Tag Archives: 1989

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Song of the Day #5,605: ‘Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’ – Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift’s 2014 release 1989, titled after the year of her birth, was the album that made her a superstar. Her first full-on pop album broadened her appeal and landed three #1 singles on the Hot 100 (no other Swift album has produced more than one).

Given that success, I guess it’s no surprise that 1989 (Taylor’s Version), released less than two weeks ago, is already the biggest hit of her four re-recordings. In fact, it had the biggest opening week for any album since Adele’s 25 in 2015, and the sixth-biggest opening week of all-time. That’s amazing considering the bulk of the album is a repeat of an already successful album.

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Song of the Day #5,293: ‘Out of the Woods’ – Ryan Adams

It’s too bad Ryan Adams turned out to be such a shitty person because that really got in the way of one of the most interesting and diverse careers in the music business.

Who else would record a song-by-song cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989, giving each pop song on the record his own melancholy folk-rock twist? His 1989, released in 2015 a year after the original, is the sort of project I’d love to see attempted again.

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Song of the Day #5,273: ‘All You Had To Do Was Stay’ – Taylor Swift

I recently wrote about the importance of track five on Taylor Swift’s albums, and the Random iTunes Fairy has responded by serving up one of those tracks today.

‘All You Had To Do Was Stay,’ from the 2014 album 1989, is one of Swift’s more upbeat track fives, in keeping with the overall style of that album. But lyrically it delivers a healthy dose of emotional turmoil. If you read the song before playing it, you might expect a tortured ballad rather than a slick bop.

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Song of the Day #4,269: ‘I Know Places’ – Taylor Swift

Continuing my ranking of Taylor Swift’s albums…

#2 – 1989 – 2014

If Taylor Swift heavily flirted with pop music on 2012’s Red, she climbed into bed with it on 2014’s 1989. And the result was her most electrifying album to date.

This album felt like a strange detour at the time, but in retrospect I think it was a giant leap toward a sound Swift had in her all along. Though 1989 trails Fearless in overall sales, it’s the album on which she truly emerged as a global superstar.

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Song of the Day #2,730: ‘Blank Space’ – Ryan Adams

ryan_adams_1989Best Songs of 2015 – #12
‘Blank Space’ – Ryan Adams

When I reviewed Ryan Adams’ song-for-song recreation of Taylor Swift’s smash hit 1989, I predicted that ‘Blank Space’ would end up on my best-of song list two years in a row by two different artists. Good call.

Adams turns the track into a gentle, breathy ballad, sad where Swift’s (also excellent) version is slightly taunting.

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