BY SARACH
Image from Wikipedia
Yes, a review. A review of my favourite artist ever – one of the first I’ve ever truly loved both music and personality wise.
(And shush, I know I’m a few days late. It takes time to write and craft things.)
So when I woke up that early morning at 4am when Taylor Swift first revealed Shake It Off and that her 5th album is full-on pop, I was a bit skeptical. I fell in love with her country sound, and her being different from the mainstream but still able to be such a huge hit and win 7 Grammy Awards. Thus, I was a little apprehensive about this record.
1989 is different from any of her previous albums. But not so long ago, her album Red already had some pop and even a bit more rock-ish influence for songs such as 22 and I Knew You Were Trouble. This time, however, it seems as though it’s pop, but yet NOT pop. Her sound seems to have more of those voice effects like the echo, use of panning and such (not sure about auto-tune but I’ll believe that there isn’t), and a lot heavier on drums, electric, more typical pop instruments and way lighter on the guitar and piano, of which she used to be so comfortable with.
I think this album really made her expand and be more open to other genres, though it has been argued that she threaded on pop and country together. I still think she does. The lyrics are still as amazing, no doubt – very relatable to how one feels as most come from her own experience. This is what makes 1989 so different from the typical pop songs about love and sex.
Most of the songs start out relatively low with just the music, and she then brings it up with a high using catchy choruses like Blank Space and All You Had To Do Was Stay. The slower ballads such as This Love brings you back to those Red era memories like Treacherous where some songs are high and catchy, but she is still able to handle the slower, sadder songs with a tinge of pop element.
I must say, it’s a pretty darn good album and it surprised me with all the lyrics and clever use instruments and tunes to make her mark into the pop music industry. I’ll miss her country style for sure, but this is the start of a new era.
And I’m waiting for more.
You can get 1989 by Taylor Swift here: http://smarturl.it/TS1989
Sarach & Stefith 