With the release of her fifth studio album, “1989,” Taylor Swift goes “all-pop” as she bids farewell to country music—in record-smashing fashion. We aren’t just talking about “Shake It Off,” the season’s catchiest single—even her fellow celebrities have taken to Twitter to sing their impassioned hosannas for Taylor’s other new tunes, like “Style” (Lorde’s top pick), and the exhilarating “This Love” (Hayley Williams).
There’s more to “1989” than its No. 1 bow on the Billboard 200 this week: It’s the only album in 2014 to sell more than one million units on its first week, earning the largest sales week for any recording since “The Eminem Show” in 2002!
SWIFT. Goes from country to pop in “1989.”
Her naysayers are quick to dismiss the 24-year-old singer-songwriter’s growth-evincing move as nothing but a vanity project that eschews substance for style—but, while there’s nary a song that is as instantly heart-tugging as, say, “White Horse” or “Back to December,” Swift’s breathtakingly provocative lyrics are guaranteed to sweep you off your feet.
In “Clean,” she sings about getting over a failed relationship: “Rain came pouring down when I was drowning/ That’s when I could finally breathe/ And, by morning, gone was any trace of you!”
Taylor hasn’t stopped writing about her exes (“All You Had To Do Was Stay” is about a guy who’s unwilling to commit), even after the scathing musical ripostes of Joe Jonas (“Much Better”) and John Mayer (“Paper Doll”).
This time around, there’s less venom as the songstress takes her cue from the surprisingly heart-warming recollection of another former beau, Harry Styles. In “Out of the Woods,” about her bittersweet relationship with One Direction’s lead vocalist, Swift regretfully looks back at the “monsters that turned out to be just trees.”
The self-referential gambit also works exceedingly well in the cleverly arranged “Blank Space”—which comes with a “warning” for her romantic prospects: “Look at that face/ You look like my next mistake/ I know you heard about me/ I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream/ Got a long list of ex-lovers/ You know I love the players, and you love the game.”
If you’re one of her detractors, listen closely to the giddily groovesome “Shake It Off”: It demonstrates how Taylor has learned to roll with the punches. Gone is the surly spitefulness of the victim’s perspective in “Mean.”
Another track that’s hard to shake off is “How You Get The Girl,” which channels the ’80s dance floor sizzle of Debbie Gibson’s “Only In My Dreams.”
If Swift has become more forgiving about her failed romantic conquests, not so with a “former friend,” who has reportedly “stolen” the dancers for her arena tour. Its target is said to be—Katy Perry, who just happens to be John Mayer’s current squeeze!
Taylor’s gloves are off in “Bad Blood,” whose scathing lyrics speak for themselves: “Now we got bad blood/ It used to be mad love/ Still got scars on my back from your knife, so don’t think it’s in the past/ Time can heal, but this won’t/ You say sorry just for show!” —Now that’s a loud and catty “Roar,” if you ask us!