Taylor Swift has delighted fans with a rerecorded version of “1989,” the best-selling album of her career, titled “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” The album features all the original songs with her more mature voice and five unheard songs that were originally meant for “1989.”
“1989” is one of Swift’s most popular albums because it made her into the pop sensation she is today. The album features Grammy Award-winning hits such as “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Bad Blood.” The album received Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Music Video for “Bad Blood,” and a total of ten Grammy nominations.
On Sept. 17, 2021, Swift unexpectedly dropped “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” and again “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” on May 6, 2022. These two releases left fans anticipating the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
Swift began her ongoing project to revisit and reclaim her work after music mogul Scooter Braun bought the rights to her past recordings in 2019.
“I can record albums one through five all over again. I’m very excited about it because I think artists deserve to own their work. I just feel very passionately about that,” Swift said in a “Good Morning America” appearance.
The rerecorded album has five new additions: “Slut!”, “Say Don’t Go,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Suburban Legends,” and “Is It Over Now?” Swift said in 2014 that she had recorded more than 100 songs for “1989,” but only a select few made the cut.
In “Slut!”, Swift calls out the slut-shaming culture on the music industry and reflects on her own experience. “And if they call me a slut / You know it might be worth it for once,” Swift wrote. She is reclaiming the once derogatory word “slut,” just as she is reclaiming her first five albums.
“Say Don’t Go” is about an unsalvageable relationship. The song shows her vulnerability and intensity of emotions in her past relationships. “Say Don’t Go” takes the heartbreaking torment from her past albums to the next level.
“Suburban Legend” has a reflective narrative it shares with “Now That We Don’t Talk.” “Style” represents the peak of a relationship, the period where everything feels right in the world. “Now That We Don’t Talk” is the cold war after the final fight. “Suburban Legend” is a reflection upon the past, knowing that there is no going back to the relationship.
“Is It Over Now?” is the final track of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” It is a sister track to “Out of The Woods,” as mentioned in Swift’s Tumblr voice memos. The most hard-hitting lyric of “Is It Over Now?” is “You search in every model’s bed for somethin’ greater, baby.”
“1989” marked a significant progression in both Swift’s career and personal growth. The re-release is a pivotal step towards Swift owning her masters, her love life, and her younger past.
