1989

3/10

Nie chce mi się przesadnie rozpisywać, choć postanowiłem naprawdę poświęcić temu albumowi 100% swojej uwagi podczas tego jednego przesłuchania (byłem niemal pewien, że drugiego nie będzie i nie pomyliłem się). Ta muzyka jest symptomatyczna dla naszych czasów przede wszystkim z jednego powodu - jest niesamowicie bezpieczna. Bezpieczny, neutralny dźwięk, bezpieczne teksty, lekkie w formie i treści. Żadne tam poważne złamane serca, raczej kolejne miłostki czasu młodzieńczego, przez własną wielość (pewnie z 10 piosenek o rozstaniu tam było) rozmywające powagę każdego jednostkowego doświadczenia. Piosenki-horoskopy, ogólnikowe na tyle, że każdy może zinterpretować tak, żeby pasowały do jego własnej historii. Co prowadzi nas do prostoty tych tekstów i ich delivery. Teksty są krótkie, bardzo powtarzalne, dużo jest w nich powtórek tej samej frazy, czasami po kilka razy ("Are We In the Clear Yet" koronnym przykładem), leksykalne i gramatyczne skomplikowanie tekstu jest pewnie na poziomie gimnazjum. I wbrew pozorom nie jest to z mojej strony zarzut. Te proste, powtarzalne teksty w połączeniu z bardzo dobrą dykcją i czystą produkcją sprawiają, że teksty są zrozumiałe, łatwo zapadają w pamięć i są dostosowane do naszych globalnych czasów, w których są łatwe do sprzedania nie tylko dla Amerykanów z dziada pradziada, ale też dla imigrantów, dla których angielski nie jest pierwszym językiem, czy dla globalnej publiczności, która może z łatwością zrozumieć i przyswoić teksty. Muzycznie nie ma tam w zasadzie nic, więc ciężko się o czymkolwiek rozpisać. Chociaż muszę przyznać, że ta sekcja dęta w "Shake It Off" całkiem przyjemna i nie ma żadnego zaskoczenia w tym, że jest to największy singiel płyty i jeden z największych hitów Swift - tego się mimo wszystko dobrze słucha, jest wciągające, bardzo pozytywne, nastraja optymistycznie. Nawet jeśli zawiera najbardziej white girl wasp moment całego albumu, czyli ten melorecytowany bridge, w którym mówi, że jej eks przyszedł z nową laską. Do pewnego stopnia rozumiem fenomen Taylor Swift, to jest dobry, bardzo uniwersalny produkt. Jednocześnie uważam jej muzykę za symptomatyczną dla upadku Stanów jako najważniejszego kraju zachodniej kultury.

It would pair well with subway surfers. Today we now that bar for slop is way lower so the albums sounds almost like music. Shakey shakey song was a banger though.

Pop sound, a few of them I’ve heard before and some not. Lyrics are repetive, although some storytelling is good. In total it’s kind of boring and not engaging.

There were a couple of catchy singles on here but most of the songs weren't memorable. The lyrics also suck if you aren't 13 or 49 years old.

Machine à tube avec assez peu d'interet. On sent les chansons qu'ils veulent mieux produire , celles qui vont avoir la meilleur rentabilité.

As much as I think that Taylor Swift is the embodiment of everything wrong with modern pop music (and especially culture—but that’s a different story entirely) and like to invoke her name as a pejorative, ignoring her annoying pretensions, some of her songs are not THAT bad. I don’t knows, considering that she was never that big where I live, maybe I just didn’t develop a gag reflex for her music similar to someone like Adele, Ed Sheeran, or Imagine Dragons. Yes, her songs are extremely generic, soulless, and corporate, but some of them are also kind of catchy occasionally. I didn’t hate this album. It gets very repetitive after the first half or so, but some of the songs are fun. The production is great. I really like when you can put music on high volume and don’t fear for your hearing. This is one of the rare albums that does this well. But then again, intravenously injecting 13 servings of her music in a row is not the world’s most fulfilling experience. 5/10

De este tampoco esperaba nada y al final me guardo Blank space y Shake it off.

Taylor and Max Martin borrowed deep from Robyn's playbook for this. There are some decent radio hits here but I'd rather listen to Robyn's original cuts than this. Best song: Style. If mostly for the fact that Harry Styles wrote the pettiest little reply in 1D's Perfect and you can mash 'em up with no problems. "if you want someone to write your breakup songs about, then baby I'm perfect"

I just saw lcd soundsystem live last night and it was crazy. The synths on this album sound so weak and thin in comparison. I did not enjoy this. Low 2.

I honestly hadn’t listened to any Taylor Swift music since she became full-time pop. I had only heard her so-called country music before listening to 1989 today. Well, some of the songs are catchy, and although I do believe she is very talented, electro-pop just is not my thing. This is two stars in my book. I do understand why others seem to love this, but I don’t.

4/10

Musikalisches Pendant zu RomComs. Kann man gut hören und hat währenddessen vielleicht sogar Spaß, aber es wird mich langfristig nicht bewegen und verändern. Eine RomCom wird nie wie ei LOTR sein.

benign Fluffy pop for little girls. No clue why its on the list.

Well, If I was 10... my sister would like it and I'd probably be sick to the back teeth of hearing it. My friends want to do routines to it at break. Someone's singing it in assembly. End of year assembly and the dance club does Shake It Off. Catchy pop for tween girls. It's hard to view it as anything but for children, and it's giving me Spice Girls Vietnam flashbacks even though they don't sound anything alike. Is it bad? No. I'm just a tomboy. Maybe I'd get indoctrinated into enjoying Blank Space a là Who Do You Think You Are. Her marketing team is genius, let's say that.

A completely mid album. Most of the time this album is annoying but at other times it’s boring. I’m not a Taylor Swift hater, this just isn’t a very good album. Shake it off the one of the all time pop songs.

it's fine

I don't hate it. I just don't like it

Produ on siin professionaalne, aga meloodiad, vokaal ja lüürika on ikka päris tüütud. "Blank Space" mulle meeldib, aga on ka võimalik, et ma olen lihtsalt vanast ajast Stockholmi sündroomi kukkunud. See album lihtsalt venib ja venib. Juba enne albumi keskpunkti tahtsin, et see lõppeks. Okei, "Wildest Dreams" on ka täitsa kuulatav.

This was a challenging one to rate. Am I rating the singles, or the cohesive album as a whole? I went with the latter. This album is *awful*. Many Michael Jackson level poppy bangers but so, so, so much absolute shite to sift through to get to them.

Going into this I was expecting generic contemporary pop for vanilla audiences. No surprises. I also found beginnings of extremist feminist views, which I found a little disturbing considering this artist's reach, and the potential for exquisite composition that's been processed for mass appeal. Only after reading Imogen Heap's name can I feel her influence, it's subtle but it's there, but it's the swedish power house that really pull through with what some might call magic. I call it carefully crafted predictability. Not willing to listen to Taylor's version right now, listening to this alone shows too much dedication to the project. 2.3/5

I'm not trying to be a hater, but I just can't imagine myself putting on this album for any occasion.

It's the musical equivalent of fast food at a foreign airport. I endured it, but didn't enjoy it. Well made but just not made for me.

I think Shake It Off is a good song but it's never as good as imagine it to be can't stand the rest of this that I skimmed through. could be a 1 star if not for all the students I knew who used this music to de-stress. haters gonna hate. music: hated. (⌐■_■)

Listening to this again really makes me glad that my kid doesn’t listen to this album endlessly on repeat anymore. Lots of it is catchy, sure, but it’s all just so exhausting and calculated in a way I will never be able to tolerate.

I honestly love, Ryan Adams version of this better

*gasp*. Phew, another contempop album. It hasn't been too long since the last one - Lorde's Melodrama was precisely nine albums ago, though I will never not appreciate having the ability to shut off my brain and take it easy. The number of Taylor Swift songs that have been jammed down my earholes through radio play is probably numbered in the low forties at this point, though the only one I know by name is "Shake It Off". I'm normally pretty squeamish when it comes to immortalising millennial pop albums on this list, though from what I've heard Taylor Swift has an unprecedented level of power and influence as an artist, so this inclusion may have some historical weight to it. In any case, I'm cracking this one open. Hmm. There's some megahits in here, though for nearly every second of this album's runtime I was being smashed over the head with how artificial and commercial the music is. I can see the appeal of Taylor Swift as a vocalist, though from my factual, measured musical perspective, her big hits are distinctive without being earwormy, which is pretty dire as far as a pop act is concerned. The actual music is just unremarkable, adult contemporary synth-pop tunes lazily put together on an assembly line. I'm surprised Wikipedia has an entire novel written about the compositions of this album. Who could possibly care? Anyways, enough with my bitching about Wikipedia and on with a novel of my own. I've heard "Blank Space", no surprises there. Truth be told, the song toes a very delicate line between bugging me and being an alright listen. I don't like cynical lyrics in pop music, though for the musically uninclined I guess this is an alright way of channeling such emotions. The song gets markedly worse over time as it endlessly pivots towards progressively worse vocal styles. "Style" is another one I've heard. This one's a step up from the previous track. The synth instrumental is good, and I like the funky bass guitar whenever it rubbernecks into the instrumental. Taylor's vocals carry the song pretty well - I like how they seamlessly transition between the verses and chorus. I've heard "Out of the Woods", too. The echoey vocal sample and repetitious chorus annoys me, I'm not a big synth guy and the song becomes somewhat airheaded during the second half, though for what it is, it's fine. I've heard my beloved "Shake It Off" before, unsurprisingly. I shudder to think of how many times I've heard this song on the rare occasions where I incline my ears to the radio waves. Still, it's a decent tune. I appreciate the optimistic chorus, and the snappy instrumental serves as a nice break from the synth-dominated first half of the album. The tongue-in-cheek rap segment during the latter half is fun, too. "Bad Blood" (this is getting ridiculous now) is another one I've heard. This is the worst offering of the heavy-hitters. Taylor's vocal melody sucks dick and is incredibly annoying. The quintessential adult contemporary instrumental doesn't do the song any favours, and I don't remember Kendrick Lamar being on this song - I think he was removed from the radio version. Anyways, he's a shit vocalist, a shit lyricist and has an incredible amount of gall to jam his shitty fucking lyrics from one of his shitty songs onto this stinker. Get this MELANIN-INCLINED INDIVIDUAL the FUCK outta here. "Wildest Dreams" is another okay cut, though at this point I've exhausted just about everything I can say about this music. Vocal melody competent, instrumental unremarkable. Boom, bring out the next tune. That's the last noteworthy song? Oh well. Pack it up, boys. Book time. Megahit (no surprises there). The rest of the book entry is just interview quotes. Hmm. HMMMMMM. I'm not sold on this inclusion yet. Wikipedia reveals that this was a stylistic shift, which doesn't wow me given that she effectively sold out her image. Influential within the synth-pop revival of the 2010s, which also doesn't impress me. Solid critic backing with a surprise re-appraisal. Uh, yeah. Under slightly different circumstances I would be snubbing this one, though I have an incredibly slim number of albums that I can replace it with. I suppose there's some merit to hearing this one given how massive Taylor Swift is, though I'm doubtful as to whether her music will be remembered once she exits the limelight.

Soulless Starbucks pop

OK, I suppose. Shake it off is the only one I enjoyed though, has a beat and a decent tempo

Not my style

Only gets a second star because this list has introduced me to worse music. Overproduced and irritating

#136/1001. I don't think I've never listened to a whole Swift album. Many friends with good musical taste have become swifties, so why not give it a fresh listen. But the 2nd or third song the pattern was more or less clear: too perfect pop songs meant for stadiums of swifties, or dancing at your home on a fake white oak-patterned floor holding an alcohol free bacardi mojito on your hand. The songs are so perfect there is no guessing how they will turn out and play, a feature I am sure millions of her fans expect and want. More danger please. I really tried, but this is not for me.

Eh

A few catchy melodies, but so formulaic and entirely uninteresting to me.

Taylor's music is what unseasoned, boiled to the point of being stringy chicken tastes like.

It’s tired and obvious to dunk on Taylor Swift. I appreciate there is genuine song craft here and lots of catchy hooks. Don’t hate it but don’t like it either.

Couple undeniable songs on here. I like the ones that make feel like a teenage girl. Also if only tay tay met me back then, we could have been great.

Shake It Off is a rock solid modern pop single, and some of the other tracks on here are as good as anything else her peers have to offer. Not really my music, of course - it's all just a bit self-absorbed - but the quality shines through and Swift has the charisma and charm (and success) to suggest she is the real deal. It's all right, but, as you might have guessed, not something I'd choose to listen to.

I just don’t get the Taylor Swift hype. Every song sounds the same, her style is super basic, and her voice? Nothing special. And somehow she’s a billionaire off this? Meanwhile Lady Gaga actually has talent and a voice that blows you away. And the private jet thing… she’s zipping around the U.S. like it’s no big deal, while we peasants struggle with soggy paper straws to “save the planet.” Peak basic. I’ll happily die on this hill.

Standard adult contemporary radio fare. People act like she's the second coming of christ but her lyrics are middle school poetry at best. I just don't get the hype. My niece loves her, though, so I'll give this a 2.

Shake it off and black space are fun, but this album really didn't necessarily age that well. A lot of themes return in modern pop songs which just do this more interestingly

Very generic pop. Has a couple bops, but the album is way too long and drags so I didn't feel like I could give it a third star.

Glossy pop.

It was ok

I do my best to keep an open mind when listening to the albums presented before me, but this was one that was unexpected. I'll say there is some good stuff, but for the most part it feels like listening to a hospital room. Very sterile and inoffensive.

well, first time I listened to Taylor Swift. Nothing but respect for an artist that can outsell the Beatles, but... maybe I need to listen to it many more times to get the appeal?

An entire album of overplayed earworms I’ve heard too many times to count already.

Oh boy, take 2…I’m going to stick to my cranky old man policy and keep ignoring Ms.Swift. I am happy not knowing a single song of hers. Could be the greatest album ever and I’d still pass. She gets 2 stars for her celebrity.

Blank Space. Essa é boa, viu?

Basic is what comes to mind

servicable pop music

Shake it off slaps

Extremely mediocre and repetitive. I had heard these songs many times before and didn't realize that it was Taylor Swift. Also, there's like one theme in this album and it's "I'm too crazy for this world and that's why you can't love me." Well maybe do something about it then. This falls into my genre of people like this to fit in as opposed to actually liking it, just like the Grateful Dead currently. Just have the community and drop the cult of personality. This is a lot of sophomore year drama that really only exists because people watch too much reality TV and think it's normal to always be in an argument whereas that's extremely aberrant behavior. Just exist, be thankful for what you have, love each other, and be happy.

So, I listened. I knew like half of these songs already? Overall, cringe songwriting and the music sounds like it should be left in 2014 forever. This is the downfall of decent pop. Shake It Off and Bad Blood are not that bad.

Een aantal nummers zijn geschreven door Max Martin, de Zweedse pop producer, dus was dit ideaal om eens op te leggen tijdens mijn reis naar Zweden. Misschien dat ik de Swiftie hype beter begrijp na een volledig album te beluisteren, maar helaas. I'll never be a Swiftie 1.5/5

But why?

Sorry Swifties. This isn't my thing at all. I've heard worse but this wasn't made for schlubs like me.

I understand why this album is on here, but I did not need to listen to it before I died. The only thing the songs have going for them is that they’re catchy - and all the catchiest songs I’ve already heard over and over on the radio. I should admit that I’m not really a pop person so I’m definitely not the target audience. I found the synths and drum tracks cheesy. I’m sure she can sing but they’ve done so much to her vocals it’s like they don’t think she can. The whole thing seemed overproduced. Didn’t feel like a single real emotion in the whole album. I’m not giving it a 1 because I will absolutely sing along to the catchy ones. I just don’t think being catchy is the same as being good. Fav song: Blank Space Least fav: How You Get The Girl

I tried, listened to the whole thing. I appreciate musical talent and songwriting prowess ecc but if I never hear a TS song again it will be too soon - girly bubblegum pop noooot my thing ICK.

Meh, some songs were B from the Ps but it just sounded like a very long jcpenney ad

Some of this is decent, good even, but the vast majority is just modern pop drivel.

I tried to listen to this with an open mind. I get that it's probably better than your average pop album made by a former Nickolodean kids star, but at the end of the day, it's still a pop album made by someone who might as well be a Nickelodeon kids star. Plus, she's a Florida Panthers fan, and that is unforgiveable.

Favorite song: Wonderland (on DLX) and Out of the Woods Nostalgia. It's fine. It's better than a basic corporate pop album but it's not fantastic. It was perfect when I was 7 and I still know all the lyrics to most of the songs but outside of that context it's just classic Taylor Swift. Bad blood has a really good music video, it's just really fun and Kendrick's verse is still good. Wildest dreams can burn and die. I really don't like 'How you get the girl's it feels too corporate pop. The ending to 'I know places' feels very anticlimactic and like it doesn't quite fit the vibe of the end of the song. By the end I was just tired of it.

Catchy tunes, but this is fluff from a narcissist.

Cool

I am far from a Taylor Swift hater but this is her at her most radio-friendly and unoriginal

eh, I knew a swiftie once and this has soured any chance of enjoying her music Will I listen to again: 0%

Die krankzinnige aantallen 'plays' op Spotify. Die nietszeggende nummers. Ik snap het echt niet. Niks voor mij. Ik word te oud. "Shake it Off" is wel catchy, "Wildest Dreams" in de verste verte wel interessant qua productie.

well it's a flaweless pop album. too bad i'm not into pop music

If this album was a spice, it would be sparkly flour

I’m not a swift hater or anything but this all sounded super dated to the mid 2010s. Like a compilation album of songs that played in commercials for the gap.

How easy is it to judge the world's top artist of the last... 10 years, maybe? "The bigger the star, the bigger the target", said Michael Jackson. I'll try to be fair in my judgement as I do with all the other artists and not just drop hate on her work for no reason. In a technical aspect, the album is very simple. The songs structure is very repetitive and predictable, almost screaming "2014!". This is not exclusive to Swift, neither to the last decade, since I could say the same thing about, for example, Buddy Holly. The part that really makes me downgrade this album is the lyrical aspect, they can be unbelievably bad sometimes and sound very silly, even for early 2010s standards. What I can't deny, though, is Taylor's authenticity. I don't deny for even a minute that she really lives, believes and feels what she sings. On the other hand, that relates to another negative aspect of this album: its worldview is extremely broken and a general reflex of post-modern society's view on relationships. Everything and everyone is discardable and partners are often seen as just "players". With all of that, this album ends up not being an artistic disaster, but supports values I can't stand to. Its significance to the last decade certainly can't be denied and almost sounds like a soundtrack of that time. 5/10 (I analyse arts through a christian worldview, which, as a christian, I believe is the correct way to interpret the world.)

Odds are - that when 70% of your fanbase is girls between the ages of 5-25 you are not going to appeal to old dudes raised on Jam bands, blues and old school rock and roll. This did not beat the odds. It wasn't awful but I wouldn't go as far as to call it enjoyable.

Validated my disdain

Quite generic radio pop of it's time. Presumably good stuff in this category. I liked the Ryan Adams song to song version of this album way more.

Plays like an expensive producers pop record, sounds like it's put together by a committee, produced to sound current with retro sound. This has all the ingredients I dislike in modern popular music. Ms. Swift has a pretty voice.

I aint a hater man but I don't think it held up very well

It all started off quite pleasant and then lost its way halfway through before sort of just ending with a whimper.

Listens: 1 I do not much care for or understand the popularity of Taylor Swift, but I do recognize that she is both a cultural phenomenon and wildly popular. The subject matter of the songs on this album is not something I am interested in. The music is largely synthetic, which, while I do not inherently have any issues with (being an enjoyer of all manner of the electronica genre), I imagine she did not solely create. This may be a disingenuous criticism though, because I imagine Lorde or Lana Del Ray also fall into this category of working with producers to create melodies, and I enjoy some of their music. I may just need to listen to the album a few more times before really casting any further judgement.

I do not understand why is so much ado about Taylor Swift, when music presented on this album is just... an avarage pop music.

Never been a Swiftie and this did not convert me. It’s the most generic pop music.

This was actually harder to get through than I thought. I’ve heard most of these songs in isolation, but in one big lump their repetitive and over-produced nature really wore on me. I like her more recent folksy stuff far more. Standout track is: “Style”

didn't get it, thought she's meant to be a pop writing genius... I didn't like anything on this

You all already know my thoughts in detail about this

Not bad. I just feel indifference towards it. 2.5 stars

pls don't bring me back to the feeling of being in a forever 21 in 2014 ever again

2.5/5

I suppose it had to happen eventually. Whenever I talk about this "1 album a day" project with a friend he always asks, "any Taylor Swift yet?". I have never knowingly heard her before. How is that possible? I don't listed to broadcast music. My listening is normally "limited" to within the 3,200 hours of my own collection. "Expanding my musical horizons" (in the scope of "modern music") is why I am listening to recommendations from this site. So onto this, "1989" and Taylor Swift. Her voice is good, although it seems a bit over-processed. It is being manipulated electronically to a degree I find irritating. A shame as I suspect her voice doesn't need it. The tunes are catchy. I suppose that's good. But it's all a bit fluffy, even dare I say it, "Disney". I'd probably categorise it as "relentless, formulaic synth pop". It isn't that we're "not at home to Mr. Emotional Engagement", he isn't knocking at the door, in fact he may not even be in the same postal code. Is this the best she can do? I hope not, otherwise I am struggling to understand all the hype about this artist. Timeline... I've now got as far as track 6, "Shake it off" and my patience is wearing thin. The whole listening experience is starting to grate. A bit of variety would be welcome. 2/5. Unimaginative, over-produced, fluff. Decent vocal talent wasted. I'm sure it sold very well, but there's no depth.

First listen to this entire album. Was only familiar with "Shake It Off" which is an enjoyable tune. Leading up to that track, I was not moved much by any of the first five tunes. "Blank Space" was okay. After "Shake It Off" not much moved me. Sounds like computer generated music. The album simply did not move me. I do not believe I will listen to this again. Just not my cup of tea. That is what is great about music, there is something for everyone. This is not for me.

I'm not trying to be a hater for the sake of hating Swifties but this album, even (taylor's version) doesn't feel written so much as engineered. The electric drum kits boom boom bat us through focus-grouped pop bangers. There's a ton of hits on this album, but they all just sound flat.

heard

No matter how much I have tried, I just can't muster up any significant respect for Swift beyond being able to collaborate to create pop hits. I don't find any artistic significance to her work, and even trying to listen to her as pop music, I find her version unchallenging and bland. The best two songs off this album sound like Lana Del Rey rip-offs. I like plenty of pop music, but there is a way to do pop music in a way that isn't so entirely predictable and surface-level.

Taylor Swift is definitely one of the most hateable figures in modern pop music, both her music and her personality. But as much as it's cool and trendy to hate on her music, I stand by that while inconsistent, her discography does have some genuinely great stuff. However, this album is not that. This is the side of her that while inoffensive, is super generic and the lyrics are often really cringy.

An album loaded up with well-produced pop bang-hers, most of which I am not particularly moved by. Welcome To New York and Style are pretty good. She does have better albums later on so I will be giving this one a…

no taylor swift

This album usually comes with the idea that those who don't like it, hate it and those who like it, love it. But for me it was a very lukewarm experience. It constantly swings between saccharine but catchy guilty pleasures and unbearable slop that could interpreted as a reflection of the stale state of pop music at the time (more than 10 years ago). If this album were released today, it would be forgettable. Taylor Swift has better records.

I mean. Whatever. Really more interesting as a cultural touchstone, probably her last album before everything around her became so tense and weirdly organized, both from defenders and attackers. Like looking back on a simpler time. It's still quite simply her most "pop" album. No pop rock or pop country to make it go down a little easier. For the most part it's pretty forgettable but no bad per se

Sorry but I’m not going to listen to this one. I don’t do Taylor Swift. I did used to quite like this album when it came out because we used to dance to Shake It Off at the Zumba class my friend ran. I can’t deny there’s some super catchy pop tunes here. But I don’t want to pay it a revisit in the slightest.

Även om hon är duktig på att sjunga känns musiken otroligt simpel, bara baserat på detta album är jag lite förvånad över hur stor hon blivit

..

2.4, not as so bad as I thought

Now how I remember 1989.

Sensationally bland, I just don’t understand why she’s the global superstar that she is.

Really glad I got to sit down and listen to this album. Without it I don't think I'd have been able to get over the heartbreak I felt seeing Chad kissing that skank Brittany over by the bleachers. Well, loser- the jokes on you, because this album has helped me realise that I never needed you, your weirdly right angled mandible, or your bent cock. Plus everybody already knows Brittany has already caught herpes, after she tried noshing Bryce off at that drive-in movie. You know, the one where she coughed and ended up jamming a popcorn kernel in his japs eye. Anyway enought reviewing. I need to head out, treat myself right by making some reckless, drunken mistakes.. and see if can get that foreign exchange hunk with the ridiculous quiff and outrageous V neck to spit in my mouth and call me a bad girl.. or at the very least subscribe to my OnlyFans. Fuck you Chad.

Middle School nostalgia aside, I didn't have as much fun with this album as I hoped. But I guess that sums up my relationship with many "childhood" pop songs, I tend to see them through rose-tinted glasses until I, you know, actually listen to them again, and notice all the little things that I never paid attention to. Granted, a few songs here like 'Style' and especially the clunky 'Shake it Off' I always hated. And I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to pop music, especially early 2010s style, I'm a sucker for it. But this got grating quickly, primarily with the subject matter and production. Like seriously what the hell is going on with the beat on 'I Wish You Would', it sounds so much worse than everything else here. It just proves that there's more to good pop music composition than a catchy chorus - something Swift has in spades. It's not all so bad though, the opener 'Welcome to New York' was pretty good - maybe even the best song here. It was a cute little pop tune with a pleasant synth melody - I feel similarly about 'How You Get the Girl', a song that sort of reminds me of Carly Rae. 'Bad Blood' I enjoyed also...I've been familiar with this one and I was expecting to hate it but of all the big songs off this album ("big" being a funny word to use, the least streamed song here has well over 100 million) it was the one I enjoyed the most. I don't hate Taylor Swift, but the pop hits off this one just aren't her best, that is to say, there is no 'Cruel Summer' or 'Love Story' here. And, yeah, I am happy she switched to folk-pop in the early 2020s, it suits her.

Oh boy, a Taylor Swift album... she's the one who made the album that has "Frontier Psychiatrist" on it, right? Yeah, as you can probably tell, I'm not particularly enthused to be getting a Taylor Swift album this early on (and I've in fact been putting off listening this - for context, I was given this album on January 5, 2025, and I'm finally listening to it on January 29, 2025, like I knew I was going to fall off of doing this little challenge but goddamn I was hoping it wouldn't be this early on). And it's not that I hate Taylor Swift - I don't particularly mind when her songs come on the radio, though I think most of her songs I've heard from her are just okay - it's just that she's so overexposed that I am absolutely tired of hearing about her and people talking about every little thing she does... the perks of being the biggest pop-star in the world, I guess. But going back in time to 2014, Taylor Swift was undoubtedly a popular artist though I don't think she might've been considered the biggest pop-star in the world then (to me, it might've been Katy Perry before she entered her Witness era), and her sound appealed more to fans of country than fans of mainstream pop. But with her 2012 album Red, she started to show signs of shifting away from her country pop roots in favor of a general pop sound. Songs like "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" were hits, but songs like "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" felt like they were much bigger hits. So why not embrace a sound like those two songs that appeals to more people? And that leads us to the album of the hour, 1989, where Taylor cements completely shifts her sound to mainstream pop and... well, I didn't totally hate it, so I'll give it that. If you've never heard a Taylor Swift song but have heard any of the majority of pop songs within the last 10 years or so, this is what this album sounds like. Catchy melodies and lyrics about romance and break-ups, both without much in terms of artistry and being interesting. There are some songs that range from decent to good like "Style" and "Wildest Dreams", both of which feel different enough for me to remember (though these were also radio hits, so...), but for every interesting songs, there are more songs that are either boring as hell or just plain not good. "Shake It Off" was the lead single off of this album, and the lyrics, especially the chorus, were already cringe-worthy in 2014, in 2025 they're just absolutely embarrassing. Who decided to let the white girl write the lyrics "players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate"? The least I can be glad for is that there wasn't any rapper guest appearances here. Then there's "Bad Blood", a song that on the surface seems to be just another breakup song, but interviews and speculation seem to suggest this song is about Katy Perry and how she and Swift were apparently feuding at the time. And the lyrics reek of pettiness and Swift tries to paint herself as a victim, and people seem to only care because it's Taylor Swift, and I couldn't give any single shit about this feud between two famous women. These lyrics have also just aged poorly since Swift pretty much won the feud, so to speak, becoming the biggest pop-star in the world, while Katy Perry fell off with Witness and has truly bottomed out with 143. This is easily the worst song on the album. The rest of the album is just pretty boring, generic pop. Just too many songs about her romantic exploits and breakups, it gets really tiring. And the production is clean, which isn't a bad thing itself, but it's also very generic-sounding and plays it too safe, in fact, this album might be the progenitor of the generic pop song that has dominated the genre for the past decade. Thank God for artists like Charli XCX and Chappell Roan for reminding me that mainstream pop music can be good. While this album is just overall okay, it might've done more damage to the integrity of pop music than good. Maybe I hate Taylor Swift actually. But, hey, I finally listened to this album, and that makes me want to get caught up with the other albums I've been assigned, and I can eventually get through the rest of the challenge so I can listen to such great albums as... Devil Without a Cause by Kid Rock why the FUCK Favorite Track: "Style" Least Favorite Track: "Bad Blood"

Highlights: Blank Space, Wildest Dreams. In a nutshell: ambitious Not putting this album on the list would be foolish. Taylor set herself up for success by working alongside production and songwriting guns such as Shellback, Jack Antoff (St Vincent's MASSEDUCTION and Daddy's Home, Lorde's Melodrama, Lana Del Rey's NFR!) and Max Martin (credited for making 27 number one hits in 26 years. What in the fresh hell? How?!?!!). The songwriters make lazy and weak lyric choices such as rhyming "love" with "done" and "we never go out of style"? But pen awesome lines like "I'm a nightmare dressed as a daydream". I hope Taylor expands thematically with songwriting after 1989, because she sings about dreams and love too much. Overall: 4/10

I hate those swifties who look to her lyrics as gospel. She's not a good lyricist, her lyrics are elementary. But what did I expect? Nothing. It's over-produced and over-hyped tripe. If you want good lyrics google Gareth Paisey. It's primary school disco music and if I'm honest I can vibe to it, there is a reason she is so popular. I've always despised over-produced music, when each beat is made by a computer, I know that she can actually play instruments which is why I prefer her later stuff. But the fact that all her songs are autobiographical, that they are all her just complaining about her terrible life, it makes my ears bleed. It feels like she has no opinions, she's so inoffensive it's offensive. Yet, Shake It Off is a great pop song and is the only reason this is two stars. And I have to say she is a good singer, though I don't like her voice and never have, I can appreciate that.

Not bad, but not nearly at the peak of what Taylor can do. Her music isn't necessarily for me, but she has certainly found her audience.

Not my jam - but I like the economics of Taylor Swift. Caught in the middle of a technological change, she road the wave to glory. On this album - not sure if it came out before or after Lorde's Pure Heroin ?

I wanted to give this a chance and couldn’t get into it

Post 80's top 40 pop music absolutely sucks. "Take On Me" by Ah-Ha is better than anything Taylor Swift ever did. 2. (Feeling generous)

It's just too poppy.

I’m going to be diplomatic and just chalk this up as being most decidedly not for me. I’m not really in a position to opine on whether or not this is markedly better than other music of this ilk because I am pretty ignorant of modern pop and I am definitely not the target audience. My gut reaction was that these songs seemed very engineered to become anthems for teenagers and that’s fine. That’s what pop music is, music engineered to appeal to target audiences. When you compound that with Swift’s ubiquity, though, and the modern celebrity landscape in general, the sense I get is that I’m listening to a product far more than I am listening to a musician.

If I really cared for Swift's music, I would be absolutely over the moon with this album, but I see it for what it is, The perfect example of a carefully crafted, honed, and polished pop album sharpened to a razor's edge to surgically separate listeners from their money.

it was aight

243/1001 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

I admire Tay Tay as a businesswoman but wow is she a sad sack.

I’m sure Taylor started with humble beginnings and I don’t doubt her talent. It’s been great to see a female role model propelled to global stardom. I can’t doubt her influence or talent. I’m just not into it. PLUS with a $2 billion world tour just completed, it’s a shame she is not even sharing her talents with her paying audience. Don’t believe me? https://youtu.be/k8rMNMURShM?feature=shared

Over produced and not my thing at all. I get that hundreds of thousands of people in my demographic feel a strong emotional connection the Taylor Swifts music - but I just get nothing emotionally from her music or lyrics. I can certainly appreciate she is a stand out in her generation of musicians, an astute business woman and powerhouse performer, but this music feels so 'handled' that its lost its authenticity. I wonder if I’d enjoy it more if it was either a solo acoustic or band with her? This should be on the list - but I'm not interested personally - don’t come for me Swifties!

Fav song: Clean I would have given this a 1 star but you can hear it's been composed and recorded by the best team money can buy - the hits are arranged immaculately, and there's no denying how dominating the singles were in the charts. The reason why I give it such a low score though is mainly down to the dated production sound, instrument choice and down right almost embarrassing lyrical content. I cannot stress how exhausting it is to listen to an album where the lyrics are about almost the exact same thing in every song. I don't care about the highschool drama lifestyle and dating life of teenage girls and I don't understand why Taylor seems intent on singing about it ALL THE TIME. That being said, if these songs were sung over Country instrumentals they'd probably sound MUCH better, although I know Country isn't what teenagers want, and this is a $$$$$$$ album. The toplines and chorus hooks of each song are amazing though melodically speaking.

This is a lot better than I expected, the production really carries it and it has some strong singles. Like Yeezus but different. C

2- Stars (4/15)

I really wanted to say I was too harsh on this album before. I really wanted to be proven wrong. Unfortunately, even finishing was a tremendous force of will :/.

"Never play to the gallery… Never work for other people in what you do. Always remember that the reason that you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you felt that, if you could manifest in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist with the rest of society… I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations." quoted above is David Bowie's advice to young artists, advice which he gives in the 1997 documentary Inspirations. it's probably the single most important piece of advice I hold onto in my own pursuits as an artist, other than "you have more time than you think." it's also something I thought a lot about while listening to 1989. undeniably, Taylor Swift and the creative team(s) she's surrounded herself with have mastered the art of "play[ing] to the gallery." the numbers don't lie, whether it's on the charts or in the bank! it would be uncharitable of me to say something to the effect of, "well, nobody ever went broke appealing to the lowest common denominator," because the last thing I want to do is insult the intelligence or taste of anyone who might genuinely get a lot out of Swift's music. her most rabid fans get a bad rap, sometimes for good reason, but I know plenty of people—including other artists—who love all kinds of music and Taylor Swift! unfortunately for me, I'm just not the type of listener for whom her broad-strokes style of songwriting holds much appeal, if any. I acknowledge that the simplicity of her music is part of the appeal. her lyrics are replete with pretty surface-level similes. "I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream" made my eyes roll a little bit, but it speaks to a pretty universal feeling: covering up the pain we carry through life with an exterior of pleasantries. but, in that moment on "Blank Space" and many others throughout this album, I wish she was able to speak to these feelings and experiences with a little more specificity. but of course, specificity isn't the priority with Swift, especially not on this, the album which marks the completion of her transformation from country girl to pop icon. the main priority? to craft simple, catchy, well-produced, commercially successful pop songs. to the credit of this album, it achieves that goal with flying colors! (Max Martin knows what he's doing? big shock.) these are songs designed to be sung by stadiums' worth of people. within each individual track, Swift stays within about an octave of her vocal range, usually a little more. her melodies often stick to just a couple pitches, and a lot of the choruses are a single pitch repeated. most of the chord progressions are stock four-chord loops (I think the musicological term is "Axis progressions"?), and there's not a key change to be found on any of them. instrumentally, the album is pretty standard, too. it's mostly basic mid-2010s synthpop fare, with the occasional acoustic cut and some strings here and there. all of this is a winning formula for creating songs that millions of people of varying musical ability and knowledge can sing along with and connect to. however, I think it's a losing formula for capturing my own personal attention. for 13 tracks I pleaded with this album to throw some sort of curveball at me, and it never came. the vast majority of my favorite music features an artist or artists with unique perspectives (whether in sound or words), but since Swift has to engineer every song for mass appeal, her perspective is a secondary concern. I feel like I somehow know less about her than I did before I listened to this! I'm far from an anti-pop person, but there needs to be some kind of left hook if it's really going to grab me. "Style" was pretty alright. I should really listen to that new Billie Eilish album again. decent 4/10.

Listening to Taylor's version. Honestly tried to go in open-minded, I liked Shake It Off back in 2014. But actively disliking a few of the songs

i dont do taylor swift.

Pop n nonsense

I appreciate her song writing ability. Like so many hook masters, her albums are very peak and valley. But, here, Shake it Off is bona fide. What I can't stand is the electronic backing tracks. All robo-musica sounds so sterile to me. Give me her first album, or the first side of Red.

I would like to give her a chance, but it leaves me disengaged. Overproduced, overdetermined, personality-vacated high school romance politics, no sense of time or place evident, joins the crowded Cher-inspired pantheon of pop emptiness. Some highly skilled people made this happen, not least of all Taylor herself. She may have a great personality--wish I could see some of it.

Don’t get me wrong, the girl can write a catchy tune. She has skills and has proven her longevity in the songwriting game. However, for me there is a total disconnect. Most of her songs just sound the same and I like my love songs a bit more Robert Smith than vanilla ice cream. It’s all a bit bland, but occasionally, there is something and I feel a slight engagement, like Shake It Off. That’s fun! But the rest I have absolutely no emotional connection to or excitement about. Her millions of fans would disagree with me but then I don’t think I’m the target audience.

Man, I wanted to love this. TS fans are... enthusiastic, and I was hoping to catch some of that passion. But sadly, that did not happen. I feel like I'm broken or something because people love this so much and to me it just seems so generic and lifeless. I guess I'm lacking the joy gene. This music is produced to within an inch of its life, and her singing is so utterly lacking in personality, it's hard to connect with. These songs feel like they were created by committee. Give me Lana del Rey or Weyes Blood or Olivia Rodrigo or Billie Eilish or Boygenius. Shake it Off is fun, but the rest of it: meh. I'm sorry, Marianne. I tried.

As plan as porridge. Tell me what I'm missing, guys.

Maybe like 2 good songs otherwise meh not great

My daughter would give it 5/5 but I can't listen to this all day. 2/5

I find this album unbelievably dull. Each song feels like it's intended to be an anthem hit where the crowd can easily sing along, but there is no sauce in many of these songs. They're very safe and stereotypical pop lyrics, too, which doesn't feel too genuine. I wanted to give this a fair shot because I've had a hard time getting into pop, but this album falls into most of the pitfalls that keep me away. Perfectly listenable, offensively inoffensive. I won't get mad at hearing it on the radio, but I don't think I'd actively seek it out. Shake It Off and New Romantics are my favorite here, and I also liked "Slut!".

Cotton Candy. It lures you in, using triggering multiple senses... sight, smell and taste. But even as you eat it, it collapses in your saliva. You receive the sensory response you thought you wanted, but it leaves you unsatiated. I worry that anyone who lives at the carnival doesn't receive the daily nourishment they need for healthy mind and body.

I gotta tell you- there’s nothing at all special or interesting about her music. Why the cult-like following? It’s cookie cutter, paint-by-numbers, bog standard, white girl pop music. And honestly, it’s just not that good.

Started off fairly pleasantly, Welcome to New York is catchy enough. Blank Space was groan inducing, though. A lot of the album was a pop slog inspired by the synthwave/electronica of the late 2000s. It wouldn't shock me that someone who never heard production like this would find it groundbreaking, but there's nothing here that's innovative. It's simply marketed to a large and musically ignorant audience. This music was designed to be catchy and it delivers here. I just wish there was something more substantial. This is by no means an original thought, but these vapid lyrics really bring it down for me. I also recognize just by virtue of being a man in my 30s, this album isn't really for me. It's not meant to be consumed as an album. This is a huge bag of jellybeans, not a full prepared and balanced meal.

This is so far from “Folklore.’ ‘Welcome to New York’ is a banger though.

It’s ok sounded fine good production but not for me

There are some good songs here and there, but the majority is just sufferable. Very generic pop. The good songs save it from being 1*.

I really tried. I tried so hard to not let other's reviews of this album influence my own. But I just can't ignore Taylor Swift's own remarks, and the rabid musical ignorance of fans of this album. Saying that this music is 80s inspired could be technically true, but anyone who has given an even cursory listen to 80s pop, especially synth pop, would know that comparing this album to it is frankly offensive. Just using synths doesn't suddenly make this 80s music. This is the most safe pop garbage I've had the misfortune of listening to. Without looking at the history at all, I guessed this album's release year within a year because it has such a hyper specific, dated sound that really only existed from 2011 to 2014. This doesn't sound like 80s pop, anyone saying so is frankly extremely ignorant and confidently incorrect. And that sound of 2011-2014 is so extremely fucking irritating, it's ridiculous. Only Blank Space saves this album from a 1. At least it's not Bjork.

This is the first Taylor Swift album I listen to from beginning to end. I was impressed, she is a really good story teller and uses very good imagery in her lyrics. I can understand her appeal. I am glad I listened to this album and can see why she is a star. Even though it's not my typical choice of music I enjoyed the listen.

Where do I even begin? To be honest, I never really paid much attention to Taylor Swift, so I didn’t have much of an opinion about her in the past. But recently, she’s started embodying everything I can’t stand about superstardom. The grandstanding and arrogance of massive celebrities, who suddenly think they have all the answers to the world’s problems, really turns me off. When public figures like her start making political statements, I just feel like they’re overstepping. It’s like they reach a certain level of fame and suddenly believe they have to tell everyone what to think and do. On that alone, I’d love to give this album a low rating. Now, musically, this album was way too commercial, polished, and glitzy for my liking. But I will say, it was interesting to hear such a strong ’80s synthpop influence, especially compared to her more country-oriented albums. As a 43-year-old man, this feels like music aimed at suburban teenage cheerleaders, but I have to admit, she worked with some top-notch producers who clearly knew what they were doing. While it’s too commercial and manufactured for my taste, that’s exactly what they were going for, and they nailed it. So, while it falls short of the middle ground for me, I still have to give credit where it’s due.

Impressive number of songs on this album made it to charts and radio. But too shallow and basic pop for me.

“Welcome to New York” sounds like an AI generated song for a cheap promotional video for the city and is a baffling choice as an album opener. This turns out to be a recurring theme - the instrumental track on “Style” sounds like the royalty-free music that would play over a hastily assembled slideshow of services offered at a bougie suburban strip mall salon. “This Love” makes me feel like I’m watching a toxic couple’s reunion on a trashy reality TV show. There are moments of “Out of the Woods” where Jack Antonoff’s production almost shines through but it ultimately loses its battle against the many things working against this track’s favor. The same can be said for “I Wish You Would” - Antonoff’s fingerprints are immediately recognizable but even his pop genius can’t redeem Swift’s extremely grating vocal phrasing and unimpressive “pipes”. I was alive during 2014 so “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood” were already familiar to me and are the songs I dislike least on this album. They exhibit Swift at what she excels at: catchy, vapid, annoyingly self-effacing pop music, which is arguably less tiresome than everything she has done since. But this is about 1989. Sadly “Shake it Off” was also already familiar to me and it’s as terrible as it’s ever been. That spoken word interlude is truly laughably bad. “I Know Places” best exemplifies her style that I can only describe as ‘phrasing’ that is possibly my least favorite thing about her music. The timing with which she delivers the lyrics on this track in particular hit me like a shot of room-temperature bottom-shelf tequila. Actually made my face contort. Something that stands out to me listening to this album is how truly meh TSwizzle’s voice is compared to her worldwide megapopularity. Her range is exceptionally narrow and attempts to work on the upper or lower ends sound very breathy and effortful. Her lyrics epitomize “I’m 14 and this is deep” memes. How many times does she mention wearing red lipstick in the span of 45 minutes? Overall, Swift offers some of the strongest evidence for the idea that our society rewards mediocrity in white folk. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever listened to but it’s very grating vocally and lyrically and most of the production feels lazy. 3/10

Lots of pop.

My first thought when seeing this album: what's this doing on this list? My thoughts after listening: what's this doing this on this list?

It was alright. Just not my genre

There's a lot of great and interesting pop right now, so quite how Taylor Swift is the biggest artist in the world when her songs are just so aggressively bland, I'll never know. The production's admittedly very clean but it's just so unrelentingly boring, and I found myself begging the arrangement to do something even remotely exciting. There are a couple of good tracks on here, I find Blank Space and Shake It Off to be the best, but neither of them are really that great, and I almost found myself bored to tears during the worst parts, like How You Get the Girl and Clean. And I swear if I hear another I–V–vi–IV I'm going to go insane.

Lyrically vapid poison eating away at the fabric of society. But it’s damn catchy.

Another Taylor Swift..hell yeah, using a private spotify session on this one. Not for me, it's somehow too sweet and bland at the same time. This is the second Swift album I have had to listen to for this undertaking. This first one had me desperately desiring the end of the album. This one made me eager for the album but I didn't hate the experience,so there was an improvement.

Je wendt je één keer tot god, en de bitch komt met deze reactie. Hij laat even zien wie baas is. Maar deze eindbaas van een plaat moest toch doorstaan worden, als een sprong onder een koude douche. De plastic pop diva, die recentelijk folk muziek omarmt. Maar dit was echt prime Taylor Swift. Met nummers als 'Blank Space' en 'Shake It Off', die elke muzieksnob - die z'n uiterste best doet om haar te ontlopen - gewoon wel van A tot Z kent. En toegegeven, ze is een ster in wat ze doet. De muziek reflecteert geen serieuze maatschappelijke thema's, breekt niet met een patroon waardoor muziek kan door evolueren, en er valt geen instrumentele of vocale virtuositeit te bespeuren. Maar een gros van de songs zijn wel echt earworms. De twee reedsgenoemde liedjes zijn generieke pop-heaven. Maar ik kwam moeilijk door m'n post-'Shake It Off' dip heen, die zo vervelend infectious is dat Pharrell Williams er wel iets mee te maken moet hebben. Dat tweede deel begon het me wel echt te irriteren en te vervelen dat werkelijk waar elke song dezelfde opbouw heeft naar een refrein - met vaak het zelfde melodietje - en Taylor die de songtitel een keer of 10 herhaalt. Bij 'Out of the Woods' trapte ik er nog in, en vermaakte ik me prima, daarna kwam het al snel m'n strot uit. But we gotta pay respect to our legends: 6,5/10 Highlights: Blank Space Out of the Woods Shake It Off

Oh, god. Hoe gaan we dit doe Wanneer zet je dit als zelf-respecterend-muzieksnob nu aan? In de volle spits-trein? Tijdens het werk? Met het risico dat mede kantoor gangers je betrappen? Op een weekendje weg met de familie? Dan moet dat vergelijkbaar zijn met een coming-out. Of gewoon thuis dan? Terwijl vriendin lief staat te koken? Gewoon even lekker Taylor op je oortjes. "Want ik moet deze van een recensie voorzien." Ik voel teveel ongemak hierbij. Taylor Swift is de meest zoete popmuziek waar je als 'liefhebber' verre van wil blijven. Dus hoe voorkom je nou die gêne als je hier naar luistert? Of is is dit volledig te wijden aan alle vooroordelen die bepalen dat ik het ongemakkelijk vind om dit 'gewoon even lekker aan te zetten'. Taylor Swift beoordelen puur op kwaliteit van de muziek is onmogelijk. Natuurlijk is dat ook zeker niet de reden van haar populariteit. Er zijn veel betere zangeressen. Pop, folk of country. Er zijn knappere vrouwen, er zijn inspirerendere voorbeelden, er zijn betere teksten te bedenken. En de muzikale omlijsting is wel het laatste wat uniek is aan Swift. Zij is zo pop, zo mainstream, zo 'normaal', dat dáár de aantrekkingskracht voor de Swiftie in zit. Ze doet précies wat je verwacht. Plaat na plaat, show na show. Na 3x checken of mn oortjes goed waren aangesloten dan toch maar 1989 in de trein opgezet. Beetje stress-zweterig stiekem zodat niemand mij bezig ziet of kan liplezen welke zoete pop-tune ik stiekem meezing. Want 1989 staat boordevol pop-bangers waar je onmogelijk aan hebt kunnen ontsnappen het afgelopen decennium. En die dan !dus toch! voor een stukje nostalgie zorgen... Op 1989 staat veels te veel, 61 minuten aan pop-hits is echt niet nodig en in mijn ongemakkelijke toestand een hele opgave. Toch kan ook ik niet ontkennen dat de plaat volstaat met earworms en er weinig voeding is om de plaat helemaal de grond in te schrijven. Omdat snob-Youri het ook aandurfde, durf ik mijn ongemak ook maar onder ogen te komen. 2 sterren voor de dame die voor altijd aan ons muziek-tijdperk, onze generatie, zal kleven. We hebben het met haar te doen, laten we het dan toch maar (stiekem, een beetje) omarmen. 5,5/10 Highlights Blank Space Bad Blood

I said to James I'd go into this with an open heart and mind, I did, and I'm sorry but I remain unmoved about Taylor Swift. I just DON'T GET IT. I like certain songs, the catchy ones, but on the whole I just find it so beige bland and boring. I feel nothing about about a majority of the music. To compare to recent pop that absolutely SLAPS - have you heard Chappelle Roan? The clever lyricism and musicality are just miles ahead of Swity, in MY opinion. I so get what Chappelle Roan is about from her music, I don't at all from Taylor Swift. What I'm saying is I can love and appreciate pop music - I don't at all think I'm above it, I'm not being snob it's just not for me.

I’m sure if you like this sort of thing it’s great - not for me though

Taylor Swift is a huge artist, but I honestly think it shows the state of the music industry these days that she is so huge. If she was around in the 80s she (and this album) would be fairly run of the mill. She's a female Ed Sheeran!

it’s a pretty good album and i listened to it a lot when i was younger. don’t get me wrong. but some of the pop hits are just so repetitive and generic, i do think this is the origin point of taylor making uninspired music chasing hits. some songs are great, it’s polished, but there is better taylor swift music. i give it a 2 for my personal feelings about her discography, i think this is more of a 3

This is the other side of the coin of guys listening to heavy music and fantasizing about saving someone. This is so purposefully built to be successful it isn't even music anymore but it makes sense to include something like this on the list. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep there's a device that people can select emotions on and then for the duration they fell them. It's to show how hollow the world became and how even the strive to experience was taken as a dosage vs something organic. Listening to these tracks feels like each song is a button on that machine.

It's solid but very conventional, especially the production. How you get the girl goes hard.

“1989” is the fifth studio album by the world's most famous singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift. I think there is no doubt that it is the album that has generated the most discussion in her professional career. This is because of everything that has been generated around the album from the moment of its release. The change she has to pop, the historical change in the streaming platforms that it generates and the new audience that listens to this sound related to Synthpop are some of these things that came into discussion. In the last few years the non-synthpop community had a rather uncontrolled hatred for this album, but why this hatred? It's simple, it broke records. Everything that breaks records in art related fields usually comes into discussion in questions of if it deserved it, if it is really good or simply from the side that they don't share at all. “1989” crushed all of its competition that year, even one of the most important albums in history such as Kendrick Lamar's ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’. But here I am not questioning if it deserved these awards or records, I am questioning if it is really a good project. Because it is a before and after in the modern era is undeniable, but its quality is relative to its influence? I don't think so. Musically, this Taylor's album leaves much to be desired. I consider her to be a pretty neat artist when it comes to delivering albums. I don't consider her a bad artist by any means, but I do feel that this is a project “to seize the moment”. I mean she took advantage of the Synthpop boom and her already large audience and released this album that was made for the commercial masses. You can see it in his production, a production in some cases quite boring and monotonous. I have already said it, Jack Antonoff seems to me a very mediocre producer and this is one of his projects where you can see the lack of ideas. Although he has some very well produced tracks, most of them are not. But it is not only to blame him, Taylor's performances are not the most lucid either vocally or lyrically. There are some outstanding songs like “Style” or “Wildest Dreams”, but there are some songs where her performance is too characteristic and basic. In short, a project that is both over-hyped and over-rated. Over-hyped by the more hip hop affiliated community and over-rated by the performing media. I say this even though these terms seem really stupid to me.

I don't hate Taylor Swift, hate is a strong word. I do however think her music is simplistic and only interesting to children. She can write a catchy pop song, but her success is disproportionate to her talent in my humble opinion

Ok

Came in with a positive attitude, but quickly worn down. What was going on with the production in pop in the 2010s? It's really overproduced, and the sound - that slight autotuning - is mostly bland and often awful. Interesting to hear the 80s touches, but it pales in comparison to the best of that decade. Some obvious talent, and a couple brighter tracks - Shake It Off, Bad Blood etc, but otherwise pretty disappointing. Now the wait to find out if my nieces forgive me...

I’ve heard a good chunk of these before but this is my first Taylor album. Sorry to say but I’ll remain firmly in the hate train. I get the appeal but she is just not for me, and I really struggle with pinpointing my lack of enjoyment. Maybe because she’s so overexposed, but it just feels like the most lifeless and corporate pop music you could create. As an outsider it just feels like her entire identity is her brand, and there’s no real person being expressed in these songs. Maybe I’m just a hater but lord knows she doesn’t need my listens to continue her success

Very divisive artist, you either love her or hate her. Im not a huge fan of this sort of pop, heavily over produced and a bit repetitive. First time listening through entirely. 2.0

Det här är musik meningslöst. Fick lyssna mycket på High School Musical när ettan var liten. Skulle kunna vara ett soundtrack från Disney. Hitsen är okej men det är trist i övrigt. Har hört att Swift var en riktig bajskorv i skolan. Rik och dryg men hon kompenserar iallfall det med att ta politisk ställning idag och vi kan ju hoppas att hon uppmanar sina fans att rösta i vinter.

Flera låtar är tyvärr helt eller delvis generisk radiomusik/listpop, som jag verkligen är allergisk emot (exempel är Blank space och I wish you would). Det är synd eftersom Taylor uppenbarligen har talang och sjunger bra. Ska dock sägas att det finns ett par låtar som har lite mer karaktär och därmed sticker ut åt det positiva hållet. Tycker t ex Wildest dreams och Clean är okej. Även Shake it off och Bad blood är hyfsade. Att hon hyllas som en stor textförfattare är helt obegripligt, åtminstone om denna skiva är representativ. Det är till stora delar uttjatade kärleks- och relationstexter som ChatGPT skulle kunna ha skrivit. Sammanfattningsvis är det egentligen inga stora fel på hantverket i sig, men det är musik som verkligen inte väcker någonting hos mig. Förstår dock att den kan uppskattas av osofistikerade människor (läs barn), alternativt vuxna utan själ. Stark tvåa.

Some of the songs are very nostalgic for me but after listening to this album I've come to the conclusion that it isn't for me. There are other pop singers/pop albums in modern day that I love and this just isn't that one. Still has some good bobs here and there though.

Better than I thought it would be.

Welcome to New York 3 Blank Space 2.3 Style 3.1 Out of the Woods 2.4 All You Had to Do Was Stay 2.3 Shake It Off 3.2 I Wish You Would 2.3 Bad Blood 2.8 Wildest Dreams 2 How You Get the Girl 1.9 This Love 2.4 I Know Places 2 Clean 2.1 Score: 2.446153846

I don't like this at all. But it is a teeny-weeny star better than Adele. Like half a star better. Or a very distant star ... that has probably fizzed away by now. "He's so tall. And handsome as hell." Poetry this is not.

'Darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a Daydream'. A great songwriter? Really? I love swifts, and swallows too, but not Taylor Swift.

Bland.

Although I understand the appeal of this album to her plethora of fans, this album wasn’t made for me and that’s ok. Proud of myself for making it to the end of this lol

This album was OK, it's filled with pop jams and I see why people like it. It's not really my style. I don't really relate to any of the lyrics and I don't think they're particularly profound or interesting. I wouldn't put this on again. 4/10

Sometimes a great album can sound generic and unoriginal because of how much music since has been influenced by it. This sounded generic and unoriginal in 2014.

Taylor Swift is my L’il Sebastian. Blank Space, Shake it Off, I Wish You Would and Bad Blood are all good enough songs. I don’t mind a wingy album or a relationship/love album but when you mix them both together I get tired and just start thinking, “Hey, you’re the common denominator here, maybe explore that?” And the album never does. On a funny note, in Clean Taylor sings about a “Wine-stained dress”. I heard “Winestein-ed dress” which would have made for an interesting song.

Her shift to pop from country fully complete, this album didn't age well and compared with other contemporaries feels a bit weak and propped up by her cult of personality more than artistic merit.

I pointed out the dearth of female artists on this list so far, averaging only about 1/25. Then, as if in response, the list gave me a female artist this week! But because God has a sense of humor, it was Taylor Swift. Be careful what you wish for. I guess I'll just go ahead and get this out of my system now, for this, the first Taylor Swift album I'm encountering on this list. Because apparently there will be others. The thing about Taylor Swift as a cultural phenomenon is that she is absolutely inescapable, and her ubiquity only grew even stronger these last two years (2023-2024). Everything I know about her I know against my will. Her marketing team must be just about the best on earth, to be able to forge a legion of such parasocial followers on the back of such basic pop music. Some people lose their damn minds over Taylor Swift. I detect a social pressure to like her music, like I'm always being nudged toward it somehow. I never felt like anyone was wrong for liking her, but I somehow feel “wrong” for not being a fan. My sister, who is younger and more firmly in the millennial cohort, has a harder time. We've talked a few times about this, and we joke about it, but it's hard for her to forge female friendships without Taylor Swift being brought up at some point in the early stages, by the other gal, as a potential bonding point. And woe betide any young woman or girl, like my sister, who is less than enthusiastic about Taylor Swift. She may be viewed suspiciously or even hostilely by her peers. She may be seen as a “Pick Me,” her dedication to feminism may be called into question, she may be seen as suffering from internalized misogyny! All because she is less than enamored of some middle-of-the-road pop music seemingly designed in a Nashville lab to be as appealing as possible to as many people as possible. So Taylor Swift the cultural phenomenon sort of exhausts me, and her fans baffle me with their extreme passion over something so (imo) bland. This was the baggage I carried into this review. But since I had never sat down and listened to one of her albums, I was actually quite eager to see what it would be like. I've heard a lot of her singles, just by being out and about in the world, and they always seemed to just exist in the background, not something I could muster up love or hate for. But I feel like I genuinely came into this album listen with an open and curious mind. However, it was soon clear that I was vindicated in my initial feelings about her music. And as I continued throughout the album, my disappointment and exasperation grew. I was so hoping to be surprised and delighted by something, but it was pretty much all in the vein of the things I had already heard. Insipid. Flat. Monotone. Childish. Tweaked to perfection but lacking a soul. Undeserving of the hype. Oh, well. I love a great pop song, but there are other pop artists who can do what she is trying to do much better. The fact that there are multiple Taylor Swift albums on this list and not one Whitney Houston album, for example, is a travesty. I'm beginning to understand why Kanye, who can't always control his impulses, intercepted her award.

Well we knew it was coming. Its 2024 and I have never listened to a single solitary Taylor Swift song all the way through. I'd heard snippets here and there but just never really got what all the hype was about and never really was drawn in by anything I'd heard. Now I understand why. Taylor has a decent voice. I didn't hear prominent use of auto tune on her voice in this album so that's a plus for me. The problem is, the album is dry. Other words to describe this album.... monochromatic, repetitive, unimaginative, formulaic, manufactured. It's sounds like mainly processed predictable melodies. No dynamics. Really not trying to sound mean, but at about song number 4 or 5 I found myself wanting to turn it off. Towards the last few songs I was hoping it was near the end of the album. Think of the dynamic contrast between this and the the king of pop on the Bad album. I kept thinking that there were a host of other female artists that simply do the whole electro pop thing a lot better than what is presented in this album. Here's a list of these ladies/female fronted bands that I think present something superior and simply more interesting to Swift in this same listening space. Ladyhawke, Haim, The Start, Goldfrapp (particularly the Head First album), The Sounds, The Aces and JJamz (Z Berg was great with The Like). Taylor is apparently worth 1.3 billion and as of now I am not sure why. Maybe people are seeing something that I don't.

I can't say I liked this, but it's not really made for middle aged dads either. It's just so mediocre. It's catchy, but only on the surface. The instrumentation has no soul. The lyrics are laughably bad at several points. It's just incredibly sterile pop. Compare to someone like early and mid career Madonna and you see the lack of balls. I know it's got teen girls, but it really seems to be for pre teens. Before kids understand anger, fear, oppression, horniness, really any real feelings. The adults that are in to this are the real frightening ones. Anyways, I'll give a 2 because I reserve 1s for things that I find to be so bad I'm mad it exists. This isn't that.

Could have been any one of a number of modern female singers as far as I'm concerned. Yes it was palletable, but nothing special. Can't really see it being worth more than 2.

I swear I'm not a hater, I just don't care. "Blank Space" is an all-timer, though.

I go into all my reviews with an open mind. I'm not listening just for the sake of listening, I really want to expose myself to more music. She makes some good music - some. Not all, but some. Blank Space and Shake it Off are fine. Welcome to New York is not - bad blood was alright. Just not for me but im not her demo. It's fine

I guess I'm still not a Swifty

Not into it, really did try.

Простите, но я не женщина (я долбаеб) 4/10

I don't see what makes this album so highly regarded. I can definitely admit that it is well made, written and produced. But it just seems like the rest of the polished, mass produced pop music of the 2010s.

Don't believe the hype.

I tried to listen to this with an open mind. I do agree, given the change in artistic direction and cultural impact it had, that this album deserves to be on this list. That said, the 80s synth music is anodyne and the lyrics milquetoast. Anodyne because others have done it much, much better and milquetoast because the change in artistic direction didn't extend to the lyrics. It's the same "boyfriend who didn't measure up to my expectations" schtick that made Taylor a meme in the first place. I'd give this one star if it wasn't so impactful on the cultural zeitgeist for some reason.

Guilty pleasure for blank space, the rest is so boring

Hate the album art, pastiche music. Really boring

https://i.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExNjUyMDlhcjNldWV6NjNneDVkODJ2Nnc2Y3F2YzE1Y3d2czRxNXNjMyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/oiJ0Yf3sLucp2/giphy.gif There are some real earworms on this album, but as a whole it felt like a bunch of computer-generated filler. Really shallow lyrics, a race to get to the hook in every song, some really cringey 15-year-old ideas about romance. Honestly, this sounds like a more polished Rebecca Black. I have no idea how this album is held in such high regard--it feels like this was assembled in a corporate boardroom.

Clearly catchy tunes but just some vapid, low self esteem, and degrading lyrical content

Bonus star because it's my daughters favourite album

I listened to this album recently. I don't like Taylor Swift. But, for this, I tried to be impartial and tried to separate “art from artist” and try to listen to this. The album, really, started to kick off from the second track and I like its Pop sound and the beats were good! Her singing sounded good too. I enjoyed it musically. But, I was left to yearn lyrically, it just contained the same buzz words, “ex love, red lips, dress, being free, being happy” etc. It felt like listening to the same song over and over again lyrically, but, musically, they were distinct and good. So, I enjoyed the beats and production of this album and also, Taylor's singing and voice. So it's a good 2/5. Had it been for more diversity in lyrics, I would rate it 3/5.

I just couldn't listen to it, just too over produced and poppy

an uninspired classic

Melody and themes aren’t personally inspiring.

No thanks

4 / 10 Pop petardo de la novia de EEUU. No entiendo cómo pueden aguantar un disco entero.

Over produced and repetitive

Please Swifties don’t hurt me

The lyrics are just so annoying. Production is decent

The state of Pop in 2014. And pretty much today still. Well-produced, some catchy tunes, some forgettable ones, some decent lyrics, some cringey ones. At the end of the day... A bit forgettable despite the hits.

Jeg kendte flere sange end jeg troede. Det viser måske hvor svært det er at undgå det kæmpe popfænomen Ms. Swift er blevet. Jeg kan godt lide Taylor vokal. Så da musikken på dette album var trælst 80er synthet, hoppede jeg direkte til hendes Folklore album efter 1. gennemlytning af 1989.

This album has a lot of nostalgic value because almost all the tracks were hits when I was a child. I was never super into Taylor Swift then and I most definitely am not now. I liked Shake it Off and Style though but I can quickly become sick of it because of how overplayed they are. Won’t listen again at will.

This album isn't for me because it isn't for me. I am not a rich white woman that bounces through relationships. Her trials are real, but I can't relate and the saccharine music doesn't help me relate.

Jag försöker lyssna med öppet sinne men det är inte särskilt bra. Hört många låtar då radiokanaler inte har någon variation. Tycker synd om ungdomar som inte får ha en egen smak utan blir påtvingade detta genom olika medier och då inte förstår hur mycket annan bra musik som finns.

I feel like I came into this with the honest intent to give it a fair shake, knowing I am not the target demographic. I did not enjoy it, but I understand why it has an audience. It is sort of the daytime tv or soap opera of music, simplistic writing and production, incredibly approachable, it lacks any real depth but that isn’t really what the audience is looking for. It is relatable, non-confrontational, and for much of her audience, nostalgic for their youth. The themes of troubled relationships or wanting for a better romantic situation than you have are universal, and obviously her personal life is incredibly public so fans who are engaged can follow her relationships just as they would the characters of a show. I don’t think her voice is anything special or unique, but it is good. The tracks, particularly the singles, are repetitive and anybody could sing along after a listen or two. For some people, that is the experience they want from their music listening, and though I want different things, I cannot fault them. I’m not going to sit here on a pedestal and pretend all my favorites are super unique or deep either, one of my top artists last year was Fall Out Boy, so, you know, glass houses and all that. With that said, my personal experience of the album was that it is rather shallow and unexciting. My closest points of comparison are Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion and Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS, two albums I quite enjoy, and recognize as likely being influenced by Swift’s work (particularly GUTS). Emotion has the same synthy 80’s vibe of this album, but it is pulled off much better with more complex arrangements that make the instrumentals a treat on their own. Something about the percussion on 1989 sounds like everything was straight out of an audio sample pack on a drum machine, where EMOTION adds some sweeping sax and more filtered vocals to match the period it is emulating. Rodrigo’s GUTS borrows more from punk influences and has an edge that I understand Swift does get closer to in later records, but this album is so rounded at the edges that it doesn’t hit the same. Perhaps I will feel differently about her as an artist if I get to a more mature album of hers, as this one could not get out of a saccharine place even in the most derisive or “angry” tracks like Bad Blood. GUTS covers all the same themes, but it is more raw and honest, and frankly, the explicit language is a part of that to me. Basically, as one of my only points of reference for her work, 1989 is not a particularly compelling reason for me to delve further into Swift’s catalogue, as everything this album does for those that love it has been done better for me elsewhere.

Pop Bible. Quintessential Taylor and a time capsule.

After nothing but 1960s - 1980's classic rock albums for weeks upon weeks with this list, this album came out of nowhere with such a jarring change of style, comparatively. Baffling how *this* album is considered a "must-listen" among the company of 90% nostalgic boomer rock; it's beyond me. Regardless, if you have been within a 50 mile radius of a radio or a speaker playing music during the last 10 years, chances are you know 50% of these songs already. While those biggest hits aren't anything I care much for, some of the lesser-played songs were a touch more interesting that I possibly might return for. This was the equivalent of being bored to tears with hearing mundane, tepid nostalgic stories from an older relative for hours, only for a rock to come crashing through the window. Nothing even remarkable, but it was just something so confusingly out of place that broke up the monotony ever so slightly.

Not my style of music but I can appreciate the enormity of the Swift phenomenon.

i can see why people like it, but some of it is really goofy 🤷‍♂️

I get why this was and is so popular, catchy and simple...like so many. I tried, I really did. But bored quickly. A head bob is not really feelin it.

This is what I imagine Christian rock sounds like to devout Catholics, but instead for basic girls

Guess it’s a fine pop album, but it feels pretty vapid. Not sure why I needed to hear this before I die.

Style is an excellent song, Blank Space is cool, Shake It Off is alright. Everything else is filler.

I applaud her for her huge commercial successes. However, having auto-tuned voices, drum machines and 2 verses and a chorus where you repeat the same 2-3 words over and over and over again, does not make for a great album.

Good album, but not to my taste.

Welcome to New York... OK thanks, but no thanks. Blank Space is a catchy hit but when I actually read the lyrics it sounds like Taylor Swift is the biggest player and isn't afraid to dump your ass. Style is so obviously about Harry Styles that I knew that and didn't even know she and Harry dated but, girl, it reads like a 16 year old's break up poem (no wonder the tweens are infatuated with her - she speaks to them like she is still one of them). Out of the Woods - another breakup song. "You were lookin at mayyyyyyyyy." All You Had To Do Was Stay - oh good another breakup song. I'm starting to think I would need to be a teenager going through a breakup to like this album. Stay! Stay! Stay! Stay! Ok now that you're broken up with... Just shake it off. This song, Blank Space, and Bad Blood are the hits off this album for good reason. They're catchy AF. Nothing too unique really. Actually they're very standard pop songs. Soooo formulaic. Instant moneymakers. I Wish You Would - oh good... another breakup song! Bad Blood - fuck now I'm a Swifty. Band-aids DON'T fix bullet holes! I was hoping there would be more breakup songs on this album. Poor Taylor must have gone through some shit. It makes me sad she is two years younger than me and about 1.1 billion dollars richer than me all because she got broken up with a lot - worth it I suspect. Wildest Dreams - breakup song but fuck it's good. It's giving Lana Del Rey. How You Get The Girl - you don't want this one... it only ends in heartbreak apparently with this one. Am I ever going to listen to this entire album again? Absolutely not. Am I ever going to hear the major hits and kind of like them... Yes. I can't give this one star because of that so two it is.

This music is like recent Disney Pixar movies. It checks all the boxes that are needed to make a huge profit but lacks any kind if soul or meaning. These songs are shallow pop anthems to be chanted by braindead followers of the Swift Cult. They lack any kind of substance and while they all sound vaguely different, they follow the same basic outline making them repetitive within their own lifespan. I will never understand this music but I understand why it’s popular. 3/10

taylor is never bad, just boring

Bleh. I can see why she goes on tour and makes $1,000,000,000 but this bored me. Some of the songs were catchy I guess, but it’s mostly pop drivel.

Production on this is just horrible, way too much use of cheesy vocal effects, poorly used synthesizers and generic pop lyrics. If the goal was to make a bad remake of a bad 80's synth-pop that I guess it's a success.

Bubble gum for teenage girls.

I found this to be more annoying than anything. However, a few songs weren't terrible.

I've tried really hard to *get* Taylor Swift. I don't get the draw. She's clearly talented and her music seems to come from a personal space, rather than just being some shit written by someone else. I don't begrudge her her success... I just don't like pop music.

I know she’s a big star/sensation - but the album seemed corny AF to me - only made it in 5 songs

most of the songs were catchy with flashy production but just felt really shallow and sauceless and then the last three songs were actually quite nice and made me wonder why the entire album wasn't like that

2.5 a bunch of non-offensive pop songs that are plagued by over production

I only liked four tracks on this project. How did this album win over To Pimp A Butterfly.

I really wanted to listen to understand the hype but I just couldn't stop skipping.. will try again another time.

I don't know what I was expecting. But I was kinda excited, like "finally, maybe my eyes will be open to wonderful pop music I have acidentally missed; that's a chance to become less of a snob". but no, it did not work. the music is awful, as bland as possible, literally unbearable to listen to. I would love to love Taylor Swift, but this time I could not

amerikanisches Mädchen mit Vocoder

Hater det ikke, men er ikke for meg. Veldig generisk

I expected this to be pretty mid and I was still disappointed.

Catchy enough and I can see why it’s so popular but pretty sure 51 year old men aren’t the target audience here

i dont have much to say maybe other than it cant be a one star because it takes so little risk and is just fine and i dont think it will be anything more or less for me the only songs that i was interested by were wonderland and shake it off but that is about it

I mean, respect. Just not something I'd choose to listen to.

Good songwriting. Lacking originality in the pop genre and album feels dated to 2014 with synths and overall sound. Some hooks quite good other uninspiring and repetitive.

i liked "evermore" more and i only kinda liked that one, sorry swifties, this was very generic stadium pop to me but I am also old. i loved janet jackson and liked madonna 30 years ago

Incredibly heavy stuff

I respect her for stuff she’s done, but this music isn’t for me. I went in with an open mind but these lyrics seem childish at best. Also, I thought she was a country music singer at one point?

There’s worse pop

Wenn Du nicht singen kannst wie Amy, oder nicht den Sex-appeal von Madonna und auch nicht tanzen kannst wie Shakira dann brauchst Du einen Mega-Apparat der Dich als Marke und Ikone erscheinen lässt. Das macht Deine Musik weder besser noch abwechslungsreicher. 1989 ist eintöniges blechernes Gesinge zu stetig wiederholenden Drums. Auch der Hit „Shake it off“ Schaft es nicht ansatzweise in mein Playlisten.. Einziger Hoffnungsschimmer ist „This Love“ was ein vielleicht brauchbare Stimme der Interpretin erahnen lässt.

Objectively good. Some songs I really enjoy the lyrics. Overall too long and annoyingly pop.

i think ive tried this album like 6 times based on recommendations but every single time im hit with the fact that she makes overwhelmingly millennial music and im just gonna have to accept that it almost always is not for me

Cohesive sound! Not a sound that I find interesting or innovative or even frankly enjoyable, but it sure was cohesive! What can I say. I fully went into this wanting to dislike it and I did dislike it. Boring production mixed with constant talk-singing that delivered lyrics so simple and unimaginitive that it had me double checking how old she was when she made this one (25!!!! 25 years old!) Generally fine, had me asking "who cares": All You Had to Do Was Stay, I Wish You Would, Wildest Dreams, How You Get the Girl, This Love, I Know Places, Clean Pissed Me Off: Welcome to New York, Shake It Off (her Meghan Trainor slay?), BAD BLOOD (the fucking stomp clap, give me a breeeaakkk. Just the most infantile rhymes and lyrics in this one with her grating talk-singing... it doesn't earn the final chorus but really seems to think it deserves it! "Did. You. Have to do this. I was thinking you could be trusted." KILL MEEEEE) Solid pop singles for the radio: Blank Space (decent chorus! cheesy generally.) and Style (boring but definitely my favorite song on here). I'm giving it two stars because I am trying to be nice.

Swift has talent. This is true. but the contents/genre just isn't for me. I'm the wrong gender and way too old.

That’s right, same as Yes!

Fuck that, j'écoute pas un album de Taylor swift à ma fête

Good music, if I can ignore Taylor’s voice. I listened to her version instead, and it is a little lazy in production. All drums are drawn in.

Who even writes these, a teenage girl or a commitee for teenage girl music?

Is this a fucking joke?

Listen, im not a T Swift hater alright. And i fully recognize that this is an album meant to encapsulate pop and produce hits and that it did. But to me, it succeeded so well that its to its detriment. These are very surface level pop songs that i have heard so much since they came out that i would be perfectly fine never hearing them again, and would prefer it for a few of them (bad blood and shake it off). Also, people say this is supposed to be an homage to the 80s sound but i honestly barely hear it, i think it has too many of the trappings of mid 2010s pop songs that will age these songs worse than they would otherwise. Its not objectively bad by any means, theres a few more underplayed songs i enjoy, but for me personally im never gonna want to put this on.

Gawd; first Beyonce then Taylor Swift? Really? As much as I think it is important to be a bit eclectic, I wish I would get more of stuff I will actually listen too... Of course I am open to new things... So far (4 songs in) as repetitious as expected. I can see the draw to voice and lyrics for pop, I probably listened to some of this kind of stuff, and some some of the rock I listen to goes in this direction, but it is quite droll and repetitious. I listened to 10 songs and no reprieve from the boredom Better than Beyonce is all I can say.

I’ll try to keep my disdain for generic pop music aside but the majority of the album is very derivative both lyrically and musically. It seems to show the push and pull of a relationship and often comes with a very basic song structure. It is danceable and singable so I can see why some would like it, just not my thing. The best and only quasi unique pop song would be shake it off. That’s the only song from the first two thirds that stood out to me. The best two songs for me were the last two a slower guitar song (I know places) and a more retrospective down tempo slow burn (Clean).

Thanks for making me listen to this. She's beautiful, for sure, but I don't know ... I don't understand her popularity. 21 songs was a bit much for me.

The kind of songs that make you wish you didn't know english. Her voice is amazing to listen to, and the music is interesting enough for pop music, but the lyrics are just not my thing at all. Favorite melody: Wildest Dreams.

You know this is the second Taylor Swift album I have listened to on this list, and I am just having a tough time with it. It just seems so incidental to me. Clearly it's well produced, written and performed, and is catchy, but it just feels empty and like pop churn. Officially do not get the whole phenomena.

What is music? I heard it once described as audio decoration; as we decorate a wall with paintings and pictures and colours so we decorate the space around us with music. Music is also a very human endeavour. Mankind has made music and chanted since time immemorial. Poetic sagas and myths were passed along in rhytmic meter; where we now make a distinction between powerty and music it seems the ancients weren't quite so discriminatory. Indeed we remember things better to a beat and a rhythm; it remains a power mnemonic. I wonder often how the commodoiffication and industrialization of music has changed it. How long were ancient songs?

not a fan of the over-produced stock instruments. Songs about surface-level love leaves me wanting more.

Maybe all of the hits have been too overplayed to be fully appreciated but this album was a bore. Wildest Dreams still slaps but didn't find anything new here.

This album turning up is quite opportune as I’ve been making effort recently to listen objectively to Taylor Swift. I’ve previously dismissed her and her music as run of the mill manufactured pop for the teen masses. But her recent stance of music streaming and her remixing her earlier albums (including this one) presumably because she wanted to improve them made me take note of her. Listening to this album I realised that just about each track was a hit in the past but I had dismissed at the time. As i could remember each of these tracks from way back then, they must have lodged in my brain somewhere. Partly due that every track has a memorable pop riff and hook. This skill I applaud even though the actual substance of the music is still not to my taste. However, my Taylor Swift discovery has taken me to her most recent albums Folklore and Evermore, which I have found myself liking and occasionally going back to.

There are times which are ever increasing as I get older where I tell myself on the first listen "I have heard this song a 1,000 times already". Looking deeper into this album I find Max Martin which tells me why I know this album without having to listen to it. The guy has wrote or co-written 25 number singles since 1998, won ASCAP pop songwriter of the year 11 times and yet I do not find his songs enjoyable. Taylor Swift is a wonderful artist and I wish she wouldn't have worked with this producer for this album.

Ughhh I’m so over TSwift.

Helvítið hann Max Martin. Þetta er drep. Fær auka stjörnu því Taylor er fær söngkona, en þessi tónlist er bara gjörsamlega úrkynjað auglýsingapopp.

Generic. Sterile.

With some albums on here I assume I’ll hate them and I end up pleasantly surprised. With this one I secretly thought I might like it but actually it’s was mostly bland, over produced, 4 chord pop. Shake it off is a great pop song but it doesn’t really sound like the rest of the album. I like Taylor’s voice but it was quite an uninspiring album.

tämä ei ollut hyvää aikaa populäärimusiikin kannalta. silti tulee minimaaalinen määrä nostalgiaa, nuorimies olin tällöin.. ja pakostikkin muutama laulunlurakko tuli kuunneltua. ei ole huono mutta tuskin menee radionauhuriin toistumiseen.taylor 2 sweep..heh..jokainen biisi yli 100 miljoonaa kuuntelukertaa...ekoes 20 milj..länsimaailma hävitty.. And everything is green and submarine... out of the woods

I am fine with Swift being a huge star. But her music is the cultural equivalent of a pop tart. Sugar on top of card board. There is no meat in these songs. It's all a sugar rush. I didn't get much out of this.

Not my cup of tea. 2 songs were ok. I won't listen to it again.

Two stars. Everything is the same, pop sugar fix for kids

Taylor Swift is not for me. I’m too old, too cynical, too lots of things. That’s fine Taylor makes banging tunes for millions of other people. A sad, middle aged, balding bloke from the North West of England feeling bewildered by the appeal of fairly bland, quite clinical, sonic wallpaper is not going to make any difference to anyone. ‘Shake it off’ is pop perfection, mind.

Couldnt make it through it

some solid pop songs of my generation. still think its average pop overall.

I heard the album before, but I didn't remember much of it. Some of the safest, least offensive music ever. That's probably why she's so successful. Three of the songs were big hits in my country. Two of them are still played a lot everywhere after 10 years. Her voice is unremarkable, so are most of the songs. I don't hate it, it's just not very exciting to me. Shake It Off is by far my favorite song off the album.

I listened to Taylor's Version of this album; I'm not sure what the differences are between it and the initial release. This is the first TS album I've listened to and it was okay. Most of the songs are blandly anthemic; they're like aural versions of Hollywood biopics that have been focus grouped and cobbled together to within an inch of death. Shake It Off and Wildest Dreams were probably my faves, but I won't listen to this album again.

To stjerner

All pretty boring. Clean was a good song. Big meh/10

Being a guy growing up during the rise of Taylor Swift, it was very much uncool to like her music. That on top of the fact that I'm not big into country and pop has led me to pretty much ignore her music all together. I acknowledge my biases going in to this listen and I'm going to try my best to put them aside... Damn this bitch has some catchy songs. Despite it not being a song I ever sought out, Blank Space was stuck in my head for hours while at work today. But some of her other hits like Bad Blood and Shake it off make my brain bleed. Overall I struggled just to finish this album today. The first two songs and the last two songs were enjoyable but the rest was a slog.

Not my thing

I just don't get it. I will say like Thriller, this album is packed with a bunch of singles I immediately knew. So from that perspective I can see why this would crack a top 1001 list. However, the music itself does absolutely nothing for me but make me feel like I'm in a GAP clothing store.

Where radioy, can be fun to listen to but I don't really like the style. Also not a lot of variation between the songs

Hits, but thats about it. Really empty

Completely generic modern pop. Mercifully, all the tracks were a ‘short’ 3-4 minutes. Helped it go by quicker.

Not for me. Sounds like a commercial on tv

This sounds exactly how I imagined Taylor Swift would sound. It's not my thing; production is the best money can by, and I like her voice, but I wouldn't choose to listen to this again.

Minne meg om russerevyen

I ain't no swifty

Welcome to New York is the Sbarros of songs about New York. Blank Space is like she's trying to channel Rebecca Black doing a bad Lana Del Rey impression. Style could be a decent pop song if it was sung by someone else, leaned into the cooler riffs and didn't do that terrible stilted vocal delivery (which again, sounds like Rebecca Black). Out of The Woods has some cool stuff in the backing track but is weighed down by Taylor Swift's remarkably unremarkable vocals and by high school sadposting level lyrics. She was 25, she had no excuse on this. All You Had To Do Was Stay- the overdubbed high notes on 'stay' are actually pretty cool, the lyrics are someone in 2009 posting vague half sentences on Facebook for attention but its a grown woman in song in 2014. Shake It Off- okay, I can see how this was a hit. Lyrics are still really weak (and are all about her personal life) but her vocals aren't as glaringly bad or out of step with the backing track in this uptempo dance song. I Wish You Would- honestly, see above. Bad lyrics, boring vocals, nothing to hear here. Bad Blood- understandably a hit. Probably not a coincidence that the two best songs on this album were the product of Max Martin. The song is at its best when it's uptempo and it nearly loses it when it drops and starts talking about band-aids, but it pulls through. Wildest Dreams- somewhat enjoyed this one, but again, Taylor Swift's voice is a mismatch for the song. She's not quite twee enough to give it a haunting quality and she's not got enough depth or range to pull off what I think she is trying here (which is to rip off Lana Del Rey). It just ends up being at best an okay song because it doesn't really do any potential angle for an illicit love song well. How You Get The Girl- A) no one should take relationship advice from T-Swift, she makes this clear in all of her other songs B) this song could not end fast enough This Love, I Know Places, Clean- album filler, again, I Know Places could actually be good if sung by someone else because of the same uncomfortable middle with Wildest Dreams 2/5 gonna let Max Martin have a W here

Okay, Shake It Off is a great pop song — all the more so because of the video of the cop caught on camera singing it while making his rounds. But the rest of it just sounds like bad 80s pop to me. I know she was was going for that sound on purpose, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

This is the first review I've written where I could actually stand to get in some pretty serious professional trouble, if certain friends of mine find this review 😂 (I know some of the people involved. And let the record show that, track by track, the people I know who worked on this all did stellar work). This has got to be the biggest whiplash I've ever gotten for an album that I used to listen to in college. The difference between how much I liked it when I was 21 (which was, more or less, positive), and how much I like it 10 years later is... cavernous. I had MANY questions this time around. I found every song Max Martin was involved in to be silly. His production is annoyingly uninspired. I consider Max Martin to be a net negative on music as a whole. Other producers did a fine job, but Max and his crew dominates the record, and it's that ultra sleek, maximalist, very bland sound that I just can't stomach anymore. I think that certain pop artists, for whatever reason, in the press and the listening public, are afflicted with the soft bigotry of low expectations. We expect so little of them, from a music-y, album-y, concept-y side (they're busy doing other things, after all), that when they clear an exceptionally low bar we've been holding out for them, it's seen as groundbreaking. When this album came out in college, the press around it was very, very positive. Universal acclaim. We were all kind of swept up by this album, and the idea that Taylor Swift might be doing something exciting. The excitement lasts for precious few songs (Welcome to New York is great), before quickly being bloated by these maximalist records! Why did I think otherwise? I just never expected that much of Taylor Swift, and she cleared the bar. I don't feel this way about Folklore, Evermore, or anything after. I think those genuinely are getting into great music territory. This one was so lacking the actual artistic meat and bones that my memory (and the press around it) promised it would have. A fate suffered by plenty of Britney Spears albums... also a Max Martin creation! There is a pattern here. A generous 2/5. If you're reading this and you worked on this album (and you know me)... you know who you are, and I like your work on here. Actually good shit.

Excited to recognize a couple of songs on here (the shake one and bad blood), but otherwise i had a hard time actively listening. It just faded into background music. Perfectly charming bubble gum pop but just didn’t do anything for me.

Heard before: some Looking through the other reviews, it's all 5's or 1's. Hilarious for what is really a totally fine Swedish Pop record, further proof that personal identity weighs more heavily than the music in many cases. I'm just as guilty; I think my White Stripes rating yesterday was wrong. Anyway, despite the onslaught of hooks here, this one is as cold as advertised and isn't as deep or varied as her best records. It has two of my favorite TSwift songs, but points off for Welcome To New York, the soundtrack of gentrification, one of the 10 worst songs ever. Top tracks: Blank Space, Out Of The Woods, Style

I don’t dislike this as much as I would have back when I started the challenge, but I still didn’t like it that much A lot of the songs are objectively similar

One of the greatest mysteries. Besides if there is life on other planets is why this woman so successful. It must be a scientific explanation for this, i mean, other artists of the same caliber, offer much more. Her music is just a series of hilarious, boring and monotonous songwriting with mediocre production. I think my newborn baby boy likes it though, until he grows up. 2