After months of anticipation from fans, singer/songwriter Taylor Swift released “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” a re-recording of her fifth studio album “1989,” originally released in 2014. With 22 songs, Swift perfectly relives her original album “1989,” while adding more mature vocals and five new songs “From The Vault,” Swift’s collection of songs that didn’t make it onto the original album.
In 2019, two years after the release of Swift’s sixth studio album, “reputation,” the master copies of her first six albums were purchased by Scooter Braun, an American entrepreneur and record executive. This meant that Swift’s first six albums were owned by someone else, so she decided to re-record her first six albums. “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is the fourth addition to the “(Taylor’s Version)” collection. Only two albums are left for Swift to re-record.
Similar to Swift’s other albums that have been re-recorded and labeled “(Taylor’s Version)”, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” includes five new songs from the “From the Vault”: ““Slut!”,” “Say Don’t Go,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Suburban Legends,” and “Is It Over Now?”. “From the Vault” means that Swift wanted these songs to be on the original record, but didn’t make the cut.
These songs “From the Vault” haven’t been released before, and they give the album a new element. While I love the entire album, I find myself going back to the vault tracks. The original portion of the album is very upbeat and happy, while most of the new vault tracks are a bit slower and talk about sadder subjects, such as heartbreak and neglect in a relationship. Without the upbeat musical accompaniment, the slower paced songs would not fit into the album.
In my opinion, “Now That We Don’t Talk,” is the most impressive of the five vault tracks. The song depicts a lost relationship, in which the narrator is thinking about how they used to know the other person very well, but now that they don’t talk, the narrator hears about them from other people. During this song the narrator is thinking about how they would’ve known all this first hand if they were still in a relationship, whether it be platonic or romantic. In the beginning of the song, the narrator is sad about this loss of connection, but by the end of the song, the narrator is realizing how much the relationship held them back.
“Now That We Don’t Talk” is a perfect example of Swift’s impressive vocal range and her skill for writing lyrics. Her descriptive language and advanced vocabulary allow the listener to understand and sympathize with the narrator.
The new and improved album is very well done and thought through. All 16 original songs are still included on “1989 (Taylors Version)”. They still have the same lyrics and melody, but they have more advanced vocals and musical accompaniment. “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is a perfect balance between Swift’s early writing and her grown-up, mature vocals.
