1989 (Taylor's Version)
1989 is the fourth re-recorded album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 27, 2023, through Republic Records, as part of Swift's re-recording project following the 2019 dispute over the master recordings of her back catalog.
A re-recording of Swift's fifth album, 1989, 1989 consists of re-recorded versions of the 16 songs from 1989 deluxe edition and five previously unreleased "From the Vault" tracks; extended editions additionally feature the re-recorded versions of the One Chance soundtrack song "Sweeter than Fiction" and the Kendrick Lamar remix of "Bad Blood". Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Christopher Rowe produced the majority of the album; Ryan Tedder, Noel Zancanella, Shellback, and Imogen Heap reprised their production roles. A 1980s-inspired synth-pop album, 1989 is characterized by upbeat arrangements of synthesizers and percussion.
Music critics praised 1989 , with emphasis on the production, Swift's vocals, and the vault tracks. The album topped record charts in Australia, Canada, and European territories including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, 1989 marked Swift's 13th number-one album on the Billboard 200 and record-extending sixth album to sell over one million first-week copies. Seven of its songs concurrently became top-10 entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with the vault tracks "Is It Over Now?", "Now That We Don't Talk", and "Slut!" occupying the top three spots. In 2024, Apple Music placed the album at number 18 on its list of the 100 Best Albums.
Background
released her fifth album, 1989, on October 27, 2014, under Big Machine Records. Inspired by 1980s synth-pop, Swift conceived 1989 to recalibrate her artistry to pop after promoting her first four albums to country radio. The album received generally positive critical reviews and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Three of its singles—"Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood"—reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, 1989 made Swift the first female musician to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year twice—her first win was for Fearless in 2010.Swift's contract with Big Machine expired in November 2018. She then withdrew from Big Machine and signed a new deal with Republic Records, which secured her the rights to own the masters of any new music she would release. In 2019, American music executive Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine; the ownership of the masters to Swift's first six albums, including 1989, was transferred to him. In August 2019, Swift spoke against Braun's purchase and announced that she would re-record her first six albums so as to own their masters herself. Swift began the re-recording process in November 2020. Fearless , the first of her six re-recorded albums, was released on April 9, 2021, followed by Red on November 12, 2021, and Speak Now on July 7, 2023; all three peaked atop the US Billboard 200 chart.
Swift released re-recordings of some 1989 tracks prior to the re-recorded album; all songs feature the additional "Taylor's Version" moniker in their titles. The re-recording of "Wildest Dreams" was released on September 17, 2021, after the original version went viral on TikTok. Other tracks were used in films and series: "This Love" was released on May 6, 2022, after its snippet featured in the trailer for the series The Summer I Turned Pretty; a snippet of "Bad Blood" appeared in the animated film DC League of Super-Pets, and "Out of the Woods" featured in a trailer for Migration. On August 9, 2023, at the final Los Angeles show at SoFi Stadium as part of Swift's Eras Tour, she performed in five new blue outfits, representing the color that Swift's fans associated 1989 with; during the half-show acoustic set, she announced 1989 as her next re-recorded album, set for release on October 27, 2023, exactly nine years after the original release of 1989.
Writing and recording
The standard edition of 1989 comprises 21 tracks: re-recordings of the 13 songs from the standard edition of 1989, as well as the three bonus tracks from the original deluxe edition, and five previously unreleased "From the Vault" songs that were written for the 2014 album but excluded from the final track list. Re-recordings of the "Bad Blood" remix featuring American rapper Kendrick Lamar and "Sweeter than Fiction", a song Swift and Jack Antonoff contributed to the soundtrack of One Chance, were included on extended editions of 1989 as bonus tracks.Most re-recorded tracks were produced by Swift and Christopher Rowe. The remaining were co-produced by their original producers—Antonoff, Ryan Tedder, Noel Zancanella, and Imogen Heap. Shellback, who produced multiple songs on 1989 alongside Max Martin, only produced "Wildest Dreams " with Swift and Rowe, while Martin was not involved in the production of the re-recording. All of the vault tracks were written and produced by Swift and Antonoff, except "Say Don't Go", which was co-written by the American songwriter Diane Warren. According to Antonnoff, he could not recall some original sounds that he created, so he asked for help from his Bleachers bandmates for certain sounds like the "soft synths".
Music and lyrics
Composition
1989 is a synth-pop album, with a production composed of upbeat synthesizers and dynamic percussions. According to NME, the album has a 1980s-inspired synth-pop sound, but is "an evolution of Swift's own sound" rather than a "kitschy pastiche" of retro influences. Various critics have opined that the only sonic difference between 1989 and 1989 is Swift's vocals, which have become technically stronger and richer. According to Clash Alex Berry, the re-recording has a "cleaner" instrumentation. Slant Magazine Jonathan Keefe identified minor changes: the clicking pen noise on "Blank Space" sounds less like the spring action of a ballpoint pen, the "ah-ah-ah" vocal hook of "New Romantics" is more staccato, the reverb on "Out of the Woods" is more prominent, and the guitar's tone on "Style" is altered."From the Vault" songs
As with the original album, the vault tracks incorporate production elements that evoke the 1980s-inspired pop sound: reverb, synths, keyboards, and percussions. AllMusic's Fred Thomas wrote that the production was reminiscent of late-1980s radio, and The Line of Best Fit Kelsey Barnes opined that the vault tracks featured different pop subgenres. Variety Chris Willman and Pitchfork Shaad D'Souza opined that their production elements were influenced by the music of Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights.The title of "Slut!" refers to the slut-shaming Swift experienced as a public figure, a result of the media scrutiny on her personal life and serial romantic relationships. In its lyrics, Swift describes a relationship that she is proud of and does not care how the outside world views it. It is a mid-tempo synth-pop song, featuring layered, grainy analog synthesizers and soft backing vocals. "Say Don't Go" is about Swift hanging on to an unfruitful relationship; it has a reverb-heavy, pop rock production that consists of isolated vocal patterns, gated snare drums, synthesized Moog bass and guitar, and layered keyboard sounds created with a Mellotron and analog synths: Oberheim OB-Xa, Yamaha DX100, Juno-6, and Korg M1.
The disco track "Now That We Don't Talk" incorporates disco grooves and falsetto vocals in the chorus, and its lyrics see Swift moving on from an ex-lover while making fun of his lifestyle and tastes. "Suburban Legends" depicts Swift yearning for a hopeful but unfruitful romance. It features an insistent disco groove instrumented by layers of synth arpeggiators, a mix of acoustic and programmed drums, and an outro of dissipating synths. "Is It Over Now?" chronicles the end of a relationship, with lyrics about mistakes committed by both partners and the mixed feelings that ensued. A synthwave-influenced synth-pop power ballad, it begins with a vocal hook that resembles sounds of a seagull, created with a Moog model D and a Juno 6, over atmospheric layers of synths and bass. The track progresses with a reverb-heavy soundscape composed of synths and echoing drum machines.
Release
On September 19, 2023, Swift posted a short visual on social media that depicted the characters "T-S-!-U-L" emerging from a blue vault, which fans and journalists considered to be a teaser for one of the five "From the Vault" tracks. She also partnered with Google Search to launch a feature for solving word puzzles to uncover the album's "From the Vault" track titles. Searching for "Taylor Swift" gave rise to an animated graphic of a blue vault, which, upon being clicked, produced one of 89 puzzles with or without an accompanying hint. The track titles were set to be officially revealed once 33 million puzzles had been solved globally. Although the feature crashed hours after launching, it reached the 33-million mark in less than one day. Four of the five vault track titles were revealed: "Is It Over Now?", "Now That We Don't Talk", "Say Don't Go", and "Suburban Legends". Swift unveiled the back covers of the album, which featured the full track list, confirming Slut! as the remaining vault track.Republic Records released 1989 on October 27, 2023, as Swift's fourth re-recorded album. The album was made available for streaming, download, vinyl LP, cassette, and CD. The standard edition contains 21 tracks—16 are re-recorded versions of the tracks on the original album and five are vault tracks. A deluxe edition containing the re-recorded remix of "Bad Blood" featuring Lamar was released on streaming and digital download platforms hours after the standard album. The album was sold in 14 physical variants, including five vinyl editions, eight CD editions, and a multi-colored cassette. The standard cover is a photograph of Swift in red lipstick with a background of a blue sky and seagulls flying in the distance. Exclaim! listed the album cover as the 15th worst of the year, saying that Swift "could afford to hire a professional graphic designer" to design the cover, and that the cover looks like a fan design on Canva. Universal Music released Slut! to Italian radio on October 27, and Republic Records released "Is It Over Now?" as a single to US contemporary hit radio on October 31.