REVIEW: Taylor Swift's 1989 (Taylor's Version)

1989 (Taylor's Version) was a mixture of good and bad.

So I listened when it leaked yesterday evening because I am unfortunately an adult who works a 9-6 and I don’t have the energy to stay up past midnight anymore (I woke up just to post this lol). A lot of my thoughts on this are based on my current mindset- I’m not as big of a Taylor fan as I was earlier this year, and I honestly haven’t listened to any of her music since the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)- so what I’m saying is my thoughts here may be more negative or objective than my previously blind-to-the-truth swiftie self.

With that said, buckle in for my thoughts…

- Shake It Off, Wildest Dreams, How You Get The Girl, This Love, and You Are In Love TVs sound the most improved from their originals. Also, almost all of the songs are near indiscernible from their originals which is great.
- Similarly to the other Taylor’s Versions, some of these songs lack the emotion that was in their originals (ie: I Knew You Were Trouble, Haunted, Last Kiss). The most noticeable ones on this album for me were Blank Space and Out of the Woods.
- It’s the way that I have listened to Welcome To New York so little that I thought I was listening to the original when I downloaded the TV lmao.
- The production choices in Style TV is… interesting. Not bad, but definitely unexpected and different. I feel like the less I listen to original and more I listen to TV it will grow on me and I will get used to it. RIP to the perfect original production though.
- The pen click in Blank Space TV and the tape player click in I Know Places TV are just wrong.
- I’ve seen a lot of complaints about New Romantics TV, particularly people comparing the “aah-ah-ah-AH!” to the “we-EEE!” in We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together TV. Personally I don’t hear anything wrong with it.
- Clean TV made me sob like a baby.

Now for my feelings on the vault tracks… (I’m gonna go hide now).

“Slut!” - Unexpected but not entirely disappointing. Though I feel that this does not fit the 1989 vibe at all. This would’ve fit better on reputation lyrically, as the song is literally about her reputation and what others say about her. Production-wise this could be a Midnights track. A poor choice to place it on this album. [Rank 3/5]

Say Don’t Go - The worst vault track from 1989. Very boring and bland. I truly don’t understand the love it’s getting. This one isn’t fitting that 1989 vibes either, the acoustic guitar is throwing me off so bad. I can see it on Red or even Lover though. [Rank 5/5]

Now That We Don’t Talk - Now THIS feels like that bubblegum-pop perfection that 1989 is. My personal favorite of the vault. My only complaint would be that it feels too short and thus incomplete. [Rank 1/5]

Suburban Legends - This one is just there. The production is very generic (sounds like Mastermind tbh) and the lyrics aren’t doing anything for me. Had no emotional response from me at all. [Rank 4/5]

Is It Over Now? - It’s alright. I like the high note on the end of the second chorus… that’s all I really have to say about this one. [Rank 2/5]

Overall, despite my love for Suburban Legends, this is my least favorite vault thus far. It’s especially disappointing after how much I loved the Speak Now vault earlier this year. I think that the poor production, mixing, and mastering drags it down quite a bit. While the other vaults feel like actual songs she had prepared for their respective albums but held back, these feel like unfinished demos that she just found in an old notebook and tried to make something out of them. They almost sound like scrapped Midnights songs more than 1989 songs. They just don’t meet the standards set by the original thirteen (or sixteen, if you count the deluxe tracks) 1989 songs.

Final thoughts: Re-recordings were pretty good, I’m sick of Jack Antonoff.

Favorites: Clean, I Know Places, Out of the Woods, Wildest Dreams

Least Favorites: Say Don’t Go, Welcome To New York, Shake It Off

You can listen to 1989 (Taylor's Version) here!

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