By Julia Ryan – Staff Reporter

Taylor Swift released “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” on October 27, a re-recording of one of her most popular albums, “1989”, from 2014. When Big Machine Records was bought out in 2019 it made Taylor Swift lose the ability to buy out her albums. She was so young at the time when she signed with Big Machine Records that she couldn’t have predicted this happening. Taylor Swift began rerecording her albums because when she switched over to Republic Records in the fall of 2018, she negotiated for rights to own all of the music she creates in the future. By rerecording her albums with Republic Records, she owns the copyright to all of her songs. “1989” was her fifth studio, Grammy-winning album, and was her first ever album in which her genre of music shifted from country to pop. “1989 (Taylors Version)” is a huge milestone for her because it is her fourth re-recorded album. “Fearless” TV came out in April of 2021, “Red” TV came out in November of 2021, and “Speak Now” recently came out in the summer of 2023. Popular songs on the album are “Style”, “Shake It Off,” and “Welcome To New York,” The entire album consists of 21 songs, five of them “from the vault” that she never released until now. Taylor Swift’s fans, also known as Swifites, have been going crazy for these new songs. 

Taylor Swift is most well known for her break up songs. Around the time of the original “1989” release, Taylor was writing about her relationship with Harry Styles. In the rerecording you can still tell to this day that she is expressing what she felt during the time of their break up. In the song “Style,” Swift sings, “You got that long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt.” This is definitely written about Harry Styles considering that the title of the song is based off of his last name and she describes his looks and clothing. Taylor Swift really gets into it with these break up songs screaming what she feels. A true Swiftie knows that Taylor Swift also writes stories about much more than men. “Bad Blood” was about her feud with Katy Perry and it goes like this, “Now we got Problems. And I don’t think we can solve them.” Taylor Swift also wrote about her experiences, good and bad. Taylor Swift was harassed and wrote about it in the song “Clean”. The song lyrics that represent this experience are, “You’re still all over me/Like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore.” By “1989 Taylors Version” coming out it marks a milestone in Taylor Swift’s life because she can look back at her experiences and say she made it out. 

The lyrics in this album are out of this world. Taylor Swift manages to reach out to her fans with slow, emotional songs, and fast, upbeat songs. The five new “from the vault” songs are, “Slu*!”, “Now That We Don’t Talk”,  “Suburban Legends”, and “Is It Over Now?” Most of these songs are targeting her haters and Harry Styles. The fan favorite is, “Is It Over Now?” Popular lyrics from the song are, “And say the one thing I’ve been wanting, but no.” It is very catchy and repetitive. Fans believe that is about Harry Styles and their relationship coming to an end. 

Unlike the other “Taylor’s Version” albums there is only one collaboration. “Fearless Taylor’s Version” has three collaborations with Colbie Caillat, Maren Morris and Keith Urban. “Red Taylor’s Version” has four collaborations with Chris Stapleton, Phoebe Bridgers, Gary Ligthbody, and Ed Sheeran. “Speak Now Taylors Version” has two collaborations with Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams. In the original “1989” there were also no collaborations except for “Bad Blood Ft. Kendrick Lamar.” Because of the popularity with him she released a deluxe version of “Bad Blood” with Kendrick Lamar in it. It makes her fans extremely happy to see a collaboration like this again because their voices together have changed so much. At her international record-breaking Eras Tour, there is a chant that the crowd does when she sings “Bad Blood.” It is Kendrick Lamar’s part, “You forgive/You forget/ But you never let it go.” Taylor Swift explains in a post announcing the release of this version with her that she did it for her fans. Taylor Swift adores her fans and constantly acknowledges that she wouldn’t be where she is today without them. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars