Taylor Swift - 1989

There better be the sound of the Funky Drummer on this album.

this is the kind of song that requires a killer middle-eight to elevate it from catchy ringtone into something truly POP and holy shit does the rap let it down

oh fuck this song

http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/headlines/2014/08/taylor-swift-1989-album-artwork.jpg

so down

oh my
what a inglorious tune

The "rap" breakdown makes me think of Avril's Girlfiend.

THIS IS SO FUCKING GROOVY

i never miss a beattttt-ah!!!

these VOCALS ok girl

Liked it more on 2nd listen, not that hot on the vid tho

terrible

I GO ON TOO MANY DATES

confirmed that i can sing the hook without searching youtube

It feels very "pop for 2014" to me in that it sounds like it's made to appeal to the crowd that is suffereng from "EDM Fatigue" and that likes stuff like "Happy" and "All About That Bass".

No thinkpieces about the video. Please.

yeah the jam/lewis thing was me writing real time fan fiction, sorry everybody

singing at the top of my lungs

HEARTBREAKER'S GONNA BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

an electric pop anthem complete with the "Hey Ya" inspired horns that have taken music by storm this year

gimme just one track that's taylor-gone-latin freestyle and i'll be happy

This pop song sounds like other pop songs shocker wtf

No thinkpieces about the video. Please.

There's some unfortunate twerking though.

confirmed that i can sing the hook without searching youtube

so can i, which somehow makes it worse

the video is terrible

the "fakin' fakin' fakeeee" adlib near the end is KILLING me

gimme just one track that's taylor-gone-latin freestyle and i'll be happy

deep prayers for this one

new charli xcx single > this

getting Hey Ya vibes

um

third listen and i don't care / i love it

THEY'RE FAKIN' FAKIN' FAKEEEEEEEEEE

my coworker's reaction is my favorite: "i feel like if i heard this when i was out and kinda drunk i'd be like yeeAAAAHHHH"

"haters gonna hate" is the most odious expression of the last 40 years so I'm not feeling generous

yeah it's gonna be huge with the 'tonight's gonna be a good night' set

also: pop stars really don't know what the fuck to do with horn sections besides treat them as rhythm guitars or something

The beat sounds a lot like the beat for "Happy," with the open hi-hat hit moved in the measure.

I mean it's a pretty standard drum beat but it jumped out at me.

otm

this is like everything i didn't even know i needed!!!

gonna assume her inspiration for the song's FUNK and album title came from her playing the 1975's "girls" incessantly on the streets of nyc this summer

this is about as ebullient as a cardiac arrest

reserve the right to like this at any time but the song is totally megahan trainor's second single and the video looks like an snl sketch

Yeah my immediate reaction was "wow this is the perfect midpoint between "happy" and "all about that bass" how timely."

This is part of the genius of max martin which stands apart from whether you like the results, his stylistic shifts are so utterly ruthless.

i'm surprised she went with something so ordinary

I dunno, the same is true of "We Are Never...". The pop move last time made more sense once we heard the other Martin joints, retrospectively making the first single sound better.

I think I was in the minority here in recoiling at Red, precisely for how little Martin and Shellback and Swift have in common.

Out of the way too many songs around in the past couple years that sound like this one, this one has one of the best melodies. I just don't know what to do with the lyrics and the rap break, though.

i mean from afar i should probs be slightly disappointed or w/e but then every single part of this song is a total earworm and makes me want to dance giddily and it is so funky and THEY'RE FAKIN' FAKIN' FAKEEEEEEEE

the fella over there with the hella good hair

It's not a rap. It's more like the "shit is bananas" bit from "Hollaback Girl". Though not as good as that obv.

I'm drinking a Soy latte
I get a double shot
It goes right through my body
And you know
I'm satisfied,
I drive my mini cooper
And I'm feeling super-dooper
Yo they tell I'm a trooper

1989 is a touchstone; Taylor's songwriting and sonic evolution surprises us more than ever before. Heavily keyboard and beat driven, the pop sensibilities that have always been the hallmark of Taylor’s music now move front and center on 1989. "I spent two years making 1989. Two years gives you enough time to grow and change and let things inspire you. I was listening to a lot of late 80's pop music and how bold those songs were and how that time period was a time of limitless possibilities. In thinking about that, this album is a rebirth for me. This is my very first documented, official pop album. 1989 is the most sonically cohesive album I have ever made and my favorite album I have ever made," said Taylor.

That someone is me, and they sound great to my ears.

My daughter says she would recommend a newbie just go with the new recordings, cuz by and large they are close enough, so why not? Plus you get all the Vault tracks, which she distinguishes from bonus tracks.

i hadn't listened to this album in at least 2 years, and I would not have known this was a different recording just by listening to it.

xp Well they are distinguished from the bonus tracks, as we’ve heard those before… it is fascinating that she had these vault tracks in her pocket, and chose to release that weaker batch of songs instead. Gives credence to your daughter’s “conspiracy theory, perhaps…

Radio stations still play the singles from this album. If I were a programmer there’s no way I’d swap them out for these new versions

Would anyone notice? I dunno. Has anyone noticed the nu versions of, say, ELO and Def Leppard? Are they in circulation on the radio?

I should amend my earlier comment, for accuracy:

it is fascinating that she had these vault tracks songs written and in her pocket, and chose to record and release that weaker batch of songs instead.

The "Bad Blood" version with Kendrick is her worst single, right? We can all agree?

the original version that the ac stations played is even worse! also "me!"

xp the re-recorded version of "i knew you were trouble" from red has made it onto many radio stations where that song had still been in gold rotation. but that one legitimately sounds very close to the original

“Bad Blood” is much better than “Me!,” omg

“BB” is basic, but I think it’s fine/listenable (and the “blood runs cold!” part is cool)

you could also change "weaker batch of songs" to "batch of songs that I think are weaker" for accuracy xxxp

she might think these are the weaker ones.

Well sure, I can’t speak for her (though she did say, “To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind.”)

President Keyes otm about the afterlife of 1989 in the wild. I hear "Blank Space" and "Style" more often than other older singles, "You Belong With Me" and karaoke favorite "Love Story" excepted.

ppl have been suspicious of the temporal provenance of the vault tracks since swift dropped the "fuck the patriarchy" keychain on the ground in the 10 minute "all too well." imo it doesn't matter and who cares

I don’t think of it as a “gotcha” thing; but as a fan of her music, I think it’s interesting to think about the provenance of those songs and how they fit in her “story” as a songwriter.

Like, “Mr. Perfectly Fine” from the (“Fearless” vault) is one of my favorite songs of the past few years, and it’s fascinating to think she wrote and discarded it.

(I also wouldn’t “hold it against her” if she’s not being entirely truthful about when they were fleshed out / finished… artists fudge the truth about that kind of thing all the time.)

Yeah, no one cares, it's just trivia. Even Springsteen, I believe one of his box sets of leftovers from the '70s had at least one song that was 100% recorded recently, because they didn't have any good takes. But in Swift's case, it might answer the question "these songs are so good, why weren't they on the album?" Maybe because they weren't done and she's gotten better?

And yeah, fwiw I still hear "1989" tracks all the time. In fact, the other night the local pop station was playing "1989 (Taylor's Version)" in its entirety, which I don't recall them doing for the other re-releases.

she doesn't say "this sick beats" this time so that's an improvement

Unless you mean she said it wrong the first time? I guess the distortion on the “t” does make it sound like “beats.”

<i>The "Bad Blood" version with Kendrick is her worst single, right? We can all agree?</i>

I've said it elsewhere on this board but Kendrick's verse on bad blood sucks donkey butt and his verse on Freedom fucking rules and there's an essay in there somewhere about that

yes on the original it sounds like she say 'beats' and on this it sounds less like 'beats' and more like 'beat'

I’m sure it’s “This sick beast”

And what sick beat, its hour come round at last / Slouches towards Stockholm to be born?

I’m sure it’s “This sick beast”

assuming you're not being sarcastic and/or making a Yeats joke: "Taylor Swift Trademarks ‘This Sick Beat’ and Other ‘1989’ Phrases":

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-trademarks-this-sick-beat-and-other-1989-phrases-41228/

I assumed these were all jokes...

It’s all fun and jokes until the falcon cannot hear the falconer

Surely some Reputation is at hand;
Surely the Taylor's Version is at hand.

the players lack all conviction, while the haters are filled with passionate intensity

Horse girls, pass by

(if Taylor ever did write a song premised on The Second Coming it would finally justify all the lazy Joni Mitchell critical comparisons)

The Pitchfork review, exploring how the vault tracks differ from the album cuts, makes an interesting observation (which may help explain why I like them so much):

On “Suburban Legends,” Swift writes in the dense, largely rhymeless run-on style that defines later records like Folklore and Midnights. The second verse builds to the lines, “I am standing in a 1950s gymnasium/And I can still see it now”—an unwieldy contrast to the appealingly quantized bounce of 1989 cuts like “How You Get the Girl” and “Style.”

I’m surprised that “Slut!” seems to be generally disfavored… I think it’s such a good song (and with a great refrain—“If I’m gonna be drunk / I might as well be drunk in love”)

See, Beyonce, this is what happens when you don't trademark your phrases

If I’m gonna be crazy, I may as may be…

We played TS in the car yesterday and a few of the redone 1989 songs came up. "Style" was the one I noticed was particularly lacking for the reasons some of you mentioned: guitar and mixing were weaker, less emotion in the vocal. But I've also listened to that song many more times than the others so the differences jump out

Finally got around to listening to the new vault songs, they're really good! The best batch of vault tracks of any of the do-overs? She's taking the imperial phase to kind of ridiculous extremes here.

On par with the Fearless vault tracks IMO (though there is one track more of those)

It's interesting that Midnights was received rather poorly here yet there seems to be universal approval of the Vault tracks. There's a lot of "Mastermind" and "Labyrinth" in "Suburban Legends" and "Is It Over Now."

Well as J0rdan and I discussed above, they’re in a similar mode but so much better!