The time has come for the 4th Taylor’s Version album: 1989! Taylor Swift began the re-recording process in 2021 with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and released Red (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in the following years. For those who don’t know, Swift is rerecording her albums to reclaim her work after her masters were sold without her permission. 1989 was Swift’s second album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year and was certainly worth the wait. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) also includes five brand new songs as well as “Sweeter Than Fiction” on the Target Edition vinyls. In this review, I will compare production and vocal moments between Taylor’s Version and the original version of the album before reviewing the vault songs.
Best Changes in Production
- “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” was released a year ago as promo for The Summer I Turned Pretty but deserves to be talked about here. The song that once fell a bit flat was turned into an ethereal masterpiece. The 30-second introduction is simple and flowy and filled with guitar strums that are only played once the other one fades out. The introduction of the original song was similar but there was still some pop production coming through however in Taylor’s Version there was less pressure to make it sound like a pop song. This simple production continues throughout the song.
Worst Change in Production
- The song “Style” begins with an electric guitar riff and a drum beat which has proven very hard to replicate. In Taylor’s Version, the instruments seem out of time and on top of each other leaving the fresh-sounding introduction a thing of the past. I am unaware if a different instrument was used but the guitar sounds different than the original. What once was a stellar introduction seems a bit lackluster.
Something I’m Glad Stayed the Same (Production)
- “All You Had To Do Was Stay” is one of Swift’s most upbeat track fives (songs known for being her most emotional or truthful songs) but there is one point where the production dies down leaving behind three simple words with a lot of meaning “Not like this”. Swift explains that the person she is singing about was all she wanted but “Not like this” after they left and came back. This little moment is crucial to the meaning of the song and would have been a mistake to remove.
Best Change in Vocals
- In “Blank Space” during the bridge, Swift sings “Boys only want love if it’s torture”. In the original version, there is a whiny inflection on the word “boys” and she elongates the word “torture”. But in Taylor’s Version, Swift fully leans into the sarcastic tone of the bridge fully elongating both the words “love” and “torture” while getting down in her lower register which really ties the song together.
Worst Change in Vocals
- In “New Romantics” before the chorus, there is a vocalization moment “Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah” that changes the production from the verse into the chorus and hypes up the chorus. In the original version, it is fresh, clean and really cuts through the song but in Taylor’s Version it seems to be sung by a little kid and is really off-putting to an otherwise really good re-recorded song.
Something I’m Glad Stayed the Same (Vocal)
- “Wonderland” is one of my favorite songs on this album and I was very fearful of listening to the re-recorded version because there are a lot of little moments on this song that make it so beloved. Specifically, right after the bridge before the chorus, there is a vocal strain on the word “Oh” and a twisted cursive inflection on the way she sings “You and I got lost in it”. These moments fill the song with emotion and I was beyond excited to hear them in the re-recorded version.
While there are some changes in vocals and production for better or for worse in these songs, overall I think Swift did a solid job re-recording 1989. There will always be songs that hit harder on the original, but there are songs that sound even better as Taylor’s Version and that’s just the nature of these re-recordings.
Swift released five new songs from the vault along with the re-recorded songs from 1989. They are called “Sl*t!”, “Say Don’t Go”, “Now That We Don’t Talk”, “Suburban Legends”, and “Is It Over Now?”. Vault tracks are songs that were written around the same time as the songs from 1989 but did not make the cut on the original album. My favorites are “Say Don’t Go” and “Is It Over Now?”.
“Sl*t!” shocked us all; everyone believed it would either be a sad ballad about how the media portrayed Swift or a pop anthem owning the title but instead it was a love song. It has a dreamy almost psychedelic production filled with succinct lyrics and plays on words. However, for an artist known for her songwriting, the lyrics fell a bit flat. “Say Don’t Go” starts with a low register that we haven’t really heard from Swift before. The production follows the story of the song. Starting slowly and then pausing right before the chorus just as the lyrics describe pausing hoping to hear a partner say “Don’t Go”. This song is the perfect example of an upbeat production with devastating lyrics.
The best way to describe the production of “Now That We Don’t Talk” is wobbly and soft before speeding up and adding drum beats. The vocals involve a lot of sing-talking and emotional inflections. This song is the shortest in Swift’s discography. “Suburban Legends” sounds very similar to “Now That We Don’t Talk” but “Now That We Don’t Talk” has better lyrics and therefore “Suburban Legends” falls a bit flat. I do love the way she sings “And you kiss me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever” though. The introduction in “Is It Over Now?” sounds very similar to “Labyrinth” from Midnights and the song itself seems like “Out of the Woods” 2.0. I love the dynamics between the chorus and verses as well as the pre-chorus which almost seems like a second chorus. I also love the changes in the lyrics in the second chorus. Swift’s voice sounds incredible in this song.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the perfect album for anyone who wants to relive the 2010s. With iconic songs and time-appropriate vault tracks with relatable lyrics, it is like a portal into the past. Swift is now ⅔ through her re-recording process and the next re-record is rumored to be Reputation.
