Following the close of the first U.S. leg of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour came a not-so-secret surprise: the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
This re-recorded pop album showcases Taylor’s well-known hits, “Wildest Dreams” and “Shake It Off”; fan favorites, “You Are In Love” and “New Romantics”; and the debut of five new songs from the vault.
In comparison to the original record, the songs echo the vibes of 2014, having little to no lyric changes but a clear level of maturity, with lyrics in “I Know Places” having raspier notes. Despite the majority of her most overplayed and classic pop songs we hear on the radio being on this album, I personally always skip down to the latter half, with songs that stem from a deeper, more self-reflective period of her life: she talks about getting clean, escaping reality, falling in love, and dealing with the haters.
This album brings forth some of my new personal favorites from the vault that many teenagers and adults will find relatable, such as “Say Don’t Go,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Suburban Legends,” and “Is It Over Now?” since it describes the emotional toll of a breakup—romantic or platonic.
This reminiscent feeling of romance is portrayed in “Say Don’t Go,” expressing the feeling of one person putting in more effort than the other; the lyrics “I said I love you / you say nothing back” – heartbreaking, I know – leaves her begging for her partner to do or say something more to convince her to stay. Unfortunately, “Now That We Don’t Talk” explores the aftermath of the situation: the instance of losing contact with someone we used to be so close with, but not in an “I miss you” kind of way, but a “I’m glad we’re over” way, as she sings about how she no longer has to put up a facade in order for the relationship to work. Closing this devastating love story with “Is It Over Now?” Taylor reaches the last step, acceptance, wondering if the relationship is truly over, in lyrics such as “Was it over then? / And is it over now?” and although many fans hoped for a collaboration on “Style,” this vault track seems to be a diss for popular artist Harry Styles with references that suspiciously relate back to him and their past relationship.
The remaining vault track on 1989, “Suburban Legends,” flits over the struggles of the other songs with lyrics that bring this emotion and power in her relationship to light. She sings, “When you hold me, it holds me together / And you kissed me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever” and “I broke my own heart ‘cause you were too polite to do it,” as the song focuses on romanticizing a relationship destined to end, but neither one wanting to let go.
Even though this album is not quite free of skips, the combination of old and new songs allow for a more meaningful connection to another successful re-recorded album and to Taylor Swift herself.
