Students and staff reflect on ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’

Sam Klein
Print/Podcast Editor

Over the past two years, music artist Taylor Swift has been re-recording her albums to reclaim ownership from Scooter Braun, who recently purchased the masters to her albums.

Swift started with a re-recording of “Fearless,” then “Red” and “Speak Now,” and then on Friday, Oct. 27, she re-released her pop album 1989 exactly nine years after its original release in 2014.

The album contained her biggest hit single, “Shake it Off” and was considered Swift’s first real pop album, pushing her further into mainstream media. The re-record contains the original 13 tracks as well as three additional tracks that were originally only found on the deluxe album like Wonderland, You Are In Love and New Romantics.

The re-recording of “Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)(featuring Kendrick Lamar)” is on the deluxe version of the new re-record.

“I’m not too excited about the Kendrick Lamar version of “Bad Blood.” I think “Bad Blood” itself is just a masterpiece, and it didn’t need the addition of any rap verses,” German teacher Brent Mackey said about his opinion of the extra track.

With the purchase of a vinyl from Target fans can listen to Swift’s other additional track, called “Sweeter than Fiction.”

Senior Macey Fischer listened to the album when it came out on a late night drive with one of her friends. “It was just amazing. It was very upbeat and made me happy,” Fischer said about her first impression of the album.

English teacher Sarah Gray talked about her impressions of the album. “I think that the fidelity of most of the re-recordings was spot on. Some of them I think were improvements on the original, and a couple of them the mix is a little off,” Gray said.

The song “Style” was mentioned in Gray’s critiques. “The intro guitars are muted on the re-recording. There’s something that comes out, there’s some sharpness that or intensity of the original guitars, and then the outro of the original has this groove that the record [doesn’t have]… it’s a groove or a vibe that the re-record doesn’t get,” Gray said.

“I really liked listening to ‘Clean (Taylor’s Version)’ because it was very nostalgic for me,” Fischer talked about her favorite re-recorded track. She also mentioned her favorite vault track which is “Sl*t!”

Swift released five different vault tracks, making the album 22 tracks long including “Bad Blood” with Lamar. The Vault Tracks are titled “‘Sl#t! (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault),’”“Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault),” “Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault),” “Suburban Legends (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault)” and “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault).”

The vault tracks were largely liked by fans, but the song called “Sl*t (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” raised concerns from a teacher who’s a parent. “I listen to Taylor Swift with my kids in the car a lot, and they like her a lot, and so when she’s rereleasing these albums and coming out with songs that I don’t want to listen to with my kids it’s kind of a bummer,” Mackey said.

Gray shared a differing view over the song.

“I do like ‘Sl*t’ a lot. It totally changes the vibe of the album from New York to California which I think is a little strange, but I think [The Vault Tracks] are great,” Gray said.

With the re-recordings, many people’s thoughts on the album have changed as to where they may be ranked in their personal preference.

“’1989′ is the album that made me realize that Taylor Swift was an insanely good artist…It’s always been in my top four after “Reputation” and “Evermore” and even “Midnights,” but the re-record I think especially with the vault tracks pushed it up there a little higher,” Gray said.

“It was definitely, like I love it [1989 album], but it wasn’t one of my favorites, but now it is I think in my top four [Taylor Swift albums],” Fischer said about her ranking.