Taylor Swift, 1989 review: So long country roads

Change. Having spent ten years as the poster girl for the American country scene, Taylor Swift's reinvention has been a long time coming. 1989 may sound like a 24-year step backwards, but the confidence that drives its addictive synth tunes and stadium choruses marks a sonic revolution for a singer famed for twangy guitars and angst-ridden lyrics. A sharp, inventive pop album, 1989 is a far cry from Swift's Pennsylvanian roots and is without a doubt her boldest record to date.


If 2012's Red was a transition between Swift's traditional songwriting and full-blown pop, 1989 is the final nail in the coffin of the country roads and pickup trucks of old. The dynamic shift in style is apparent even from the album's first few seconds (Welcome To New York's pitch perfect keyboard could have opened any track by Blondie or Simple Minds), but it doesn't end there. 1989 delivers warm, electronic beats complemented by moreish melodies and enormous, undeniable choruses unheard on any previous song, and there's barely a hint of acoustic guitar at any point on the record. While such radical advancements could easily alienate Swift's core fanbase, the quality of anthems such as Shake It Off should be enough to silence any lingering doubts over the new sound. After all, if it's going to be pop, it might as well be great pop.

Lead single Shake It Off's sass and bile in its tirade against the "haters" is a perfect showcase of the expansion in lyrical themes found on 1989. Whereas Red gained notoriety for targeted attacks on Swift's ex-boyfriends, the new album covers a wider range of topics including escape and rebirth, while Welcome To New York offers a thrilling landscape of the city that never sleeps. Love is discussed of course, but it's approached in a more mature, perceptive way than past efforts. There's little of Red's lyrical arrogance on display here, but a more cautious outlook occasionally gives way to over-sentimentality. It's most obvious on tracks at the back end of the album such as This Love, whose mawkish "this love is good, this love is bad" refrain smacks of cringeworthy cliche. As with past records, the pacing sags and the songs struggle to maintain their quality towards the ending, although it's less noticeable than on Red due to the album's comparative shortness. It's not a major complaint, but it's unfortunate that the energy of 1989's best songs are once again let down by a couple of failures late in the day. It's also worth noting that, for all Shake It Off's excellence, there's no single here as unarguably perfect as I Knew You Were Trouble.

While much of 1989 has the sound of late 80's pop-rock, the fact that's Swift's reinvention is based upon old themes rather than genuinely new exploration does little to undermine the album's success. Swift treats the decade with a loving reverence which allows her to add her own flair to well-worn elements without making a mockery of either, and as such the album truly sounds like her own record and not a half backed 80's rip off. More than past albums on which Swift felt the pressure to appease her country-loving fans, on 1989 she's chosen the influences she likes and written the music she wants to. As such, it's perhaps her purest piece of work.

While it suffers from issues seemingly inevitable on Taylor Swift albums, 1989 marks a valiant musical shift and is loaded with sublime pop confection. Quietly intelligent but brazenly confident, it's a change to be welcomed, even if it does spell the end for Nashville twang.

8/10