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Taylor Swift's 1989 impressions http://www.rollingstone.c...9-20141024
Rolling Stone (4 out of 5 stars)
When it comes to Taylor Swift and supercatchy Eighties pop gloss, too much is never enoughBY Rob Sheffield | October 24, 2014
Swift has already written enough great songs for two or three careers. Red, from 2012, was her Purple Rain, a sprawling I-am-the-cosmos epic with disco banjos and piano ballads and dubstep drops. But as every Eighties pop star knew, you don't follow one epic with another – instead, you surprise everybody with a quick-change experiment. So rather than trying to duplicate the wide reach of Red, she focuses on one aspect of her sound for a whole album – a very Prince thing to do.
Max Martin produced seven of these 13 songs, and his beats provide the Saturday-night-whatever soundtrack as Swift sings about the single life in the big old city she always dreamed about. In "Welcome to New York," she finds herself in a place where "you can want who you want/Boys and boys, and girls and girls." She hits cruise mode on the floor in "Blank Space" ("I can make the bad guys good for the weekend") and the hilariously titled "Style," where she swoons, "You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye."
The best moments come toward the end, when Swift shakes up the concept. "How You Get the Girl" mixes up the best of her old and new tricks, as she strums an acoustic guitar aggressively over Martin's expert disco surge. "This Love" brings back her most simpatico producer, Nathan Chapman, for the kind of tune that they were just starting to call a "power ballad" in 1989. (The precise equivalent would be Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There for You.") On the killer finale, "Clean," English singer Imogen Heap adds ethereal backup sighs to Swift's electro melancholy ("You're still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore").
If there's nothing as grandiose as "All Too Well" or "Dear John" or "Enchanted," that's because there wasn't meant to be. 1989 sets the record for fewest adjectives (and lowest romantic body count) on a Swift album. Most of the songs hover above the three-minute mark, which is a challenge for Tay – she's always been a songwriter who can spend five minutes singing about a freaking scarf and still make every line hit like a haymaker. But if you're into math, note that the three best songs here – "How You Get the Girl," "This Love," "Clean" – are the three that crash past four minutes. This is still an artist who likes to let it rip. Deeply weird, feverishly emotional, wildly enthusiastic, 1989 sounds exactly like Taylor Swift, even when it sounds like nothing she's ever tried before. And yes, she takes it to extremes. Are you surprised? This is Taylor Swift, remember? Extremes are where she starts out. | |
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Great article, awesome artist, and very cool Prince references! Thanks for posting! | |
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Let's go in the other direction for the sake of remaining objective... . http://jezebel.com/taylor-swifts-new-song-is-the-gentrification-anthem-nyc-1648607040 . The inevitable march towards Taylor Swift's new album 1989 continues with a new single, and it's only getting worse: "Welcome To New York" is a gentrification anthem so obtuse it makes one wonder if she is, in fact, trolling at this point. And it calls into question whether rich white-person privilege is, in fact, a form of trolling in itself. Trolling the rest of us. Killing our spirits until we are all reduced to old-school dead emojis. . "Welcome to New York, it's been waiting for you!" Taylor sings, in a cotton-candy, nary-a-care hook—a highly memorable pop hook, of course, simple and sweet. "Everybody here wanted something more! Searching for a sound we haven't heard before!" You can imagine Swift wanted to make her own anthem for her new adopted city, a sort of bubblegum (or bubblegummier) version of "Empire State Of Mind," but the contrast between the two stands up as basically a referendum on the New York everyone dreams of and moves here for, and the New New York it is becoming. Swift didn't move to one of the most expensive cities in the US to "make it"; she moved because she'd already "made it." . Compare that with Jay Z and Alicia Keys' tale—sure, they're both millionaires now, but there's a sense of struggle behind it, a sense of loving this city despite itself. A mean street you learn to love, as opposed to a playground for the happy-go-lucky and effortlessly moneyed. "The lights will inspire you," sings Alicia Keys, just after Jay Z talks about cooking and pushing crack as his hardscrabble origin story—at the very least, it's aspirational. As opposed to Swift's "The lights are so bright, but they never blind me." Of course they don't. Even her shout out to gay couples—"you can want who you want/boys and boys and girls and girls"—is pat and sort of tacitly privileged, though it will no doubt be lauded for its progressivism. (And, to be fair, 12-year-olds in conservative households need to hear that shit from her, truly—I will definitely give her that.) . She goes on: "Like any true love/it drives you crazy/but you know you wouldn't change anything, anything." Someone should tell Taylor Swift about stop-and-frisk, or poverty levels, or the effects of school budget cuts, or people of color being pushed out of the neighborhoods they have populated for decades because of condos and Ted Talks. Not trying to hardline-stance on gentrification—it's mostly bad, but there are certainly some grey areas that aren't much discussed—but the whole of this song feels so tone deaf at this particular, pivotal moment in New York's history, and it is rage-inducing. . In short: . "There's a war going on outside, no man is safe from / It don't matter if you three feet or eight-one/You'll get eight from me, nine and straight blown/Wig split, melon cracked, all that on day one" - Cam'ron, New York's unofficial poet laureate. "Welcome to New York, it's been waiting for you!" - Taylor Swift, New York homeowner. . or even... . http://gothamist.com/2014/10/21/awkwafina_taylor_swift_dis.php . Yesterday NYC newbie Taylor Swift released "Welcome To New York," the latest in a long list of songs dedicated to this place. Some are taking issue with it being something of a gentrification anthem—Jezebel writes, "the whole of this feels so tone deaf at this particular, pivotal moment in New York's history, and it is rage-inducing." A simpler issue with it is that it's Not Good. . Out of the three songs she's so far released from her upcoming album, 1989, this is the Not Good-est of them all. [Update: okay, the other songs are growing on us.] "I Knew You Were Trouble," "22," "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"—the days of the Red album are to be cherished, as T. Swift ushers in her new, empty, bubblegum sound, worlds away from Nashville. . This song is basically all the confirmation we need that her supposed-best-friend Lorde is actually out to get her, like a dark art student plotting against the bake-sale-happy cheerleader... because else she would have been like, "Taylor, don't release this." . Since we do not have the ability to contact Frank Sinatra from beyond the grave, and Alicia Keys and Jay Z aren't returning our calls, we asked musician Awkwafina—a New York native around the same age as Swift, and with her own NYC anthem—what she thinks of the song. . "Taylor Swift's new song should be performed by TSA agents at JFK when bright-eyed transplants such as herself land in New York City. It is also the perfect background music for when that same person first witnesses a homeless man yelling/awkwardly defecating on 7th avenue and a woman getting accidentally drop kicked by a moist, shirtless acrobatic subway performer. 'Welcome To New York' is one of those songs that, with just one single radio play, will make at least 10 New Yorkers move to Marfa, Texas. " . Awkwafina's own ode to the city, called "NYC B*tche$," is pretty much the opposite of Swift's... but we're still thinking: collaboration? Mash-up?!
[Edited 10/27/14 10:19am] | |
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Based on the title of the album. I'm guessing this is supposed to be 80's inspired pop? Because if it is, this may be the first Taylor album I'll bother listening too. | |
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I prefer this New York anthem...
"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato
https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0 | |
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. The title is the year she was born. The Census Bureau estimates that there are 2,518 American Indians and Alaska Natives currently living in the city of Long Beach. | |
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Me too. Tired of seeing her on every show. Pretty 1940's style yes, but overrated. She can act though I give her that. Too many voice overdubs for me on every song IMHO. Just Music-No Categories-Enjoy It! | |
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Im not a Swift fan, but I can say that Jezebel has turned into a a site full of bitter women bitching bout other bitter women. The site use to be fun, but now its self importance is smothering. The Most Important Thing In Life Is Sincerity....Once You Can Fake That, You Can Fake Anything. | |
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Yeeeaaahhh...they can stop trying to sell me on her. I won't be buying anything with Taylor Swift's name on it. Hell, I'd probably sooner buy a Janet Jackson album instead. [Edited 10/28/14 16:01pm] "Janet Jackson is like an 80s sitcom that's been off the air for over 25 years; you see a rerun and realize it wasn't that great..." | |
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Album is not bad. Taylor has quickly become a force, the album selling like hot cakes. | |
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Apparently she's en route to debut with 1.3 million copies.
http://www.billboard.com/...since-2002
'1989' also aiming to beat Britney Spears' record sales week for a womanAs the days tick by, the sales forecast for Taylor Swift's 1989 album continues to grow. As of Nov. 1, with only one full day left in the album's debut tracking week, industry forecasters now say 1989 could sell over 1.3 million copies through Nov. 2. Thus, the album is now aiming to surpass the one-week sales record for an album by a woman, set by the debut of Britney Spears' Oops! … I Did It Again in 2000, when it arrived with 1.319 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. 1989 is also set to earn the largest sales week for any album since 2002, whenEminem's The Eminem Show sold 1.322 million in its first full week on sale. The album's official debut week sales figure, as tabulated by SoundScan, will be announced on Wednesday, Nov. 5. 1989 is Swift's fifth studio effort and was released on Oct. 27 through Big Machine Records. A little over two weeks ago, forecasters pegged the new album to sell 750,000 in its debut frame. Then, about a week ago (Oct. 23), it was upgraded to 800,000. By mid-day Oct. 27, the album's release day, its projection grew to over 900,000. The next day: 1 million, followed by upgrades to 1.2 million on Oct. 29 and then 1.25 million on Oct. 31. 1989 will be Swift's third consecutive album to sell more than a million copies in its first week, making her the only act ever to earn three million-selling weeks. (She was already the only woman to do it twice since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991.)
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Let's face it. SNL is on the way out. Taylor is bigger than ever. For SNL to make fun of her just shows you how desperate they are for ratings. | |
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I find her overrated. I like a few songs, but I don't think she's as great as a lot of the reviews are saying. To me, she's a little bland. It's called 1989 but to me it doesn't sound like the music of the 80's. It reminds me of Katy Perry's sound with the mix of some guitars and some syth and electronics. Not sure why everyone doesn't take Katy seriously, but praises Taylor as the savior of pop music. People praise her for not using contemporary sounds like hip hop or EDM, but to me that makes her music bland and colorless. Here is a review from the Washington Post for an alternative view of her music.
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, so here goes. Taylor Swift’s “1989” — an antiseptic pop album scrubbed of any greasy country music fingerprints — qualifies as a rare and exquisite dud. When it’s triumphant, it’s like that Super Bowl Sunday when your team is up 42 points at the half. When it’s bland, it’s like noshing on empty calories in a dream you won’t remember. Sometimes, somehow, it’s both. But above all, it’s shrewd. The album’s first single, “Shake It Off,” preemptively shushes any criticism Swift may have shouldered for officially renouncing Nashville — and she does it with a cascading refrain that’s pure pop. “Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” she chirps. “Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake — shake it off.”
She sure sounds comfy inside that armor. Which is weird, right? One of the most powerful entertainers on the planet shouldn’t have to sing in a defensive crouch. But in addition to penning real-talk mega-hits about breakups, make-ups, flame-outs and happily-ever-afters, Swift is always honing the illusion that she’s an underdog — a global superstar earnestly beseeching our sympathies, our ears and our dollars. “1989” makes that illusion seem more ridiculous than ever. Named after the year she was born, the 24-year-old’s fifth album has all the pomp and razzmatazz of a big career pivot. But as a pop record, it’s ultimately a declaration of conformity. Swift wants to sound like everybody else. And she wants to be the best at it, too. In a society that seeks constant validation through social media, “1989” serves as a conformist power fantasy that might resonate more than we’d like to admit — because it’s also a big, dull gesture we’re expected to applaud no matter what. Clap a little louder or be excommunicated to the valley of the haters. Those are your options in this ludicrous world. Sonically, the world Swift curates on “1989” couldn’t sound more familiar. She’s assembled an arsenal of weapons-grade radio pop, largely with the help of Max Martin, the Swedish producer who knows how to make Swift’s hooks sound like reincarnated new-wave hits. Drum machines and synthesizers good; acoustic guitars and decorative mandolins bad. These new environs feel light-years away from old Nashville, and they invite Swift to twist her voice in new ways. Unfortunately, her mild vocal acrobatics frequently expose the clunkiness of her lyrics. “Darling, I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream,” she talk-sings with an awkward wave of the finger on “Blank Space,” a buzzy song that rightfully bites back at the bogus, boy-crazy image the tabloids have been burnishing of Swift in recent years. Meantime, her worst lyrics lurk in the album’s book-ended odes to life in her new home of New York City. The chorus of “Welcome To New York” rings out like a desperate and over-caffeinated tourism jingle (“Welcome to New York — It’s been waiting for you!”), while the hook of “New Romantics,” a feisty bonus track, registers somewhere between moldy emo and the back pages of a high school literary magazine. (“Heartbreak is the national anthem/We sing it proudly.”) She’s gone from describing adolescence like an adult to describing adulthood like an adolescent — all of which begins to undermine the long-running Swiftian myth that there’s a secret power in being profoundly uncool. Where is Taylor taking us on this grand odyssey of uncoolness? To a rom-com fairy-tale Manhattan that doesn’t actually exist? To a new wave ’80s she never got to live through? To contemporary pop music’s most tame and mundane center? For a hint, flash back to 2008 when Swift was memorializing the battle for some forgotten boy’s heart on “You Belong With Me,” a masterful song about the misfit life: “She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts/She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.” In light of “1989,” that second line is the prophetic one. Young Swift wasn’t off doing whip-its behind the Wawa or reading Kafka at Starbucks. She was on the sidelines, wishing she fit in, standing by. And now here she is, ruling over all of popland, projecting the dim aura of unimpeachability. Because yes, Swift is a woman thriving at the summit of a pop culture largely shaped by men. And yes, she’s a truth-telling songwriter who’s done some truly brilliant work. And yes, she’s only 24 and her future remains bright and unwritten. All of those things are true and good. But is it wrong to wish that Swift — at this point — was just the itty-bittiest bit cooler? Is it wrong to wish “1989” didn’t sound so anonymous? Is it wrong to demand our leaders not make follower music? Is it wrong to feel disoriented and disheartened by the effusion of suck-uppy articles dutifully praising these unimaginative songs? Is it wrong to squirm knowing that those same songs will likely saturate our public spaces for years — or maybe even the rest of our lives? Asking these questions doesn’t make you a hater. It makes you a listener.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/10/27/taylor-swifts-1989-a-pivot-into-pop-a-misstep-into-conformity/
[Edited 11/2/14 15:32pm] | |
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She did not break Britney's debut record from 2000 but still sold nearly 1.3 million albums! | |
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That is still a crazy feat for anything in the last 5 years of music sales. | |
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Cinny said:
That is still a crazy feat for anything in the last 5 years of music sales. | |
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But 1.3 million for a DEBUT has ALWAYS been considered a lot, I think only around 20 albums debuted with 1 million+! So it is an extraordinary feat in a year when even a 200k+ debut is rare... | |
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LiveToTell86 said: But 1.3 million for a DEBUT has ALWAYS been considered a lot, I think only around 20 albums debuted with 1 million+! So it is an extraordinary feat in a year when even a 200k+ debut is rare... Of course the media is painting her as some sort of savior of the music industry because of this though her success isn't elevating anyone else's sales but her own. | |
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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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