1989 (Taylor’s Version) was released Friday, October 27th. The original album was released 9 years prior on October 27th, 2014. Taylor Swift announced the re-recorded album on August 9th at her final Eras Tour show in Los Angeles. Now that she has re-recorded this album, there are only 2 more left to re-record until she owns all her music!

According to Wikipedia, Taylor promoted 1989 (Taylor’s Version) by posting, “…a short visual on social media that depicted the characters ‘T-S-!-U-L’ emerging from a blue vault, which fans and journalists considered to be a teaser for one of the five From the Vault tracks.” Taylor then partnered with Google Search to create a feature where, if fans could solve 33 million word puzzles, the vault tracks would be revealed. Although the site crashed hours after launch, the titles were revealed less than 24 hours after the games started.

Mere minutes after the album was released, multiple streaming services crashed. A few hours after the album was released, a deluxe version of the album was put out with Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version) (Ft. Kendrick Lamar). On an exclusive variant of the album, it has an extra song titled Sweeter Than Fiction. The album has yet to score lower than an 8/10 or 95/100 on any review platform.

One of the first songs that got me into Taylor Swift was Wildest Dreams. I remember sitting in a Walmart parking lot with my mom and she was playing that Cinderella Free Fall game, and we were listening to Wildest Dreams. That song has always been my mom’s favorite Taylor song, so it’s a nice reminder to have when I miss her.

Since the album is a major hit, and it’s way too hard to pick a favorite, I figured I’d give a little tidbit on how I relate to some of the most meaningful lyrics. Even then, picking one set of lyrics will be hard considering her talent. Taylor makes music for everybody, and if you say you don’t like Taylor at all, you haven’t listened to enough of her music.

MAIN ALBUM:

Welcome to New York: Like any great love, it keeps you guessing. Like any real love, it’s ever-changing. Like any true love, it drives you crazy. 

Love is not something you should ever be afraid of. I’ve only been in love once, and it was the best time of my life, so when it ended, I lost myself. I’m doing great now, and I’ve learned so much from that experience, but I’ll never regret having loved as hard as I did.

I Wish You Would & Bad Blood:

I Wish You Would: I wish you would come back. Wish I’d never hung up the phone like I did. I wish you knew that. I’d never forget you as long as I live. And I wish you were right here, right now.

Bad Blood: Oh, it’s so sad to think about the good times. You and I.

Clean: The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud. But no one heard a thing. Rain came pouring down. When I was drowning, that’s when I could finally breathe.

New Romantics & Shake It Off:

New Romantics: The rumors are terrible and cruel. But honey, most of them are true. ‘Cause baby, I could build a castle. Out of all the bricks they threw at me.

From the Vault Tracks:

Say Don’t Go: Say, “Don’t go”. I would stay forever if you say, “Don’t go”. Why’d you have to lead me on.

Another Verse: ‘Cause you kiss mе and it stops time. And I’m yours, but you’re not mine.

I have a guy friend. We’re best friends. But he’s led me on. Twice now. Whenever I’ve talked to him about it, he denies it and says he “didn’t mean to.” But I’m not the first girl he’s done this to, and most definitely won’t be the last. He leads multiple girls on at the same time and sees NOTHING wrong with it; I don’t know how. And if he for some crazy reason actually wanted me, I’d get with him. Even though I know it’ll never happen, there’s still some part of me that has hope – maybe even desperation.

Now That We Don’t Talk: I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock. Or that I’d like to be on a mega yacht. With important men who think important thoughts. 

I used to know a guy. I had to pretend to like a lot of things about him and his friends. Things that I had absolutely no interest in spending every single night doing. Meanwhile, I tried to watch 3 minutes of something I liked with him, and he rolled his eyes. And his friends whom I didn’t even know, and had never talked to, who hated me, insulted me behind my back (and to my face!), and were racist to me for absolutely no reason (and still are!). Trust me, I tried everything to get them to like me, but nothing worked.

Suburban Legends: I had the fantasy that maybe our mismatched star signs. Would surprise the whole school. When I ended up back at our class reunion. Walkin’ in with you. You’d be more than a chapter in my old diaries. With the pages ripped out. I am standin’ in a 1950s gymnasium. And I can still see you now.

I’ve had LOTS of crushes on people at school, so when I listen to this song, I imagine myself walking through the halls with them. I Imagine having someone to spend time with every morning and hold hands with during passing periods. I imagine having someone at all my games, meets, performances, or the bake sales I help out with. Someone who’s always going to dress up for spirit week with me. I imagine myself being with them and looking back on our high school years.

Overall, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is an extremely important album to me, and many other Swifties all over the world. To me, the album shows that you can take a risk, completely reinvent yourself, and still come out on top. Also, you WILL get through these hard times, even if it doesn’t feel like it, and one day you’ll be able to look back on them with gratitude for what you learned. This album has some of my favorite Taylor songs ever. Songs that have gotten me through the hardest times of my life; songs that have been the soundtrack to nights I’ll never forget. Now the vault tracks give me even more music that at one point in time will bring me back to a certain day; to me, memories are everything.