It seems that America’s favorite blonde-bobbed, red lipstick wielding sweetheart has struck again with a series of love, heartbreak and anthem songs. Amounting to her fifth studio album, 1989, Swift has opened a new chapter in her music career – and the world is loving it.
In what seems to be the final break from her roots, Swift has officially left behind her country twang and instead embraced her inner pop star.
Though the cowboy boots have been traded in for posh Chanel heels and a J. Crew wardrobe, fret not, for this leading lady has yet to abandon her musical trademarks. Love, heartbreak, and awkward dance moves – these all seem to be the fundamental and recurring components that make up Taylor Swift and her latest album 1989.
The blaring trumpeteering backing the catchy vocals of Shake It Off have surely plagued the minds of innocent victims of the radio’s insistent and repetitive mix. Throw in the obsessive lyrical anthem that is Blank Space, and you have the perfect formula to a typical grammy-winning Swift album.
But, unlike the others, this album has reached monumental success in an attempt that has seemingly taken a turn into the past; Swift has brought back the catchy “Reagan-era” inspired pop reminiscent of the 80s. Straying away from the typical heartbreak ballads plagued with the stringent, stinging one liners that tear apart the egos of her past lovers, Swift explores a softer, more love-inspired take on these ballads that impose a sense of delicacy rather than revenge.
Songs like Clean and You Are In Love abandon the standard belching of power notes in exchange for the soft whisper of emotional confessions. It’s these songs that make a subtle appearance on her album that round it out to be the pinnacle of her musical career.
With mere weeks left, Swift made the music industry blush in embarrassment as she ended the year as the highest chart-topping and album-selling artist of 2014. Though many artists had been vying for this spot, just as she had done the day she was born in December of 1989, she ended the year as a legend.