On October 27, 2014, Taylor Swift released her first ever pop album titled, “1989”—now known to be one of the most perfect pop albums in history. Nine years later, Swift released her version “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” becoming the most-streamed album in a single day for 2023.
After Swift’s incident with Scooter Bruan over the ownership of her albums on June 30, 2019, she has been re-recording her first six albums. She does this so she can claim those albums as her own.
So far, Swift has re-recorded “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” “Red (Taylor’s Version),” “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” leaving “Reputation” and “Taylor Swift” (Debut) up next for release.
Swift announced she was releasing “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” on the final day of her “Eras Tour” in Los Angeles during her surprise song section of the show. After she announced it, she sang one of the songs off the album titled, “New Romantics.”
“So here we are on the eighth month of the year, the ninth day of the month,” Swift said during the concert(?), “And there’s something that I’ve been planning for a, ridiculously, embarrassingly long time. But ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ will be released on October 27.”
It was later announced, the album would be released at midnight, and many fans hosted listening parties around the world to get together for their first stream of Swift’s most recent re-recording including five songs from the vault (songs that were made at the time but did not make the official album).
When it comes to these listening parties, the biggest thing Swifties do is compare it to the original. They listen for note changes, new background music, and sometimes new lyrics.
In my view, almost every song from the original album sounds pretty identical to Taylor’s Version with the exception of “Style.” The song’s production is entirely different and the emotion in her voice is gone.
My favorite change is the bridge of “Blank Space,” where it breaks into a three-part harmony. It adds so much pizzazz to the song and really stands out in a positive way.
When it comes to the surprise songs, my ranking is: “Is it over now?” “Suburban Legends,” “Now that we don’t talk,” “Say don’t go” and then “Slut!” respectively. While all the songs are incredible, “Is it over now?” is just such pop perfection. It has a catchy tune with a solid beat in the background and amazing instrumentals. It’s just one of those songs you could listen to on repeat for hours.
Overall the album is great listen with a variety of pop styles throughout. You have upbeat songs like “Style (Taylors Version)” and “Blank Space (Taylors Version) and slow songs like “Clean (Taylors Version) and “SLUT! (Taylors Version) (From the Vault)”. I would say it is definitely in my top 5 Taylor albums.
