Songs” chart. In 2009 her sophomore album Fearless was the best-selling album in the United States. Since then Swift has been very successful. Speak Now, an extremely powerful album, and Red, a sensation that sold more than 20 million copies, are examples of her accomplishments. Much like her previous albums, 1989 is largely based on songs about romance and heartbreak, but there is also a different attitude. In her new album, she seems to care much less about what other people think and just aims to be herself.
In “Shake it Off” Swift sings of letting haters hate and it’s so upbeat that it makes you want to get up and dance. It has a fun, defiant vibe some teenagers can identify with. This was the one song on the album that didn’t really revolve around being in some form of a love battle. “Blank Space” has a sort of hip-hop beat to it that adds a little spice to the dramatic mood. She is very straight-forward and in your face about how it is and how it can be. “Clean” is a little different; with its dreamy sound, it was the beginning of a transition to slow songs on the album. She definitely portrays her feelings well, singing things like, “When I was drowning, that’s when I could finally breathe.” Just listening to the song makes you understand what she went through.
The only song that was truly dreadful was “Out of the Woods.” Not only did the song lack a particular meaning, but it was also annoyingly repetitive. It sounded like a Selena Gomez song – the same line being sung over and over until you slowly go crazy.
