Taylor Swift didn’t leave any “Blank Space” or “Style” while recording her version of the album “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” But, does it compete with the original success of the 2014 hit album?
The original “1989” holds a special place in Swifties’ hearts. This album gave us hits like “Shake It Off” and “Welcome to New York.” It feels so nostalgic to me, and while waiting for the re-release, I still felt the same excitement that I felt nine years ago when the album first came out.
The original version of “1989” won three Grammys including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Music Video for “Bad Blood.” This is a lot to compete with, and it gets complicated because it is still her music, but she just doesn’t own it.
When Swift first announced her recordings, I felt mixed emotions, mostly because I didn’t understand the legal mess she was in.
In November 2020, Taylor Swift announced that she would be re-recording her first six albums adding “Taylor’s Version” at the end, claiming them as her own. This was after Scooter Braun bought and sold the masters of these albums.
To sum up a long battle, her contract with Big Machine Records ended in 2019. She signed a new deal with a different recording studio to secure ownership of future work. This resulted in Braun selling her work to a different company for $300 million and Swift getting none of the profit from the sale or any future royalties.
Despite this, all of her music holds a special place in my heart because I’ve always been a huge fan. I honestly can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t listening to her music.
Her re-recordings of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” are great and the vault tracks are amazing; they just don’t give the same nostalgic value as the original. It doesn’t sound like her young, naive self that many fans, including myself, relate to. It’s hard to re-record an album when you don’t feel the emotions as much as you did more than a decade ago.
However, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is the only re-recording so far that sounds the most similar to the original. Because the album is shy of 10 years old, her voice didn’t mature drastically compared to the original “Fearless” and “Red.”
Swift is now using her voice as a power weapon. In her old recordings, she uses instruments and backup vocals equally, creating a warm and deep vibe to her albums. Now with her recordings, her voice is clearly the main sound of the songs resulting in an airy and clean feel in the albums.
Ultimately, the songs are going to sound different. She has new equipment, more money, more control of her music and a more mature voice. Legally, the songs cannot sound the exact same. It has to differ from her “lost” or “stolen” albums. Using her voice more and toning down the instruments helps differentiate the two albums.
One thing I have loved about all of her re-recordings is the vault songs. Each new album has had about five new vault songs in addition to the original album. Swift’s vault songs are songs that were inspired by or written during the time of the original album release but were cut for various reasons. These songs have been some of my personal favorites.
New songs like “Is It Over Now?” and “Say Don’t Go” are great additions to “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” It adds more of a story to her album and more insight into what she was feeling during that era.
Some of the vault songs caught me off guard in a good way. Swift released the song titles before the album came out leading fans to speculate what the vibe of the song would be. Many fans including myself thought “Slut!” would be upbeat and more like “New Romantics,” but we were wrong as it is more calm and slow.
The vault songs do sound similar to her 10th album, “Midnights.” One factor of this is because of her co-writer and producer, Jack Antonoff. Antonoff started working with Swift while producing the original “1989” and has been a co-writer and producer ever since. All the vault songs in “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” have a synth undertone and ’80s vibe to the songs, similar to “Midnights.”
Overall, I enjoyed “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” It brought back old memories and new songs to enjoy. Even when she re-records her music, the songs still prove they can stand the test of time.
