1989
| Taylor Swift
1989
1989 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 27, 2014, through Big Machine Records. Swift began composing the album following the release of her previous studio effort, Red (2012). Over the course of the two-year songwriting period, she collaborated with producers Max Martin and Shellback Martin served as the album's executive producer alongside Swift. The album's title was named after the singer's birth year and its music was inspired by the pop music of the 1980s. The album represents a departure from the country music of Swift's previous albums, and is described by the singer as her "first documented official pop album." -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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The New York Times
Full of expertly constructed, slightly neutered songs about heartbreak, “1989,” which is to be released on Monday, doesn’t announce itself as oppositional. But there is an implicit enemy on this breezily effective album: the rest of mainstream pop, which “1989” has almost nothing in common with.
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Rolling Stone
When Taylor Swift decides to do something, the girl really knows how to overdo it. So, on her fifth album, when she indulges her crush on Eighties synth-pop, she goes full blast, spending most of the album trying to turn herself into the Pet Shop Boys. 1989 is a drastic departure – only a couple of tracks feature her trademark tear-stained guitar. But she’s still Taylor Swift, which means she’s dreaming bigger and oversharing louder than anyone else in the game. And she still has way too many feelings for the kind of dudes who probably can’t even spell “feelings.”
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billboard
Any Nashville insider will tell you that Taylor Swift started breaking up with country music long before she first stepped out with hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback for three pop-leaning songs on 2012's blockbuster Red. But if her new single, "Shake It Off," was the official breakup letter, 1989 is the coming-out party because it makes Red sound like Reba McEntire. Executive-produced by Swift and Martin, two of the all-time biggest hitmakers, the LP could have been an overstuffed Frankenstein of battling ideas. But instead, it's Swift's best work -- a sophisticated pop tour de force that deserves to be as popular commercially as with Robyn-worshipping bloggers; an album that finds Swift meeting Katy and Miley and Pink on their home turf and staring them down.
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Vulture
Swift’s definition of the genre is a little old-fashioned, and laying out such a self-conscious plan to make a “documented, official pop album” seems to have boxed her in. As much as she’d like us to see 1989 as a reinvention, it actually strikes me as her most conservative record, sticking to the speed limit at almost every turn.
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The Guardian
Given the cast list, you would expect 1989 to be an extremely polished product, which it undoubtedly is. Even its least interesting tracks sound like hits, which is what one pays Max Martin for: at its best, 1989 deals in undeniable melodies and huge, perfectly turned choruses and nagging hooks.
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Spin
Taylor Swift Gets Clean, Hits Reset on New Album ‘1989’ The Nashville ex-pat washes herself in the depths of '80s pop on her least-personal album to date
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Consequence of Sound
Now that the country star-turned-poptimist talking point has hit the square middle of her 20s — she’ll turn 25 on December 13th — Swift releases 1989, a full-blooded work of synthpop that speaks sharply to the millennial condition.
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NME
‘1989’ is Taylor Swift’s radical reinvention: one to finally alienate her country audience and plant her flag firmly in pop soil. The lead single, ‘Shake It Off’, was no red herring. Swift produced ‘1989’ with hitmaker Max Martin, the man behind Britney Spears’ ‘…Baby One More Time’, and her aim is fixed squarely on the pop throne recently vacated by the AWOL Rihanna.
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Slant Magazine
As Taylor Swift promised, 1989 severs whatever vestiges of her country roots remained on 2012’s Red, replacing acoustic guitars and pedal steel with multi-layered synthscapes, drum machines, and densely packed vocal tracking. 1989’s standout tracks retain the narrative detail and clever metaphor-building that distinguished Swift’s early country songs, even amid the diversions wrought by the aggressive studio production on display throughout.
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US Magazine
Haters gonna hate, but the truth is, Taylor Swift Opens a New Window. ’s breakup with country has worked out for the best. The star’s all-pop fifth effort is impossibly irresistible, kicking off with “Welcome To New York,” a starry-eyed view of her new adopted hometown where she gives herself permission to take all those broken hearts and “put them in a jar.”
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New York Daily News
A mere seven weeks from her 25th birthday, Swift has put out an album that, in substance, seems more regressive, teenage and girlish than ever. However radio-savvy and hook-obsessed it may be, it's her flightiest and least substantial work to date. Which is saying something.
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The Independent
On 1989, Taylor Swift’s world is a place of stark contrasts, sudden alterations and jarring images, its songs full of attempts to encapsulate dramatic emotional change in a few striking lines.
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Idolater
1989 is bold and brazenly confident, and it makes previous forays into pop like “I Knew You Were Trouble” sound like child’s play in comparison.
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Pretty Much Amazing
Swift’s abundant promise is finally realized, with delirious brio, on 1989.
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AV Music
With 1989, Taylor Swift finally grows up.
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Vogue
But then comes **Taylor Swift’**s new album, 1989, a record so uncomplicated in its pursuit of pure joy that it’s left listeners almost as confused by its sheer simplicity. Ease appears to be Taylor’s radicalness, and 1989 is knowingly naive, an album that recognizes the age-old pleasures of pop, filled with Mad Libs of recognizable pop metaphors and clean catchy hooks.
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Digital Spy
1989 is a lighter, catchier and more calculated album than anything Swift has produced before, its slightness an occupational hazard of moving so firmly away from country. It's her least personal album to date, but it's also a technically accomplished goldmine of guaranteed hits, and if you look beyond the electro-layered vocals and endlessly looped choruses, you'll find that much of Swift's trademark emotional honesty remains.
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Inquirer
For me, “1989” was unexciting as it could be and I could compare listening to it as if I was watching paint dry on the wall. And no, that shade of paint I felt like I was watching drying up was not even a shade of “Red” like her previous album, but gray, meaning that this one is forgettable and lackluster.
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Drowned in Sound
Taylor Swift may not be challenging societal norms in the same way as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and my own band CHRIST ALIVE are, but she’s relatable and that counts for a lot. I spent a surprising amount of 1989 rooting for its protagonist and sharing in her triumph.
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The Daily Princetonian
And as heartening as it is that Swift seems to be taking command of her own sound, 1989 ends up being a thinly-veiled show of stealing from other white pop stars stealing from other white pop stars, until nothing even displays a semblance of originality.
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Pitchfork
Still, if Swift insists she is now a pop star, let it be known that she does "pop star" better than any of her peers, with the knowing passive-aggression of a student who’d rather quietly carry a group project than tell her classmates they’re doing it all wrong.
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The Line of Best Fit
America’s darling Taylor Swift has been firm in stating 1989‘s intentions, despite its occasionally obfuscating media campaign. RED‘s pleas regardless, this is her “very first documented, official pop album.” Not country. No more country. Taylor’s positioning herself for world domination.
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The Telegraph
Scratch beneath the shiny surface and you'll find Swift hasn’t moved so far from her country roots, says Neil McCormick.
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Los Angelos Times
That doesn't mean it's not effective. Swift, the militarized police force of American pop stars, moves the needle by fiat. But this album, the singer's fifth, represents a novelty: the first time she's playing by someone else's rules.
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TimeOut
It’s an all-out pop trip for album number five, but executed brilliantly by this increasingly savvy star.
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Neon Tommy
As an artist with four albums to her name, it’s refreshing to see Swift trying new things. The moments when she stretches herself far beyond her comfort zone are the album’s most successful.
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Plugged In
Swift's fifth studio release, 1989, abandons her country roots entirely, presenting a supremely polished, hook-drenched, electro-pop set of 13 songs courtesy of co-writers (all known hit maestros) Max Martin, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder and fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff.
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The Washington Post
Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’: A pivot into pop, a misstep into conformity.
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Slate
In the very act of switching genres, she’s emulating Madonna’s mutability, her multiple opportunistic identities. Again, like Madonna, she’s hinting, “Taylor Swift” is in many ways both corporation and constructed character.
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Hypable
1989 is a masterpiece that validates Swift’s role as the reigning queen of pop that she was always destined to be.
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USA Today
If you are not aware that Taylor Swift has a new album out Monday, it's certainly not her fault, or ours. The rollout for 1989, named for the superstar's birth year, has been as meticulous and as eagerly pored over as a presidential campaign, and its ascent on the pop charts is as certain as death and taxes — and likely anticipated with as much dread by some folks.
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The 405
I still don't know where I stand with Taylor Swift, but it's a much better place than two years ago.
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Stereogum
Her music is as bright and as friendly and ever. But these songs are hits, and hits have a way of enduring. They will sound warm and welcoming, and they will dominate pop radio until two years from now, when the Swift album-release machine kicks into gear again. Taylor Swift remains the benign tyrant of popular music, and we should respect motherfucking craft when we hear it.
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The Quietus
Taylor Swift is not–as yet–pushing sonic boundaries or changing pop music. If anything, she is precisely what we imagine the face of pop music to be; she is doll perfect and upbeat, she loves, (to quote the 2011 documentary Journey To Fearless) "glitter, surprise and costume changes", her voice is clear and bright, but not extraordinary.
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The Argonaut
In her newest album “1989,” Swift went full blown, crowd-pleasing pop. Some were concerned Swift wouldn’t be able to make the transition smoothly, but this album manages to work in her favor… to an extent.
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Kidzworld
There's always the chance that you'll lose your fan base when you decide to change your sound and grow into a different kind of performer, but any Swifties out there will appreciate the singer staying true to herself. 1989 may be one of her best albums yet.
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Drops of Ink
From country sweetheart to synth-pop star, Taylor swift is here to stay, no matter what her haters (or ex-boyfriends) have to say about her. She always comes back with something new, exciting her fan base more and more with each single she drops.
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The Oregonian
Swift's "1989" is not. But her new album marks the same turning point, a star intent on burning off the past's residue for her own headstrong purposes. Dylan went on to embrace country, teaming up with Johnny Cash on "Nashville Skyline," but Swift, once that city's golden child, has cast it aside for the alleged pop sounds of her '80s babyhood.
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DJ Booth
While I was never fully able to let go of that preconceived version of Taylor, in the end she still won me over.
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Poparazzi
Ultimately, 1989 offers a new side to Taylor Swift, even though at times it rehashes her old territory. The album’s perfectly picked singles have guaranteed its success and cemented the album as a defining moment in Swift’s career.
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Music OMH
But the question remains: How good is 1989? Well, no fear, it’s good. In fact, some parts are great, with variety and skilled craftsmanship with little filler. Pop music can be a soulless machine, but Swift injects enough heart and personality to fight the tide.
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Heat World
1989 somehow manages to retain the elements of why we all fell in love with banjo-toting Tay Tay in the first place, but she’s grown up and made a right old stonker of an album. Taylor 2.0, we salute you.
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Sputnik Music
“1989” shows Taylor through many different lenses and is an exciting, concise ride. She reinvented herself in the best way and is made a stellar, fun, pop album.
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The Sydney Morning Herald
The 24-year-old's journey from country to pop has been unfolding for several albums now, much as she's progressed from teenage nostalgia to adult circumstances, but this is where those journeys end. Swift's acoustic guitar, her one-time confidante, is barely heard on 1989, a record that refracts sleek, restless 1980s pop (ie. music made before the record's titular nod to her year of birth) through contemporary songwriting and production.
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CU Independent
With the release of “1989,” so named for Swift’s year of birth, Taylor has outdone herself once again.
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Philly
Test-tube pop from a chick going through a musical identity crisis. The lyrical edge she may have had in her country days clearly have gone to the wayside when opting for countless repetitions of whatever points she’s trying to make.
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Cryptic Rock
Overall, 1989 gives audiences a more in-depth insight into Swift’s relationships, struggles, and patches in her life she experienced. Giving her fans a different perspective than previous albums, 1989 represents a change from Country to Pop that is welcomed.
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Noisey
What I love most is how ridiculous it would sound if anyone else had recorded it. Yes, it’s a record about growing up and being less under the spell of boys. But it also cements a very clear idea of who Taylor Swift is. She’s made the hardest maneuver of all, from the travelator of child stardom, to grown-up pop star, and into that separate plane of knowable human being.
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Hallels
Nevertheless, despite the album's more polished and obviously more costly sound, Swift somehow gets fewer opportunities to let her heart out compared to her earlier albums. With that said, taking "1989" for what it is, the sound may be more sophisticated but Swift is still Swift, her polysyllable notes, her dicing take on boys and her keening observations on life are all here.
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Red Brick
Overall, whether you're a loyal Swifty who’s been there from the beginning, a newcomer, or someone who can't stand her, this album is worth a listen for its sheer variety and individuality.
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The Cougar Chronicle
Thanks to Taylor Swift, I now want to live in her eccentric, dance party pop universe that she has created in her new 80’s inspired techno album, “1989.”
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The Brock Press
Taylor Swift has come a long way in terms of her musical maturity with the release of 1989. In comparison to her 2012 album, Red, Taylor has expanded her musical credibility by creating what is likely the most highly anticipated pop album of 2014.
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Thought Catalog
1989 does what many artists would never dare doing, abandoning the original fan base. This would be considered career suicide for many musicians, but when Swift takes on a new sound she goes all the way and holds nothing back. Say what you want about her, but one thing is undeniable — Taylor Swift will be a force in the music industry for a long time.
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Mashable
What 1989 represents to Swift's young career is her staying power in the pop realm, a strategic departure from the girl we met on her innocent 2006 self-titled debut.
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The Utah Statesman
All you need to know is that “1989” is an everyday classic. A classic commercial victory. A classic representation of American pop culture.
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Hollywood Life
Taylor Swift has left her country roots behind! After months of anticipation, Taylor’s newest album, ‘1989’ has officially dropped — and features a totally new pop sound. Her fifth studio album was released on Oct. 27, and is full of dance tunes and fun songs about love!
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All Music
Undoubtedly, she has the charisma and chops to be convincing on both bubblegum and ballads but 1989 is something else entirely: a cold, somewhat distant celebration of all the transient transparencies of modern pop, undercut by its own desperate desire to be nothing but a sparkling soundtrack to an aspirational lifestyle.
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Muumuse
In its greatest and wildest moments, there are actual moments of lightning-in-a-bottle pop genius: It’s found in the sugary swells of “How You Get The Girl,” the pulse of “Style,” the defiant yelps in “Out Of The Woods — even that half-second pen click in “Blank Space.”
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Miami Herald
This regression into immature pop is particularly egregious given how far Swift had grown on her last album, Red, two years ago. Aside from creamy ballads like This Love and the sighing Wildest Dreams, the songs of 1989 all run the same tempos, so aural fatigue sets in quickly. Next time, Swift would be wise to develop the ideas she detailed on Red and move forward.
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Analog Planet
Taylor Swift's 1989 : Deep Retro-Pop Fun
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New Zealand Herald
The 24-year-old isn't reinventing any pop wheels, or even aiming to be cool and fresh, but she is evolving - you can hear an almost geeky love of past pop music woven in there. And yet the over-riding impression isn't that much different to the offerings from 20-year-old Swift. She still often perpetuates this image of innocence, and sweet-natured wholesome fun.
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A Bit of Pop Music
Anyway, with the success of 1989, Taylor shows that an outstanding pop album is still something people want to hear. It’s great to have all kinds of artists try all kinds of different things, but sometimes all we need is an extremely strong album full of catchy pop and that is exactly what Swift brought us here and we’re thankful for that.
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The San Diego Union Tribune
A couple of songs come off as generic exercises, especially the arrangement of "I Know Places." Still, "1989" is another triumph for Swift_not a precocious achievement, as in her early years, but a mature reflection of where she is now, in her life and in her artistry.
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Herald Sun
But this is very much Taylor’s coming of age album. Seizing her artistic freedom, she also displays self-awareness and humour as the girl everybody and nobody knows with sly lines like, “I can make the bad guys good for a weekend.”
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Ranting About Music
Swift has yet to make a bad record, but there’s something cloying about 1989 that holds it back from the takeover it wants to be.
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The New Fury
1989 is a statement piece. For Swift, it is recklessly revolutionary, and it is unapologetic in its confidence. It’s a big change, but it’s a change that remains unique to her style.
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Reliable Reviews 4U
Taylor Swift sweeps us off our feet for the beginning of a new start evoked by her 5th studio album, 1989. The majority of the songs of this album influenced by 80s glam pop shocked her fans since it was a risky move in her musical career, yet she managed to gain just as much recognition and became the elite hot topic of star news worldwide.
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Pop Matters
The line on 1989, shaped by Swift’s pre-album statements and eagerly guzzled by critics, is that it represents Swift’s final rejection of her pop-country roots in favor of radio-decimating pure pop hits.
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Renowned for Sound
The girl’s done good. She’s listened to others, listened to herself, and managed to transform into a fully blown pop superstar with relative ease. Taylor seems like one of those femme fatales who can just do anything, and 1989 proves that whatever the singer sets her mind to, she will achieve, and then some.
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Electronic Beats
We all know that pop records needs just a couple of big hits to reach good results, but this won’t be enough to write the history.
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Tufts Daily
Though lyrically unadventurous and completely calculated, “1989” is -- musically -- really quite good.
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The Metropolist
Initially as the album progresses, the lack of tempo changes makes it a little underwhelming. But bucking the current trend to focus on the smash hit and the quick return, 1989 actually works as an album, it gets better with each listen.
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The Boston Globe
It’s proudly middle of the road, infectious yet anonymous, and will surely go down as this year’s commercial juggernaut. But “1989” also feels like her most inscrutable effort. The music is a bright, shiny, and bland pastiche of electronic pop and faint nods to new wave and R&B. And the songwriting feels generic, a departure from the personable details that have made her a unique voice.
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The Roanoke Times
Swift’s musical growth is evident from the very first track of 1989.
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Mind Equals Blown
1989 is very much a pop record, but that is in no way a bad thing. 1989 proves of her ability to write genuine lyrics and challenging songs.
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Spin or Bin Music
It’s all part of the 1989 conquest however – a blitzkrieg that surrounds not just a “collection of 13 new songs” but really, a career-defining era for the same woman who penned Love Story yet remaining staunch to her identity and fans.
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The Pacer
Although this album is not for everyone, those looking for an album of feel-good, poppy, and adventure-seeking themes will not be disappointed.
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Liver Pool Sound and Vision
Taylor Swift and 1989, it is a vintage worth exploring.
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Headline Planet
What “1989” proves, however, is that Swift already has the raw toolset required for that transition. It proves that Taylor Swift is not simply capable of making pop songs that fit into the contemporary scene but ones that stand above–not merely beside–those being created by other pop superstars.
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The Silouette
Even if you aren’t a Taylor Swift fan, this revamped Taylor Swift album is a perfect way to open up to her for any lover of pop music.
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The Hoya
While her fifth studio album may be a stark departure from her days as country music’s sweetheart, “1989” is less about appealing to the popularity of pop music and more about showing that this new style represents a new Taylor.
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Female First
It's a very welcome evolution, and as the final notes of other-worldly 'Clean' finish up an accomplished LP, you can't help but think this is her baptism into the world of pop music. She's free of constrictions and much better for it.
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Forbes
it is worth your time and money, especially if you worship at the altar of pop hook-crafting.
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Infectious Magazine
Besides being punk rock, 1989 also happens to be infectiously catchy. Just like with the lead singles from Red, each song on 1989 will get stuck in your head and you’ll find yourself bursting into song at the most absurd times.
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Nouse
1989 as a whole will be remembered for its upbeat pop feel and the friendliness of the album. It feels like an effort that perhaps truly, finally reflects Swift’s personality.
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Off the Tracks
But none of that matters at all because the appropriation of Taylor Swift, with her backstory of being – once – “a serious musician”, of coming with “country pedigree” somehow means that even as she’s fully embraced playing a role there’s something more authentic about it, given she can sing and was raised around music.
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The Kirkwood Call
So when 1989 finally did debut last Monday I was impartial to hearing it. I had heard the first two released on the album, and was simply unimpressed. Despite my first impression, I gave the rest of the album a listen.
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Glamour
1989 is a classy pop album, and it's a lot more grown-up than Taylor's previous music. Our stand out tracks include All You Had To Do Was Stay, Out of the Woods, and I Wish You Would.
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Sputnik
Taylor Swift finally embraces what she was meant to do. Make no mistake – this is the best album of Taylor Swift’s career.
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The Guardian
1989 review – a bold, gossipy confection This album carries on her skilful works, with increased stylistic and tonal variation.
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IDOLATOR
Swift’s key strengths, an ear for melody and an eye for writerly detail, are still at play here . . . . What is different with 1989 is that pop star Swift, known for packing a novel’s worth of storytelling in a few concise verses, isn’t as interested in diving into specifics.
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Los Angeles Times
Taylor Swift smooths out the wrinkles on sleek ‘1989'. “1989” is a deeply catchy, sleekly-produced pop record with the slightly juiceless quality of an authorized biography, a would-be tell-all bleached of the detailed insight she’s trained us to expect from her. But this album, the singer’s fifth, represents a novelty: the first time she’s playing by someone else’s rules.
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The QUIETUS
While opening track 'Welcome To New York' might be the weakest song on the album . . . it's also the exception. Every other song is crammed with merit, from the complexities of her lyrics to the tight production choices which cloak her melodies and are the cause of the album's irrepressible catch
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DAILY NEWS
. . . Swift has put out an album that, in substance, seems more regressive, teenage and girlish than ever. However radio-savvy and hook-obsessed it may be, it's her flightiest and least substantial work to date.
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Saving Country Music.com
1989 does not represent the year Taylor Swift was born, it represents the moment her music died as a form of her original expression.
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UPROXX
“1989” isn't a great album, but it's a good one, with lots of promise and further proof that Swift and her team figured out how to be the zeitgeist just by closely following it.
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npr
For all of its verve, 1989 is a transitional album for Swift. She's moving toward a form that she can fully own, one that allows her to retain the introspection and informality that has always made her music special, but which keeps expanding instead of dialing down or always resolving in an easily accessible sing-along.
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Seattle Times
“1989” is a clear example of manufactured pop, designed to appeal to adolescent girls — the ones who beg their parents to buy them tickets to massive stadium tours. This might’ve been Swift’s plan given the sudden foray into the genre and desperate pleading to label bigwigs to allow her to make the change. But given that’s its purpose, it succeeds stunningly.
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TimeOut
It’s an all-out pop trip for album number five, but executed brilliantly by this increasingly savvy star.
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BOARDS
“1989” isn’t a perfect album, and there’s no doubt some of the characteristics fans have grown to appreciate have been whittled down around the edges in service of Pop sheen. Taylor has never been more focused than she is here, though, with a singular vision that carries through the whole record. She set out to conquer Pop music with this album, but she may end up exceeding even her own expectations.
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Thke Oregonian
Updated 3/26/2019. In many ways, “1989” is a success, but that's something to mourn for: the most popular, industry-acclaimed new songwriter of her generation, an artist who could work with anyone and has the clout not to, handing herself over to the industry's well-oiled machinery. But maybe that's the only way to get where she wants to go.
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411MANIA
1989 is Taylor Swift’s first full venture into pop music. And it’s awesome.
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The Lantern
Still, Swift’s fifth album disappoints. But many people are not blinded by Taylor loyalty, and they should know that “1989” is not a good album. There are bright spots, such as the album closer, “Clean,” co-written by Swift and English singer Imogen Heap. But again, it doesn’t matter that “1989” doesn’t hold up to its predecessor.
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Uinterview
Taylor Swift’s new album 1989 is finally here, and, as her first non-country album, it definitely sets itself apart from her previous work.
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TimeOout
It’s an all-out pop trip for album number five, but executed brilliantly by this increasingly savvy star.
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PPCORN
Swift has finally found her niche, and with any luck, will continue to evolve and shape herself through the years.
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ETIMES
The first thing you’ll notice when you play the album is that Swift has taken a decidedly pronounced pop direction. But thankfully, all of the tracks in here are uniformly good.
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Daily Mail
Taylor’s fifth album, dominated by keyboards and throbbing electronics, rubber-stamps her move from cowgirl to pop princess. Nashville might shudder, but its former sweetheart has boldly taken her talent to a new level.
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DROWNED IN SOUND
It's the work of someone who finds success in misadventure, instead of wallowing in it. Taylor Swift may not be challenging societal norms in the same way as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and my own band CHRIST ALIVE are, but she’s relatable and that counts for a lot. I spent a surprising amount of 1989 rooting for its protagonist and sharing in her triumph.
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MEDIA HYPE
While Taylor may have gone full pop with 1989, she still manages to retain truthful to her roots. It’s fresh, pop-tastic, catchy and pretty much everything you’d want from Taylor!
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Ultimate Guitar
I'm not the biggest Taylor Swift fan, but I've always respected her as a musician and songwriter. That hasn't changed, and I can even understand where she's coming from with taking her inspiration from '80s pop music, but I think the way that the processing was used on the album, and the extent to which programmed drums were used took away from the final product.
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contactmusic.com
On '1989', Swift's newest venture, she trades her country twang for the big city lights. It's a record hit deep into left-field, but she knocks out of the park with ease.
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GLAMOUR
Taylor is back and sounding better than ever, and 1989 is an album bursting with hits.
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The Utah Statesman
Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ is a classic of sorts. I’m not going to rate this album with a number. That’s irrelevant. All you need to know is that “1989” is an everyday classic. A classic commercial victory. A classic representation of American pop culture. My odds are 1-2 that it’s a classic fad.
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The Know
Was there really a big chance Taylor Swift would fall flat on her face? Nope. If anything, this is far more natural than country Swift. “Shake It Off” is the real mission statement of the record, and if you’re willing to shake it off and party in a kitten-filled, frosting-topped New York, “1989” is a lot of fun.
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INQUIRER.NET
Great albums can offer the listener a visceral and emotional experience. Unfortunately, this album barely had any of that. For me, “1989” was unexciting as it could be and I could compare listening to it as if I was watching paint dry on the wall.
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True Music Reviews
Taylor Swift’s 1989 is an intriguing story of a relationship that begins to fail, but picks up again by the end of the album. I would say this album certain exceeded expectations, even though I didn’t feel like it stuck to its theme quite enough.
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Studlife
Well “1989” is finally here, and it’s relentlessly, heartbreakingly mediocre. Lost in the buzz of her shiny new synths, the Swift who seemed on the precipice of a Beyonce-style reign has regressed. “1989” is bigger than “Red,” to be sure, but it’s also colder, stuffed to the gills with sonic wallpaper.
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Toronto SUN
One thing you can’t call it, though, is an unequivocal triumph. While 1989 is Swift’s most distinctive disc, in many ways it’s also her least engaging, sublimating her signature strengths in a bid to recreate an era nobody is that interested in revisiting. . . . While many of these songs are more mature than predecessors, they’re also more forgettable, lacking the sassy spark of her best work.
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Source
Tay’s taken a step away from her country roots (although, how ‘country’ was she really?) to go full on pop princess. And it’s magical.
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StarTribune
"1989" is largely filled with upbeat, tense songs on which the singer stomps out what's left of her youthful innocence. The Taylor Swift of this album is savage, wry and pointed.
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Spectrum Culture
As an album, it’s a mixed bag and not the giant leap forward into pop that it has been marketed as. This new record has some of Swift’s strongest songs thus far (and more than a few terribly weak ones), but it’s not as though she has to push herself into the mainstream.
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Lincoln Journal Star
“1989” is one of the best pop albums of the year, and the best thing Swift has done, period.
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RicherSounds
1989 is appropriately eighties influenced and the album is made up largely of vocals, drumbeats and keyboards but perhaps it’ll take a little longer for Swift to find her own musical route as at the moment she’s fantastic at candy pop and recreating other peoples sounds but doesn’t quite have her own yet. This might not be the height of music but it is a cracking pop album.
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delaware online
Taylor Swift’s all-out move into pop music on her fifth album, “1989,” is the sound of a young artist who has gradually evolved from a teenager obsessed with boys and journal writing into a young woman embracing life in New York and stepping to a new beat. Heavy on bass, drum loops and electronic sounds and using harmonic vocals as a form of rhythm, Swift mixes beats and melody in search of a classic pop model of her own.
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Edmonton Journal
She has, however, lost much of her vocal character on her latest and first “official” pop album, 1989, a collection of upbeat cheerleading anthems and moody synthscapes. There’s no mistaking Swift’s lyrics, mind you. As ever, her words are a blend of sincerity, sass and savvy.
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College Tribune
The first half of the album explores the new Taylor Swift, all stomping electronic drums at the heart of high production feel-good songs. . . . Some, especially those in the second half of the album, are still classic Taylor Swift, in that they are centred on romance. . . .It’s contagious and it’s wonderful; I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of Taylor Swift converts after this.
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Thek Quad
This is a pure pop album, one that gets downright experimental at times (for Taylor Swift, granted). In true Taylor Swift fashion, every damn song on this record is a potential hit single, even the ones I don’t like.
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Philly Magazine
On 1989, Taylor Swift Takes a Form-Perfect Dive Into 1980s Pop.
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It Pop!
Taylor Swift is too talented to be just another artist and, on her first all-pop album, or at least so announced as, fulfills her mission more than well, reinforcing much of what she had shown us before and only confirming what we already thought about his talent for compositions, accompanied by an impeccable sound.
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Cleveland.com
Updated 1/12/2019. Taylor Swift's '1989' strives for pop greatness, but comes up just short
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Argus Leader
. . . “1989” is another triumph for Swift — not a precocious achievement, as in her early years, but a mature reflection of where she is now, in her life and in her artistry.
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The National
Thankfully, 1989 still sounds like a Taylor Swift album – although one that’s expanded to the musical equivalent of big-screen IMAX proportions. Nearly all of the tracks have been polished to a sparkling sheen with a steady supply of warm synths, scudding beats and, of course, Swift’s confident vocals.
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Digital Journal
Taylor Swift stuns on breakthrough pop album '1989' Global superstar Taylor Swift shows her fans and critics that her music has no boundaries, thanks to her latest pop album "1989."
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stereoboard.com
When it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s not it’s just fine. And you get the feeling that ‘just fine’ isn’t something Taylor Swift wants to settle for.
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New York Vulture
Swift’s definition of the genre is a little old-fashioned, and laying out such a self-conscious plan to make a “documented, official pop album” seems to have boxed her in. As much as she’d like us to see 1989 as a reinvention, it actually strikes me as her most conservative record, sticking to the speed limit at almost every turn.
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Billboard
. . . with 1989, Swift set out to record her "first documented, official pop album" -- and that distinction made all the difference. The essence of Swift's songwriting, her effortless ability to vocalize the listener's intimate emotions, is still intact. But 1989 pushes everything further: Using fewer words, Swift embraces more adventurous melodies, moods, production.
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Consequence of Sound
. . . Swift’s songwriting is as consistently razor-sharp as it’s ever been. Her strengths have never lied in virtuosic sweeps across her range, but in hard, clipped diction — perfect for the new wave of synthpop where she now sets her dramas.
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TEEN INK
Overall, this album is her full transition from Country to Pop.. . . . No doubt, no matter one’s taste, Taylor has again managed to appeal to a wide audience with her emotional and enthusiastic voice and stay in the spotlight of the music industry.
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Nylon
What makes 1989 a real success, a true pop standard, is how totally cohesive it is. Each song fits together, and there is a total story told.
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The Washington Post
Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’: A pivot into pop, a misstep into conformity
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Courier Journal
"1989" is without doubt a much bolder version of Swift's pop sensibilities. . . . It's a sound that perfectly reflects Swift's intention to honor the 1980s music on which she grew up.
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Chicago Tribune
Taylor Swift's '1989' is generic and annoying
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mtv
Whether it's the heartbreak she's experienced as she navigates her way through the dating world in the limelight that her talent brings, or her becoming a modern day Carrie Bradshaw living in New York for the first time, something's clicked in her song writing, and we cannot get enough.
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Pitchfork
. . . the first listen of 1989 stings of indifference. The album, named after the year she was born, treats heartbreak as if observing a painting on a wall, rather than a feeling she desperately needs to articulate.
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TIME
. . . it’s the expertly crafted sound of 1989 that marks her most impressive sleight of hand yet–shifting the focus away from her past and onto her music, which is as smart and confident as it’s ever been.
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Slant Magazine
It’s an effortless fusion that, like much of 1989, displays Swift’s willingness to venture outside her comfort zone without much of a safety net . . . and test out an array of sonic experiments that feel both retro and of the moment.
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Creation
Ultimately the album is a success story in that she has delivered exactly what she intended; a punchy, alternative, extreme, eighties inspired, powerful, and game changing pop album.
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Renowned for Sound
Although the album kind of ties up all its ideas by around track 10, the tail-end still has some nice moments if you forgive a couple of minor flaws. Taylor seems like one of those femme fatales who can just do anything, and 1989 proves that whatever the singer sets her mind to, she will achieve, and then some.
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Digital Spy
"Lighter, catchier and more calculated" Taylor Swift's least personal album to date still blends synth-pop with emotional honesty.
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CLASH
Its ambition is commendable, but its execution boldly flawed…
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Stage Right Secrets
. . . make sure to pick up her album via iTunes, CD, carrier pigeon, or any other legal manner. I promise you will not be disappointed and find a new song that describes your life perfectly. Taylor Swift, I don’t know how you do what you do, but thank you.
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Tell Tales
1989 is a fun album with plenty that the open-minded listener will find to enjoy and replay again and again.
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VERITAS
No one should be disappointed as 1989 embraces pop audaciously. And while Swift may have given up on long-term love and switched to passionate flings, what matters is that pop has a new queen to the genre, and due to the record-breaking first week album sales, one that will inevitably reign for a long time.
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Hot Sauce Reviews
The thing is, the songs in 1989 are actually far blander than they should be. . . . most of the songs here are generic pop anthems that don’t really stand out from the efforts of other pop tarts at the moment. The only distinguishing traits about them is that they are from Taylor Swift and they are her first unabashed efforts in embracing pop music without any concessions to country music anymore.
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Gigslutz
In its entirety, 1989 is decent. There’s certainly room for improvement and the continued theme of relationships and personal barbs is bound to see Taylor Swift come under fire for being a stuck record.
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Recommended Listen
1989 is Swift’s flawless formal transition into becoming the proper pop superstar we already know that she is. . . . 1989 strikes all the right touchstones in sounding both timeless and ultra current, just as you would hope for in 2014’s most perfect and pure pop album.
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HEADPHONE ICON
There’s loads of artists out there capable of delivering the simple yet perfectly executed pop that is found on 1989, but few are capable to deliver it on the scale that Taylor does.
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Queens of Country
. . . this is the most cohesive album she has ever put out. Not the best, most definitely not the best, but the most cohesive. Every song on the album feels like it belongs. Above all, this album is a good album, but comes with some sadness and regret that country music has lost one of its biggest superstars of the last decade.
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A Diverse Sound
People will dislike pop music for a variety of reasons, but for anyone willing to give it a chance, mainstream pop doesn’t get much better than this.
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Earn This
As it stands, Taylor’s latest is a curiosity, bloated with glossy non-dance beats and strange, Lorde-esque vocal lines. There’s obvious craft here and some compelling writing so that I can’t call it a disaster, but it’s dull enough to bore me a bit.
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Royal Purple
The album is quite remarkable, and I believe Swift will go far as a pop artist. For non-fans, who are on the fence about listening to the album, you won’t regret it.
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The Arts Desk
Former Nashvile starlet shakes it off on a classy pop album
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Daily Emerald
With a polished pop sound, Swift attacks with a newfound swagger and carefree attitude that could never be met by an innocent girl singing country tunes with her guitar. Swift is aiming for the largest audience possible, and with this sound, she will clearly be reaching new listeners. Craig Wright Yes, it’s different, but Ms. Swift crafts each song to perfection that the girl from Nashville is never lost. Mike Mendoza
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Young Post
Lyrics are reflective and light-hearted in tone, . . . , the album has a feel-good vibe and the tracks are annoyingly infectious.
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The Star
And the best of 1989 retains the easy melodicism of Swift’s previous work despite dressing it up in grander, gaudier attire. There’s just less of Taylor Swift present on the record . . . .
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The Ithican
Overall, the southern star has produced a record with experimental sounds that are fun and enchanting. The singer-songwriter has come a long way from her first record and “1989” might be her most mature album yet.
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The California Aggie
Even though ’80s fashion has made its way to near extinction, after listening to 1989, I will gladly make the claim that Taylor Swift never goes out of style.
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The Digital Fix
That fourteen year old who upped sticks to Nashville to hone a prodigious (and oft-forgotten, conveniently) gift for composition (third album Speak Now features just one name on the song writing credits) hunkers down against a backdrop of beats and bleeps and crafts the coolest, smartest pop album of 2014.
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Grantland
. . . in reality Red made Taylor Swift her own genre. 1989, in comparison, is deliberately much narrower, working and reworking a monochromatic template of mid-tempo synth-pop that gradually loses flavor over the course of 13 songs.
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Daily Review
Taylor Swift's 1989 is the cryogenic coffin of history. Perhaps the most irritating thing about a record that exhumes and then robs from the corpses of the very best of ’80s pop is that, at times, I quite like it.
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EW.com
But too often on 1989 she’s trying to win at somebody else’s game, whittling her words down to generic love stuff over flowy synthesizers. That’s because pop, as a musical genre, is most precisely defined by what it isn’t: not country, not rock, and not rap.
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Taylor Swift Switzerland
So even without any overt country songs, "1989" is the definitive Taylor Swift album. If "RED" was the turning point of her career, "1989" is the culmination.
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Critic of Music
1989 is filled with hits and misses. Swift's former pinpoint musical accuracy has been clouded by genre lines and trying to fit into the pop scene. As albums are going to continuously flutter around the pop sphere, 1989 feels too quiet and polite to make a blatant statement about who Swift is as a bonafide pop artist.
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Hilltop News
For years, Tay-tay has been flirting with the pop genre; however, 1989 marked her ‘official’ transition into the genre and into our hearts.
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HEART US-UK
"1989" is the best album to date of Taylor Swift, a milestone in her life, a global phenomenon and also a professional success. We can see many changes of Taylor, not only about music, but her whole being.
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The Alabamian
The album as a whole has a lot of diverse songs that are different than anything Swift has done before. This shows a new side to Swift. It brings to light that Swift really is here to stay and can do whatever kind of music she puts her mind to, be it country or pop.
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The Messenger
Lacking the gripping quality responsible for truly excellent pop, the album’s flimsier points wallow in adequacy, damaging the momentum of the strong first half. The monolithic 1989 imbues itself with impressive, intricately detailed pop songs, but falters under its own inconsistency.
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Rached D'Arcy Portfolio
1/30/2017. Formerly the teen queen of country, 1989 is Taylor Swift’s debut as an all-grown up pop princess, determined to solidify herself as one of the most diverse artists of our generation.
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Triton Times
1989 is Taylor’s collection of stories about “coming in to your own, and as a result…Coming alive.” She’s done so in a completely new way, but still her, because no one comes close to the whimsical yet powerful style that is Taylor Swift.
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Colorado Public Radio News
For all of its verve, 1989 is a transitional album for Swift. She's moving toward a form that she can fully own, one that allows her to retain the introspection and informality that has always made her music special, but which keeps expanding instead of dialing down or always resolving in an easily accessible sing-along.
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Kara Writes
Taylor Swift's fifth studio album '1989' is an unapologetic liberation of self and personal truth, and she's going to make you dance to it.
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Fort Worth Business Press
Taylor Swift's "1989" — an antiseptic pop album scrubbed of any greasy country music fingerprints — qualifies as a rare and exquisite dud. But as a pop record, it's ultimately a declaration of conformity. Swift wants to sound like everybody else. And she wants to be the best at it, too.
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Post Crescent
She's reminding us (and maybe telling herself) that great pop needn't be about sticking to one's reality. But it needs to have some real life.
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Stupid Vocal Critiques
It wasn’t terrible to listen to, but unfortunately the album came with a few negatives.
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NZ Real Health
1989 is pop perfection and we reckon there are some great songs for summer in here. We do miss Taylor’s country sound a little though…
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YC Spectator Home Page
This album, though contrasting from previous albums, still has that heartbreak, new love, betrayal feel to it that all other albums of hers have brought. I highly recommend purchasing this album, putting it in your car or computer, and letting yourself fully experience Taylor Swift’s 1989.
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That Music Critic
1989 may be a long album to sit through, but tracks of differing music styles and hype factor has proven that sometimes, switching it up within an album can sustain the audience even amidst pop tunes that we have been used to for years.
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The Oklahoman
With her grand entrance into pop music with “1989,” Swift makes a big argument for her longevity in the global spotlight. The record is razor sharp, expertly executed and admittedly fairly fun.
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Play-Fume
On this album, Swift seems to have changed a little. The strains of acoustic guitars that have always been heard on Taylor Swift's previous album have been replaced with the sound of an electronic beat, plus autotune that can make you excited.
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The 97
In the end, Swift made a pop record that sounds like other pop records. Maybe Swift wants to beat pop at its own game, but great pop music has always been about personality and on that front 1989 is a bit too bland.
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UAB
Swift wraps up the good, the bad and amazing in life and presents it to us as cohesive, solid, body of work that will go down in the pages of pop history. “1989” is the classic Taylor we all love while also being something else entirely – and only she could pull that off.
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Robert Christgau
The NYC tourist jingle everybody hates on to prove they're not her shills is my favorite thing here. . . .In principle I'm down with the treated hooks and doctored vocals with which Swift makes herself at home. Freed of Nashville's myth of the natural, she echoes and double-tracks and backs herself up, confides with soft-edged subtlety and fuses the breathy with the guttural.
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SLANT
1989 displays Swift’s willingness to venture outside her comfort zone without much of a safety net.
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CREATION
1989 is a very determined album, which fiercely delivers a strong state of mind and sense of empowerment. We hear a lot less lamenting and a great deal more acceptance, appreciation for one’s self and some power-on-through-the-storm type lyrics.
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Renowned For Sound
The girl’s done good. She’s listened to others, listened to herself, and managed to transform into a fully blown pop superstar with relative ease. Taylor seems like one of those femme fatales who can just do anything, and 1989 proves that whatever the singer sets her mind to, she will achieve, and then some.
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Digital Spy
Taylor Swift 1989 album review: "Lighter, catchier and more calculated" Taylor Swift's least personal album to date still blends synth-pop with emotional honesty.
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CLASH
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STAGE RIGHTS SECRETS
. . . make sure to pick up her album via iTunes, CD, carrier pigeon, or any other legal manner. I promise you will not be disappointed and find a new song that describes your life perfectly. Taylor Swift, I don’t know how you do what you do, but thank you.
-
Tell Tales
1989 is a fun album with plenty that the open-minded listener will find to enjoy and replay again and again. 4/5
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VERITAS
No one should be disappointed as 1989 embraces pop audaciously. And while Swift may have given up on long-term love and switched to passionate flings, what matters is that pop has a new queen to the genre, . . . .
-
Hot Sauce Reviews
It’s all a marketable story, and I can only respect the calculated way the entire 1989 is designed to perpetuate the Taylor Swift persona that she wants to sell to the public. It’s a shame that the music is never as interesting as the story she wants to tell, . . . . 3/5
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Gigslutz
In its entirety, 1989 is decent. There’s certainly room for improvement and the continued theme of relationships and personal barbs is bound to see Taylor Swift come under fire for being a stuck record 4/5
-
+Recommended Listen
1989 is Swift’s flawless formal transition into becoming the proper pop superstar we already know that she is. . . . 1989 strikes all the right touchstones in sounding both timeless and ultra current, just as you would hope for in 2014’s most perfect and pure pop album.
-
HEADPHONE ICON
Basically, the entire albums feels like a very controlled, self-aware step away from the familiar and a confident step into new yet friendly territories. The gamble of 1989 was always relatively small in my eyes. Taylor’s been heading this way for years, even before Red, . . . .
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QUEENS OF COUNTRY
Let me start off by saying, . . .that this is the most cohesive album she has ever put out. Not the best, most definitely not the best, but the most cohesive. Every song on the album feels like it belongs. Above all, this album is a good album, but comes with some sadness and regret that country music has lost one of its biggest superstars of the last decade. 3.5/5
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A DIVERSE SOUND
People will dislike pop music for a variety of reasons, but for anyone willing to give it a chance, mainstream pop doesn’t get much better than this. 4.5/5
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Earn This
As it stands, Taylor’s latest is a curiosity, bloated with glossy non-dance beats and strange, Lorde-esque vocal lines. There’s obvious craft here and some compelling writing so that I can’t call it a disaster, but it’s dull enough to bore me a bit. 3/5
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Royal Purple
The album is quite remarkable, and I believe Swift will go far as a pop artist. For non-fans, who are on the fence about listening to the album, you won’t regret it. 5/5
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theartsdesk.com
Former Nashvile starlet shakes it off on a classy pop album. 4/5
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Daily Emerald
With a polished pop sound, Swift attacks with a newfound swagger and carefree attitude that could never be met by an innocent girl singing country tunes with her guitar. Swift is aiming for the largest audience possible, and with this sound, she will clearly be reaching new listeners. Craig Wright Yes, it’s different, but Ms. Swift crafts each song to perfection that the girl from Nashville is never lost. Mike Mendoza
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Young Post
1989 marks a new era in pop for Taylor Swift . . . the album has a feel-good vibe and the tracks are annoyingly infectious. 3/5
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The Star
Taylor Swift shakes off her country soul with 1989. And the best of 1989 retains the easy melodicism of Swift’s previous work despite dressing it up in grander, gaudier attire. There’s just less of Taylor Swift present on the record and more of every other bankable pop star out there at the moment, . . . . 2.5/4
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The Ithacan
Overall, the southern star has produced a record with experimental sounds that are fun and enchanting. The singer-songwriter has come a long way from her first record and “1989” might be her most mature album yet. 3/4
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The California Aggie
Even though ’80s fashion has made its way to near extinction, after listening to 1989, I will gladly make the claim that Taylor Swift never goes out of style.
-
Thek Digital Fix
Sharpened to a dazzling, silvery gleam, 1989 fulfils absolutely the polar requisites of those who whack full lock on the artistic steering wheel: it feels startlingly new whilst at the same time sounding like nothing but the original artist. 8/10
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GRANTLAND
1989 . . . is deliberately much narrower, working and reworking a monochromatic template of mid-tempo synth-pop that gradually loses flavor over the course of 13 songs. Perhaps Swift rushed to publicly define 1989 because the album doesn’t define itself with nearly the clarity her previous work did.
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DAILY REVIEW
Taylor Swift's 1989 is the cryogenic coffin of history Perhaps the most irritating thing about a record that exhumes and then robs from the corpses of the very best of ’80s pop is that, at times, I quite like it.
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EW.com
But too often on 1989 she’s trying to win at somebody else’s game, whittling her words down to generic love stuff over flowy synthesizers. That’s because pop, as a musical genre, is most precisely defined by what it isn’t: not country, not rock, and not rap. Swift isn’t any of those, but she isn’t 100 percent pop, either — she’s still too unique, too identifiably herself. B
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Taylor Switzerland
"1989" captures the feeling of having grown into your adult self, when all that's left to do is announce it to the world. So even without any overt country songs, "1989" is the definitive Taylor Swift album. If "RED" was the turning point of her career, "1989" is the culmination.
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Critic of Music
1989 is filled with hits and misses. Swift's former pinpoint musical accuracy has been clouded by genre lines and trying to fit into the pop scene. . . . . Though the gems on 1989 are worthy of some true recognition, the full body of work is pigeonholed to be factory pressed pop. Overall: 56/100
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Hilltop News
For years, Tay-tay has been flirting with the pop genre; however, 1989 marked her ‘official’ transition into the genre and into our hearts. This release also gave her the privilege of being the first woman in history to replace her own song for #1 on the Billboard’s Top Charts.
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HEART US - UK
"1989" is the best album to date of Taylor Swift, a milestone in her life, a global phenomenon and also a professional success. We can see many changes of Taylor, not only about music, but her whole being.
-
The Alabamian
The album as a whole has a lot of diverse songs that are different than anything Swift has done before. This shows a new side to Swift. It brings to light that Swift really is here to stay and can do whatever kind of music she puts her mind to, be it country or pop.
-
The Messenter
Lacking the gripping quality responsible for truly excellent pop, the album’s flimsier points wallow in adequacy, damaging the momentum of the strong first half. The monolithic 1989 imbues itself with impressive, intricately detailed pop songs, but falters under its own inconsistency. Rating: C+
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Rachel D'Arcy's Portfolio
Formerly the teen queen of country, 1989 is Taylor Swift’s debut as an all-grown up pop princess, determined to solidify herself as one of the most diverse artists of our generation.
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Triton Times
Now in 1989, Swift portrays an ’80s pop style that still captures her own classic personality.
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CPR News
1989 is about Taylor Swift experimenting with new sonic approaches. And most of all, it's about her finding a new voice — actually, several new voices, which she assumes like new characters while always remaining herself.
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Kara Writes
Taylor Swift's fifth studio album '1989' is an unapologetic liberation of self and personal truth, and she's going to make you dance to it. At its core, 1989 remains true to what fans have come to expect from Taylor Swift; a from-the-heart soundtrack providing insight to the past two years of her life.
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Fort Worth Business Press
Taylor Swift's "1989" — an antiseptic pop album scrubbed of any greasy country music fingerprints — qualifies as a rare and exquisite dud. But as a pop record, it's ultimately a declaration of conformity. Swift wants to sound like everybody else.
-
Post Crescent
Taylor Swift smooths out the wrinkles on sleek '1989' She's reminding us (and maybe telling herself) that great pop needn't be about sticking to one's reality. But it needs to have some real life. Rating: Two stars (out of four)
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Stupid Vocal Critiques
Taylor Swift does not connect to the lyrics as much as she did to her old country songs. I find 1989 a sort of weak album with way too much hype, . . . . Grade: C+
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NZ Real Health
1989 is pop perfection and we reckon there are some great songs for summer in here. We do miss Taylor’s country sound a little though… Rating: 4 out of 5
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YC Spectator Home Page
The beats are good and the lyrics are catchy, but the absence of Taylor’s guitar is something to get used to. There is not a song I don’t enjoy off this soundtrack; I just find myself wishing Taylor would have spilled her heart out into a slow song.
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That Music Critic
1989 may be a long album to sit through, but tracks of differing music styles and hype factor has proven that sometimes, switching it up within an album can sustain the audience even amidst pop tunes that we have been used to for years. Overall: 4/5 Stars
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The Oklahoman
With her grand entrance into pop music with “1989,” Swift makes a big argument for her longevity in the global spotlight. The record is razor sharp, expertly executed and admittedly fairly fun.
-
Play-Fume
On this album, Swift seems to have changed a little. The strains of acoustic guitars that have always been heard on Taylor Swift's previous album have been replaced with the sound of an electronic beat, plus autotune that can make you excited.
-
THE 97
In the end, Swift made a pop record that sounds like other pop records. Maybe Swift wants to beat pop at its own game, but great pop music has always been about personality and on that front 1989 is a bit too bland. 63/97
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UAB
“1989” is to Taylor Swift what “Like A Prayer” was to Madonna -- a creative and personal resurgence. This album shows Swift living life on her terms and making no apologies for it. You can literally hear the fresh outlook she has on life in her voice.
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Robert Christgau
The NYC tourist jingle everybody hates on to prove they're not her shills is my favorite thing here. . . . In principle I'm down with the treated hooks and doctored vocals with which Swift makes herself at home. Freed of Nashville's myth of the natural, she echoes and double-tracks and backs herself up, confides with soft-edged subtlety and fuses the breathy with the guttural. A-
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