I must make a confession before I begin this review; I have never particularly cared for Taylor Swift. I have only known her as composing a few catchy songs that never really lingered in my mind as anything all that great. I approached her latest album, “1989,” with these prejudices, so keep that in mind.
The album starts off on a surprisingly good note, with a catchy upbeat song called “Welcome to New York.” It did a lot to dispel my negative experiences with its elegantly cheerful sounds. “Blank Space” and “Style” followed suit with a strange combination of tunes that sound like they could have come straight out of the ’80s. These songs were also very cheerful and interesting. By the time the “Style” had ended I had a new respect for Swift.
However, when the next slew of songs started, I stopped caring.
It started with a vibrant song called “Out of the Woods” then was followed by a series of more gloomy and slow songs. “Out of the Woods” bears the need of mention for being particularly bad, repetitive and redundant. The song’s chorus is simply the title repeated in succession quickly.
As for the slow songs, I have nothing against slow and mournful songs but I found this part of the album to be nearly forgettable. It was as if I had heard these songs a hundred times on the radio, even though this was my first having heard any of the songs from “1989.” Even the now popular song “Shake It Off” had the air of familiarity and repetition.
The greatest drawback to this album is that it sounds much like the other music our radios are filled with, without adding anything new or insanely creative.
That being said, the album has a good overall production value. All of the songs are very clear and well recorded.
It picks up in mood and quality when Swift switches to a series of upper beat songs once again. Again these are all of good quality despite Swift’s tendency towards repetition. Songs like “Bad Blood” have an interesting beat and style. However, for each of these good songs there are several forgettable ones that do not leave much impact when you are done listening.
It seems that Swift’s true expertise lies in creating catchy songs that get stuck in your head regardless of their quality. A very annoying feature if you happen to get one of the bad songs stuck in your head and are forced to listen to the same three lines all day as you struggle to free yourself from their grasp.
Taylor Swift is not by any means a bad artist. She creates wonderful songs that people love and enjoy; I have nothing against that. For some of us, this album may be the greatest thing to have ever come been released. It just was not all that remarkable to me. I have leveled many complaints against this album but the most significant of these is that “1989” just is not for me. Swift’s newest album is just mediocre, despite it having changed my perceptions of her music as a whole.