William McEneny
Contributing Writer
Photo by Sarah Barlow and Stephen Schofield from
https://tserasarchive.taylorswift.com/1989
Taylor Swift released her fifth album on Oct. 27, 2014. This album changed the way her career and she were seen through the public eye.
Swift was seen as the hopeless, boy-obsessed, romantic, but that all changed with the release of “1989.”
“1989” is a perfect collection of polished pop songs. In the album, the use of heavy synth production is used throughout the whole 48 minutes of listening. Swift flipped the narrative of what they said about her and used it to her advantage.
The album sold 1.287 million copies in its first week, the highest first-week sales since Eminem’s “The Eminem Show” (2002). This made Swift the first artist to have three albums sell over a million copies in their first week. “1989” is the most awarded pop album and has now sold over 10.8 million copies.
The album has 3 #1 singles (“Shake It Off,” “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood” featuring Kendrick Lamar) and five top 10 hits to its name. The album went #1 for 11 weeks and has spent over 500 weeks on the Billboard 200.
Swift went through a genre change with the album going from country to pop. Though she has dabbled in pop songs on other albums, she has never made a full album with pop songs on it.
The album won three Grammys (Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Music Video). It made Swift the only woman to win Album of the Year twice at the Grammys. This cemented Swift as a landmark artist.
“1989” is referred to as the pop bible for its long list of hits and its tight but powerful tracklist of songs. The album explores her life from moving to New York and celebrates the empowerment of female friendships.
The high driving sound of synth pop and electropop incorporates acoustic textures throughout “1989.” The song “New Romantics” is a stadium anthem, screaming the lyrics at the top of one’s lungs from a rooftop bar and feeling no shame in it. “1989” is a colossal expression of emotions of feeling as free as possible, and letting loose of what people think. Dancing in a room full of people and letting the music guide your next step.
The album has won 158 awards from AMA’s, MTV, Billboard, and multiple Grammys. With the release of “1989,” Swift gets taken seriously as one of the main pop superstars.
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