Taylor Swift - 1989

Love the new video, but I think I love this even more:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QbdT3J2H1tA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
That video! I've seen it all over Facebook haven't watched it until now :D

Another 402k sold in its second week in the US which brings its total just under 1.7 million. It should come close or pass the 2m mark next week, as it's projected to stay at #1 with another 300k or so. The "Blank Space" video definitely helped too.

It's out-performing the last two albums even; I wonder if this pop-"re-brand" is going to remain. It seems to have been her best career move yet, because I guess the country success had been mostly incidental to her general appeal ever since the second or third albums.
 
Last edited:
I doubt anyone would think of turning her back into a country-lite artist after the obvious sucess boost outside the US. Country has zero appeal everywhere else. And there's no need to cater to that audience even in the US, judging by recent numbers.
 
Apart from "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", which I really only know cause I hate, I couldn't hum you a SINGLE Taylor Swift song.

GOD I'M OLD...
 
Even Bad Blood is immense for me!

Did you.. HAVE TO DO THIS?! :evil: :disco:
 
I doubt anyone would think of turning her back into a country-lite artist after the obvious sucess boost outside the US. Country has zero appeal everywhere else. And there's no need to cater to that audience even in the US, judging by recent numbers.

I think Red was a good example of keeping a balance in between both genres. Sure we had We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, I Knew You Were Trouble and 22 but you also had Red, All Too Well, Treacherous, The Last Time and Everything Has Changed.

Surely for the next album she could do that again? I need another Picture To Burn and Tears on my guitar IN MY LIFE

Reminds me when The Corrs had their succesful crossover era, they would cater the charts with pop hits/obvious singles and catered to the traditional Irish folk fans with their shoe horned instrumentals and incessant yodeling
 
Last edited:
This has become my favorite album of OH FOURTEEN. It's certainly her best effort, for me, at this point.

08 Welcome to New York
10 Blank Space
09 Style
09 Out of the Woods
09 All You Had to Do Was Stay
09 Shake It Off
09 I Wish You Would
06 Bad Blood
08 Wildest Dreams
07 How You Get the Girl
09 This Love
07 I Know Places
06 Clean
07 Wonderland
08 You Are in Love
10 New Romantics

Everything about it is so JOYOUS. I felt like her pop material before was largely 'going through the motions' and typical labored Max Martin stuff ("22", for example, is so, so dull) but there's a genuine feel-good, exciting pop sensibility about these songs.

And I think my favorite triumphant moment of the whole album is:

"Baby I can BUILD A CASTLE
After all the bricks they threw at me!
And every day is like a BATTLE
But every night with us
Is like a DREAM"


You are SO TROUBLED, Taylor :disco:
 
Last edited:
New Romantics is clearly an 11/10 moment from the album and should become a single REGARDLESS of it being a bonus track, silly Taylor. If Nicki could do it with Super Bass why can't she?

I'm still loving Style too.
 
Anyone see her at the AMAs?

It's kinda weird how nobody's talking about how scary thin she is these days
 
She's been thin as rail since Speak Now. She's naturally got that tall and lanky combo thing going on anyway.
 
Last edited:
so, people are saying she's doing STYLE at this very moment at the Victoria Secrets Fashion thingie :disco:

3rd single perhaps?
 
I can't decide whether I love this more than Red yet. Yes the string of tracks at the start is incredible but the second half and bonus tracks are what are grabbing me at the minute. The three ballads at the end (Wildest Dreams/This Love/Clean) are properly gorgeous on full blast. The final chorus of This Love with those two words echoing over the lyrics floors me.
 
Style is already on the brink of slayage. It's such a weak song in the context of the amazing tracks around it, I don't understand the love. I just want it over and DONE so we can have Out of the Woods, aka the SONG OF HER CAREER.

I must say this album not being on streaming has meant I've listened to it about a quarter as much as I otherwise would. Still, be fresh for longer I GUESS
 
I've not found it quite as durable as 'Red'. A collection of very good pop songs but it suffers much the same problem as Mariah's 'E=MC2' in that it's like a collection of assorted current pop hits rather than a cohesive body of work
 
I don't know, I think it's her most cohesive yet. Speak Now is the album that comes the closest to what you're describing for me.

Shake It Off is the big exception and to a lesser extent extent Bad Blood which so obviously should have been replaced by New Romantics or Wonderland, as strong as some parts of it are, but I think sonically and thematically it flows.
 
Didn't they tell us don't rush into things
Didn't you flash your green eyes at me
Didn't you calm my fears with a Cheshire cat smile
Didn't it all feel new and exciting
I felt your arms twisting round me
Its all fun and games till somebody looses their mind
 
Last edited:
It's ultra cohesive to me. As much as any album so brimming with hits could ever be anyway
 
it is a very strong collection of tracks and she is an excellent lyricist, some of the love is somewhat taken if you are very familiar with max martin productions and it employs many of his standard tricks.

what i do find odd is hipster publications getting onboard with her, pitchfork didn't even review the album but still placed it at #31 in their year end and 'style' and 'out of the woods' were two of only about 4 pop songs on their singles 100.
 
Style is slaying me to no end it's ripping a new arsehole on me bum

current faves:

Style
New Romantics (this needs to be a single you silly bitch)
Out Of The Woods
I Know Places
You Are In Love
Bad Blood ( :D )
Wonderland
 
The album is mostly very good (the shit little spoken parts she seems to like sticking in her songs aside), even if I don't find anything else as exciting as Out of the Woods. The post-Welcome to New York run of big hitters is definitely where the gold is.
 
I've not found it quite as durable as 'Red'. A collection of very good pop songs but it suffers much the same problem as Mariah's 'E=MC2' in that it's like a collection of assorted current pop hits rather than a cohesive body of work

I don't think the songs on the album were tailor-made for radio anywhere near to the extent as the songs on E=MC2 were to 2008 pop radio. It's very hooky, pop and instant, yes, but I think it's still a refreshing sound. Although it's more or less of an extension of Tegan and Sara's last album, it's not really a pop sound that radio has/is been pedaling like the sound of "I Knew You Were Trouble".

I still love it. I usually skip "Bad Blood" but everything else is good to excellent. The singles are really choosing themselves at this point but I can see "Out of the Woods" fourth and then either "All You Had to Do Was Stay" or "Welcome to New York" after that.
 
I don't think I ever rated this. :confused:

Year of the Swift.

08 Welcome to New York - At first I thought it was a bit bland and empty, then I gave it a few more listens on full volume and it really opens itself up. I like the placement of it at the front of the album because with the 'new soundtrack' it sets up the idea that yeah, she's still singing about boys, but she's come a long way in her take on love and feelings since Tied Together With a Smile and the rest of them.
It's a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat / The lights are so bright but they never blind me

10 Blank Space - I love it so much, and somehow the fact that it's pretty much been playing nonstop on my phone and on the radio for months hasn't altered that. It's great to see her toying with all of the crap people have been throwing at her for years (because nobody else out there predominantly sings about relationships and romance...) and being so self-deprecating about her interaction with men. It's relevant to anyone out there who does seem to jump head first into a series of reckless flings/obsessions before moving onto the next one when they get their heart broken. Yet there's also the reassurance that they'll come back each time they leave "cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream."
Got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane / 'Cause you know I love the players and you love the game

09 Style - Taylor Swift does slick and cool and yet retains her trademark air of desperation. This is a song that I did kind of play out after months and months of listening, but the video (which is fantastic) has brought about a wee bit of a resurgence. I feel like lyrically and musically it teeters the line between acceptance that this is never going to be a someone that will commit and complete wistfulness. She can talk about how she's 'been there too a few times' all she likes but he's completely in control of her emotions here.
And I should just tell you to leave 'cause I / Know exactly where it leads but I / Watch it go round and round each time

11 Out of the Woods - It reflects on so much of her previous songs for me but kind of exists to tie them all together in what I feel might be her best yet. It has the atmospheric and emotional punch of State of Grace and All Too Well from the previous album, whereas lyrically I think it draws upon the romantic regret of Back to December and also the regret of fame and being in the public eye that we saw in The Lucky One and Never Grow Up. The chorus is epic, I've seen complaints about it apparently being basic but the repetitive lyrics are perfect for the song and the male vocals punching it out at the end works perfectly before the final couple of choruses hit. "Clear yet? Good." The verses are reflective but the chorus brings us into the moment in that it feels like she's panicking in her efforts to save a brittle bond.
When you started crying baby I did too / But when the sun came up I was looking at you

09 All You Had to Do Was Stay - The little start of album run continues with this. I love the melody playing off against the more emotive harmony in the chorus, with the harmony becoming more and more prominent with each turn and almost taking over. The song raises the fairly obvious point that rather than putting one foot in and pulling it out again and playing so many games and being so ridiculously indecisive, the one truth is that all the heartache and the eventual 'no' could have been avoided with a simple, 'Yes, I want to be with you.' I think most people have experienced something like that.
Here you are now calling me up, but I don't know what to say / I've been picking up the pieces of a mess you made

09 Shake It Off - Obviously it sticks out like a sore thumb like most people who have listened to the album have picked up on, I'm sure. It does sound like it was written for the purpose of being a hit at the beginning of the campaign, but as much as it doesn't fit in in terms of sound, the lyrics tie it directly to Blank Space. People can moan about the subjects of her writing all they like, but she's going to write about her feelings and that isn't going to stop. I think most people have come around to this song now after the initial trepidation, haven't they?
I go on too many dates / But I can't make them stay / At least that's what people say

08 I Wish You Would - It's kind of an answer to herself in All You Had to Do Was Stay, isn't it? She's put her foot down and announced that the guy doesn't deserve her love after squandering it for so long, but now upon reflection she's having her doubts, noting that they're "A crooked love in a straight line down". Then there's the correlation between this and I Almost Do: "I bet you think I either moved on or hate you, 'cause each time you reach out there's no reply. / I bet it never ever occurred to you that I can't say hello to you and risk another goodbye" and "You're thinking that I hate you now 'cause you still don't know what I never said." Whatever the case it's fantastic.
I wish we could go back and remember what we were fighting for, and I / Wish you knew that I miss you too much to be mad anymore

06 Bad Blood - Er, the one song that I'd undoubtedly replace with one of the tracks that didn't make the main album. I don't dislike it - I actually am quite fond of it. It just struggles 'cause every other song is so strong. This sort of slips into childish territory that doesn't really filter into the other tracks regardless of the chanting and speaking that we see littered throughout. I think some of the lines are very strong, particularly in the middle eight, but then others are just so clunky and jarring. "Did you have to do this? I was thinking that you could be trusted / Did you have to have to ruin what was all shiny now it's all rusted." It just feels like a bonus track.
Band aids don't fix bullet holes / You say sorry just for show / But when you live like this you live with ghosts

08 Wildest Dreams - Taylor Swift gets sexual seems to be the overwhelming consensus of the people who have listened to it. And it is about sex, but about the strings that by nature come with it and the emotional ties that are broken upon realizing that to him it wasn't as important. She hopes that he remembers her but the realization is that any revisiting of that night will in both his and her wildest dreams. She's almost trying to reassure herself that even though inevitably he'll be yet another guy who leaves, the memories will haunt him long afterwards. But ultimately she is begging him that he does remember her. It's quite sad.
You'll see me in hindsight, tangled up with you all night, burning it down. / Someday when you leave me I bet these memories follow you around.
 
Last edited:
09 Welcome to New York
09 Blank Space
10 Style
10 Out of the Woods
09 All You Had to Do Was Stay
10 Shake It Off
06 I Wish You Would
08 Bad Blood
08 Wildest Dreams
07 How You Get the Girl
07 This Love
07 I Know Places
06 Clean
06 Wonderland
07 You Are in Love
06 New Romantics

The first 6 tracks are POP PERFECTION! The rest are eh
 
The fourth single is going to be a remix of "Bad Blood", probably featuring Kanye West.
 
I had resigned myself to Out of the Woods being lost in the buzz single wilderness but YUCK at the sound of THAT.
 
Out of the Woods is the clear song of her career, but I don't mind Bad Blood as a single at all. It's a great song.
 
'new romantics' is by far the best thing she's ever created and is close to as perfect a pop song you can get
 
this bitch kicked off her 1989 Tour in Japan last night

setlist (It's just basically the 1989 album + couple of oldies but goodies though not old enough):gross:

Welcome to New York
New Romantics
Blank Space
I Knew You Were Trouble (stripped back)
I Wish You Would
How You Get the Girl
I Know Places
All You Had To Do Was Stay
You are in Love (acoustic)
Clean
Love Story (Alt version)
Style
This Love
Bad Blood
We are Never Ever Getting Back Together (rock version)
Enchanted/Wildest Dreams
Out of the Woods
Shake It Off

New Romantics though :disco:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lrPObAlld1M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Everyone will be interested to hear that I've FINALLY got round to buying this

Why did it take me SO FUCKING LONG?
 
was it your lack of desire to make a try-hard, filthy rich white girl even filthy richer?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom