Taylor Swift - 1989

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.

(Formal press release action)

I mean I'm totally cool with Swift recording a Fine Young Cannibals album or Cosmic Thing

some of you should look away now lol

http://oi59.tinypic.com/ncxvk9.jpg

well "we are never" was hyper-pop but it still sounded like her. it was a pretty easy bridge to envision, and i think the same is true for "22" if not exactly "i knew you were trouble"

maybe i'm just feeling weird about there being no twangy guitar trojan horse-ing the new sounds in

yeah it's not a rap

NO FUCKING WAY

"For the record this is my very first documented pop album," she added.

Taylor Swift & Ryan Tedder

she used an ampersand

this is a well written song, the hook is good. i just think the beat is ugly and cheap sounding and a bit too on the nose.

if this sounded like "stay stay stay" i'd be down

girl if you're going to be evoking the year that pop gave us like a prayer and raw like sushi and rhythm nation 1814 and hats you gotta come a bit harder than ryan bloody tedder

Haha

if your last name is "Antonoff" you should probably go by "John"

Taylor Swift recording a Daisy Age album

The way she describes her inspiration I'd expect this to sound like HAIM, but there is no way. Be cool if it sounded like Paula Abdul, though.

She should collabo with Stephen Bray.

a taylor swift / fred schneider duet would actually rule

If she had a huskier voice I'd suggest she hook up with Patrick Leonard.

GUYS

The way she describes her inspiration I'd expect this to sound like HAIM, but there is no way. Be cool if it sounded like Paula Abdul, though.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, August 18, 2014 6:05 PM (12 seconds ago) Bookmark

"shake it off" doesn't *not* sound like haim

i'm kind of hoping it's a bunch of songs that sound like "ain't it fun"

this thread moved from disgust to the ilm brand of contrarian popist embrace in hyperspeed

YEAH JORDAN

This is going to be her biggest single, no? Smart move! I don't love the song/video but good on her for going straight to the heart of the will-spend-money-on-music-demographic

I'd be down with Swift continuing in this vein. Like, "1955" could be her rockabilly record, "1977" her punk record, "1994" her Disney soundtrack, "1969" her West Coast psychedelic album...

for whatever reason i'm intrigued by taylor + jack antonoff

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!