Friday, October 31, 2014

Guest Post from Allyson Dwyer: Taylor Swift, 1989, 2014

Guest Album Review

So, I'm eventually going to own 1989. That's just a fact. The cooldaughters haven't asked for it yet, and I haven't volunteered. It's not that I don't like Taylor Swift. I actually find her kind of harmless, if a little bland. It's just that I know that I'm going to know every lyric to almost every song on 1989 within a few weeks, and I'd like to put that off for as long as possible. Let's just say that I don't want to spoil it by getting into it too early. Yeah, that's it.

As we rode the train back from the Slowdive concert the other night, Allyson Dwyer and I talked about her love of pop. We were discussing it again later, and I just blurted out, "Then review 1989 for me!" She took me up on it. In taking a break from the stuff she does for Speak Into My Good Eye, Allyson allowed me to put off listening to the record -- other than in snippets on the radio -- until the cooldaughters actually procure their own copy (or convince me to procure it for them). You can check out her thoughts below.

Thanks, Allyson.

Taylor Swift, 1989
by Allyson Dwyer

I read somewhere that the period known as “adolescence” doesn’t technically end until 25, which is the age where your body stops awkwardly growing. Does this make 25, not 18 or 21, the year we become adults?

Taylor Swift was born December 13, 1989, the same year as I was. I turned 25 this past July, and to say I had a mild freak out would be an understatement. I’m still a kid, I think. I don’t live with my parents anymore. I have a job, a college degree and, to my misfortune, some nice student loans. But I still think like a 17 year old. I am pretty sure I am still 17. I don’t have a lot in common with Taylor, but I can tell from her decision to take her new album, 1989, into full-pop mode, that she may feel the same as I do.

The album is full of tracks inspired by the recent trend (especially in indie bands) to sound like a hybrid of 80s synth pop/rock – tight sounding songs that are more interested in the aesthetic of the sound than the substance (but I’m always the first to admit these songs are addicting). Taylor had also apparently stated she was inspired by the music of her birth year, by artists such as Madonna and Annie Lennox. To me, I hear more inspiration from such contemporary artists as Lorde (“I Know Places”), HAIM (“I Wish You Would”) and Passion Pit (“New Romantics”) on this album, with hints of stylized call-backs to some of the unique production choices that made the 80s just so corny and fun.

The album opens with “Welcome To New York,” a track that has been met with a lot of mixed responses for a number of reasons. I really can feel that Taylor meant for this track to be that “new city, new beginning” big opener, but it really does come off like a poorly written, disingenuous track. Along with “Shake It Off,” its probably my least favorite because of how desperately out of touch the lyrics and sounds are.

Thankfully, the album moves onto a number of tracks that are absolute car-hopping-bops, such as “Style,” “All You Had To Do Was Stay,” and (Target-exclusive) “New Romantics.” “New Romantics” is an especially perfect pop song, one that would have made a perfect album opener instead of “Welcome To New York.” With lines like, “’cause baby I could build a castle/out of all the bricks they threw at me,” the song feels like an anthem for this new, aggressive Taylor, as well as a call-out to all of her fans, the “new romantics” who are always down and out in love.

Then there are tracks like “Wildest Dreams,” and “You Are In Love,” which show a side of Taylor that is more mysterious and risqué. These songs return me to my high school self, embracing those sweetly-sick teenage feelings of fantastical romances. “This Love,” despite my having no idea what she is singing throughout half of it, builds to a really nice harmonious ending that hits that “1980s movie theme ending” sound. These songs have a lot of emotional texture and don’t ring as false as so many pop-love-ballads do.

Of the handful of songs I know I will return to, there are just as many really generic songs that I don’t see myself listening to often, if at all.  A lot of the album owes its identity to the stylized production. Yet in some songs, I hear some really wonderfully biting, dark, sarcastic, self-conscious lyrics (“Blank Spaces” especially) from Taylor that make me wonder where she’ll go next. It would be great to get an album from her that has more than 1 song that doesn’t focus on relationships. I can see her evolving and doing interesting things with these small sparks of ideas, in other genres and styles. I don’t see 1989 as her best yet, but as a stepping stone to a future album that will be uniquely her own.

But maybe she’s like me, and she’s looking for any excuse to not be seen as or to feel like an adult, for the time being.   As a fellow 1989-er, I'd say that’s the case. But someday, we both will need to own up and realize we have a lot more going for us than we think.

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