It's hard to deny the appeal of Taylor Swift. Gangly limbed, blonde, multimillion selling country turned pop superstar who just fell short of Britney Spears' Oops! I Did it Again first week sales record by 8,000 ish copies. She's one of the hottest names in music, but the shift to pop has only recently become apparent with her last album RED and its lead single We Are Never Getting Back Together, an infectious if not completely ridiculous song that charmed with its playground chant chorus and American Teen Girl mockery. Now she's onto her fifth studio album which she has claimed to be her "first documented official pop album".
The year of her birth seems to influence a loose 80s flavour on 1989, with opening track Welcome to New York boasting a half spoken melodic chant as its chorus is layered above a collection of retro synths. The Ryan Tedder co-write is one of the album's most memorable moments, frivolous City loving fun. The 80s vibe vanishes too often on this record for it ever to be labeled a 'retro' album. Blank Space is a mid tempo track, vocals sat atop synth drum beats and electronic harmonies. The lyrics are clever, unlike some other tracks on the album, "Darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream" and the production is stylishly tinny.
The retro tones aren't lost completely and 1989 does hold some of 2014's most polished pop songs. Lead single Shake It Off is an incredible, 3 minute 39 seconds, Sax lead pop party with a chorus that makes you feel so elated it could be the MDMA of pop music. It's only matched by Style, which opens with a riff Prince would be proud to call his own. It slips into electronic bass rumbles on the verse and expertly layered vocals courtesy of the Max Martin production create a brilliantly understated pop moment. Similarly great is All You Had To Do Was Stay, a mid tempo breakup song with a repetitive but solid chorus and the escalating I Wish You Would with its 80s power ballad drum beats stick with you for days.
Although 1989 contains some epic pop tracks, its lyrically lacklustre tendencies can make it feel unimaginative and dull at times. There are times when a potentially emotional segment is lost to overproduction and empty vocals. Her voice has never been a tear jerker, but there's potential here for some of the personal drama clearly channeled here to be made into something special. Unlike the biting, convincing performance on Bad Blood, one of the album's standout tracks Out of the Woods never has its 'moment' and even clever lyricism is lost to the vocal production. Wildest Dreams feels twee and yes the vocal production here strikes gold on the chorus, the message has, by this point in Swift's career, become stale. This Love is a bland track and the urge to hit skip is hard to fight and it's no different on closer, Clean.
The good outweighs the bad on 1989. Swift's vocals can veer towards whiny, almost irritating and at times soulless, but that's always been the case so this album doesn't do anything new there. What's interesting is that her transition from Country star to Pop star seems complete and this album is a great introduction to the new Taylor Swift. It's got some 80s flavour but this is broken up too often for it to be consistently retro. There are some very boring moments here, some so dull I couldn't sing you back a line after four playthroughs, then there are some incredible tracks that are so memorable you just want them to stop so you can sleep! Then there's the overuse of repetition that's fast becoming a trend in pop chorus'. Here, this repetitive tendency removes sincerity from song songs and at times feels lazy. It also feels like Swift want's to sound passionate, emotive, but that's something her voice struggles to convey. However, when it comes to fun and when it comes to teengirl sass, she owns the moment and this is never more apparent than on wonderfully dark track Bad Blood and the bizarrely perfect Shake It Off.
3 / 5
No comments :
Post a Comment