I Listened to the Entire 1989 TV and Here are My Thoughts
Like any great love, it keeps you guessing/ Like any real love, it’s ever-changing…
This Swiftie is a little late to the 1989 party, but she’s here and she is pumped to write about one of her favorite girls in the world- Miss Taylor Swift. To save face, I have to say that I listened to the entire album as soon as it came out. I just didn’t have the time to share my thoughts until now.
Fear not, I am here to share all of my usolicited thoughts whilst listening to 1989 TV one more time just to refresh my memory. This will be a treat for my ears, heart and hands, all at the same time.
Now, before I start I have to say that even though I worship this woman and everything she does, I can’t quite understand why there is such a hype over her re-recordings. I know that she’s taking the rights to her music and that’s very important to her and to her fans, but they are still nearly identical to the original.
Don’t get me wrong. I really don’t want to come off as rude or mean. I just don’t think there should be that much commotion over songs we’ve heard a billion times before. Personally, I’d be much more excited about hearing there’s a new album on the way. But, that’s just me. You do you, of course.
Alright, now that we’ve got that one out of the way, I first want to compliment Taylor and her entire team on puting so much time and effort into each and every single song and visual. The visuals are something that particularly caught my attention. They are vibrant and fun and incredibly original.
Exhibit “A”:
Moving on to the the music and lyrics. I have to say that Taylor can do no wrong, and I am not saying this as a fan. I am being completely objective when I say that she’s a perfectionist in every sense of the word. She pays attention to all parts of the picture and follows through each project until completion. She has that fiery passion and it definitely shows.
Add to that her amazing voice that only gets better in time. That is actually the first thing I’ve noticed about the new versions of her songs. You can tell she is singing just as passionately and intensely as before, but the quality of her voice has changed considerably. It’s much more serious than before. It contains everything she’s been through thus far- every heartbreak, every mistake, every lesson…You can hear how much she’s matured not only as a person, but also an artist.
Although, that change may go unnoticed to an average listener, it is very apparent to her fans. We feel her completely just by hearing her voice or seeing her face. The girls who get it, get it.
I personaly greatly appreciate the fact that she tried her best to keep all songs as close to the original as possible. I like that she didn’t change them for the sake of making them sound different. There was no merit in making substantial changes because they were perfect just the way they were, and Taylor recognized that. She only made a few tweaks to some of them.
For instance, all of them sound much clearer and even more inviting than the previous ones, yet she still managed to preserve the same authentic Swiftie fun-loving and wildly passionate vibe throughout the entire album.
This is beautifully exemplified by the first of 21 songs, which is her song ‘Welcome to New York’ in which you can feel the same sort of playfulness and innoscence that was present in the original. Her voice sounds older and more mature, but you can tell her spirit hasn’t changed. She managed to incorporate the exact same zest for life as years before, when she was younger and when she was in her single, party girl era.
Her song ‘Style’ is even better than the original, in my opinion, because she sang it with so much passion. As soon as I heard the first line I started singing along and dancing. By chorous I started screaming along with her, and that is how I knew this song was an absolute smash. It wasn’t all about the lyrics and the production, but also about her delivery. Taylor’s voice is strong and powerful, yet there’s also this unbeatable sweetness and charm about it, that’s so quintessential to who she is.
‘Out Of The Woods’ is just as exceptional. It opens with that iconic echoey electronic intro that’s near identical to the original when you first hear it, but the longer you listen the more you realize the sound is much crisper and there are also some new and interesting melodies incorporated into it.
My favorite part of that song is the following lines: “When the sun came up you were looking at me/ You were looking at me, oh…”, because that is when you can really hear the energy in her voice. She’s really putting her heart and soul into those lines.
‘’Wildest Dreams” is just as beautiful, if not more beautiful than the original. It is simultaneously dreamy and hazy, and bold and powerful. There’s something quite echanting about the sound of her voice in that song.
The two songs that surprised me the most are: ‘How You Get The Girl’ and ‘This Love’. The reason why ‘How You Get The Girl’ surprised me wasn’t because wasn’t because the lyrics had changed or because the melody sounds different- it was Taylor’s voice that changed the whole atmosphere of the song. Previously, the song sounded much more bubbly. It seemed like it was sang from the perspective of a teenage girl, whereas now we are able to hear it from the perspective of a fully-grown woman who has been trough some real trials and tribulations in her romantic life. There’s even a twinge of bitterness in place where there was girlish poutiness before.
‘This Love’ surprised me because I never really paid attention to it until 1989 TV came out. I am not exaggerating when I say that I fell in love with it instantly! As a life-long hopeless romantic I could feel the emotion she poured into each line. It feels soft and tender and it instantly transports you into another dymension. It very much has that fairy tale, but also romcom feel.
Another song that became one of my favorites is ‘I Know Places’. I don’t think I’ve heard this song before it came out for the second time because I am very much the kind of person who picks two or three songs from the album and rejects the rest. I can appreciate every song that Taylor created, but I am not able to listen to all of them because they either don’t match my feelings or I am not able to relate to them or the melody doesn’t agree with me.
Going back to ‘I Know Places’, I enjoyed this song because of one simple line that goes: “And we run”. I was iffy about it initially, but as soon as she screamed out that line I was hooked. She sang that line with so much passion, with so much conviction, that you can’t help but feel her energy coarsing through your entire being.
I could go on and on, but this is where I want to leave it because this piece is already long enough. One last thing I want to say that I thourougly enjoyed this album. Of course I did, because I enjoy everything Taylor creates. She’s a creative genius and a brilliant lyricist in my opinion, and I am incredibly excited to see what direction her career takes next.
If you haven’t already, I recommend that you listen to her entire album 1989 TV right here:
If you have heard it, what are your thoughts? Share them with me in the comments.
