Taylor Swift has always been a cryptic participant when it comes to the anticipation of her upcoming projects. Whether it is a movie, an album, or a re-recording, Swift favors Easter eggs when teasing her upcoming projects, the most recent being Google word puzzles that had fans guessing words or phrases until there were 33 million unlocked to gain the vault track titles of her newest re-recording 1989 Taylor’s Version.
On Oct. 27, Swift released her fourth re-recorded album, 1989 Taylor’s Version As someone lucky enough to attend “The Era’s Tour”, I was also fortunate enough to be there Aug. 9 for the night Swift announced 1989 Taylor’s Version.
Compared to other shows where Swift designated certain colored dresses for each era, Swift came out in a new exclusive blue outfit for a couple of eras to tease the release. Swift coming out in blue outfits for eras other than 1989 is a tease to her potentially announcing the album because every album of hers has a color that is associated with it. By coming out in a blue dress for different eras, Swift gets the crowd rowdy as they wonder if she is going to announce 1989 Taylor’s Version. Starting with the Speak Now era when she came out in a brand-new blue dress, then the Folklore era where she wore a beautiful blue flowy gown, a cute blue two-piece outfit for her 1989 era, and a dark blue cover dress for her surprise songs.
Seeing her come out in that first blue outfit was such a surreal moment. The speculations that she would announce 1989 Taylor’s Version that night went over my head until she came out in an enchanting blue dress. My reaction was screaming “It’s blue!” for every single blue outfit she came out in. So the release of the album itself was like being there on the ninth of August all over again.
I first listened to the newly recorded album on the drive over to pick up my dad from work. I had high expectations, but I was also nervous. I wanted what I experienced in 1989 the first time to stay the same the second time around.
I felt like the songs sounded better the second time around. Although the album is not the exact same as the original, getting to relive the release was special to me and many other fans.
My favorite re-recordings have to be “I Know Places,” “You Are In Love,” and “Out Of The Woods,” due to the clearness in the beat and the amazing new runs in “I Know Places.”
With the re-release album came a new cardigan in her merchandise line. A new one has been added every album since Folklore (excluding Evermore and Fearless). The 1989 cardigan, which is blue with five seagulls on the back of it, is the best addition to an even better album.
Swift released five Vault songs, ones she wrote at the time she wrote 1989 the first time but are being released now, all of the times of her new Vault songs adding up to 19:89. My favorite of her Vault songs would have to be “Slut!” because of the lyrics. She sings about how the media will portray her if she enters a relationship with a person she refers to obliquely.
One song I knew I would love regardless of how it would sound is “Clean” which refers to Swift finally being able to breathe after overcoming judgment and constant criticism of the media and finally being able to breathe. I resonate with this song as I feel I have been going through the ups and downs of life, but finally feel clean when I make it through.
Listening to this album took me back to a time of discovering 1989 for the first time, and it allowed me to delve deeper into my love for the album and what it stands for.
