1989 is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriterTaylor Swift. It was released on October 27, 2014, throughBig Machine Records. Titled after Swift's birth year as a symbolic rebirth, the album recalibrated her artistic identity fromcountry music topop.
Taylor Swift had identified as acountry musician up until her fourth studio album,Red, released on October 22, 2012.[1] Promoted byBig Machine Records tocountry radio and awards shows,[2]Red incorporatespop androck styles in addition to thecountry pop sound that had characterized her discography, leading to many critics regarding it as a pop or rock album as much as a country one.[3][4][5] Its two most commercially successful singles—"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble"[6]—are pop songs withelectronic productions that solidified Swift's popularity in mainstream pop music.[7][8] The media questioned her status as a country artist, to which she responded in a 2013 interview inThe Wall Street Journal that it was not her concern to label herself with a specific genre.[9]
Swift's rising fame was accompanied by media scrutiny on her love life.[10] Her relationship with the English singerHarry Styles that lasted for several months in 2013 received extensivetabloid coverage.[11] This and multiple previous short-lived romances blemished her "America's Sweetheart" image: they overshadowed Swift's artistic considerations and turned her into a target ofslut-shaming.[12][13] In March 2014, she relocated fromNashville, Tennessee to New York City.[14] To reclaim narrative on her public image, Swift stayed single and went out in public with her female celebrity friends in a New Yorkstreet style:bob cut,midriff-showing high-cut outfits,miniskirts, and high heels.[15][14] The geographical pivot, media scrutiny, and single status informed the songwriting for her next album.[16][17]
Concept and development
Swift began writing her fifth studio album in mid-2013 while onthe Red Tour.[18] According to her,Red was an album where she pursued both pop and country, and she wanted its follow-up album to be both "sonically cohesive" and "blatant pop", believing that "if you chase two rabbits, you lose them both".[19][20] She consideredRed's single "I Knew You Were Trouble", which spent seven weeks atop thePop Songs chart, her "signal flare" to do so.[8][9]
To realize her vision, Swift took inspirations from the experimental nature ofsynth-pop from the 1980s decade, when musicians abandoned the once-popular drums and guitar instrumentation forsynthesizers,drum pads, and manipulated vocals.[20][21]Annie Lennox andPeter Gabriel were formative influences: Swift was inspired by the former's "intense" ways of conveying thoughts and emotions and the latter's atmospheric synth-pop sounds.[22] Naming her fifth studio album1989 after her birth year, she both referenced the influence of 1980s synth-pop and signified a symbolic artistic rebirth.[20][23]
Swift enlistedMax Martin andShellback, who had produced "I Knew You Were Trouble", as key collaborators,[8] crediting the former as co-executive producer for helping her create a coherent album and providing uncredited production credits on several tracks.[6] Martin and Shellback produced seven tracks for1989's standard edition and two additional tracks for its deluxe edition.[24]Ryan Tedder, contacted by Swift via aniPhonevoice memo,[25] co-wrote and co-produced "Welcome to New York" and "I Know Places".[24] He used aJuno-106 synthesizer to create fourdemos for the former, and Swift chose the first demo and reworked on it as the final version.[26] For the latter, Swift played what she had written on piano and elaborated to Tedder the specific melody she wanted, and the two finished recording the track after one day.[27]
Jack Antonoff, who shared mutual interests in 1980s music,[6] had worked with Swift on hernew wave-influenced single "Sweeter than Fiction" (2013).[28] His productions on two tracks for the standard edition and one for the deluxe edition[20] are characterized by theJuno-6 synthesizer, which he thought to have both "a sadness" and "a glory".[29] "Out of the Woods" and "I Wish You Would" started as instrumental tracks.[30] Antonoff built the former on theYamaha DX7 andMinimoog Voyager synthesizers and sent the track to Swift while she was on a plane, and she wrote the melody and lyrics based on it;[31] the whole process took 30 minutes.[19] The latter began as Antonoff'ssampling of thesnare drums onFine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" (1988). He played the track to Swift on his iPhone and sent it to her to re-record,[21] and the final track is a remix that retains the snare drum sounds.[32]
Swift approachedImogen Heap to collaborate on "Clean". Swift had written the lyrics and melody, and Heap helped complete the track with her instruments and backing vocals. The recording completed after two takes in one day at Heap's Hideaway Studio in London.[20][33]Nathan Chapman, who had produced Swift's country pop albums, co-produced "This Love",[34] which is the only1989 song that Swift wrote by herself.[24] The standard edition contains 13 tracks, and the deluxe edition features three bonus songs.[35] Recorded at studios in Sweden, the United States, and the United Kingdom,1989 wasmastered byTom Coyne in two days at Sterling Sound Studio in New York City.[20][24] The album finalized after the conclusion of the Red Tour in mid-2014.[36] After listening to the album, Big Machine's presidentScott Borchetta asked Swift if she could include several country tracks with instruments such asfiddle, but she rejected his request.[6] Borchetta agreed with her to not promote the album to country radio, which had been formative in driving Swift's career.[37][38]
"Welcome to New York" exemplifies1989's sound: its 1980s-inspiredsynth-pop production incorporates pulsingsynthesizers, programmed beats, andmultitracked vocals.
A homage to 1980s pop music,[39][40]1989 is a synth-pop album whose electronic arrangements incorporate synthesizers,programmeddrum machines, and pulsatingbasslines, abandoning theacoustic textures that had defined Swift's past albums.[41][42] The songs are characterized bymid-tempo rhythms and memorable melodies,hooks, andrefrains,[43][44] constituting a consistent palette[4] that stays faithful to 1980s synth-pop without overt influences of contemporary, popularhip-hop orR&B.[34][39][43] Several reviews opined that the album also incorporates 1980s styles of rock,[43] namelypop rock,[44]synth-rock,[45] and new wave.[46] In this regard, critics generally considered the music of1989 old-fashioned andretro.[a]Carl Wilson, in his review forSlate, disagreed and argued that while Swift's 1980s framing of the album establishes the overall aesthetic, its musical influences can be traced back to the 1970s, 1990s, or 2000s decades.[23]
Swift's vocals on1989, mostly sung in heralto range,[43] are electronically processed, an effect that she first used onRed's pop singles.[45] Manipulated withmultitracking, synthesizer tweaking, andlooping,[45] her vocals are blended with the electronic instrumentation to create a unified texture, particularly in "Welcome to New York", "Out of the Woods", and "Bad Blood".[61] Themusicologist James E. Perone wrote that the vocal processing evokes 1980s pop sounds as much as it does 21st centuryAuto-Tune effects, creating a retro but also contemporary listening experience.[62] For Wilson andNPR'sAnn Powers, this synthetic rendering is a stark contrast to the naturalistic vocals of country music, but it helps Swift expand her emotional delivery through her versatiletimbre and varied expressions.[23][45]
Lyrics and themes
In the past, I've written mostly about heartbreak or pain that was caused by someone else and felt by me. On this album, I'm writing about [...] looking back on a relationship and feeling a sense of pride even though it didn't work out, reminiscing on something that ended but you still feel good about it, falling in love with a city, falling in love with a feeling rather than a person. And I think there's actually sort of a realism to my new approach to relationships, which is a little more fatalistic than anything I used to think about them.
1989 is primarily about lost love, a theme that had been familiar in Swift's songs,[41][64] but it depicts her different mindset on it.[63] While her past albums situate her narrators as victims of ill-fated romance with vindictive and antagonistic attitudes,1989 explores failed relationships through wistful and nostalgic perspectives.[19][65] Inspired by her disenchantment with a "happily ever after" romance, she became aware of the "gray areas" of real-life situations and realized she could feel content with a failed relationship.[63] According to Swift, the1989 songs altogether constitute a story line;[63] itsliner notes include 13 one-sentence "secret messages" for the songs, and they collectively narrate a past love that leaves Swift's narrator going through heartbreak, recovery, and self-discovery.[66][b]Molly Lambert, in her review forGrantland, opined that the central narrative revolves around a strong yet fragile sexual and intimate connection, with murky distinctions between love andlust.[43]
Expanding on Swift's autobiographical songwriting, the lyrics of1989 were influenced by and contain references to her personal life.[50] They address romantic regrets caused by bad decisions and irreversible pain, but Swift's narrator remains empowered and unwaveringly hopeful that things will work in her favor.[68] Several reviewers opined that the songs showcased her jaded outlook on romance after the dramatic heartbreaks depicted in past albums,[19][34][69] with Swift saying that she became more pragmatic.[22] Sex and intimacy, which she had explored obliquely onRed, are more explicitly depicted here, particularly on "Style" and "Wildest Dreams".[43][69] "Blank Space", "Style", "Shake It Off", and "All You Had to Do Was Stay" showcase self-assurance and self-awareness, while "I Wish You Would" and "How You Get the Girl" demonstrate her starry-eyed visions of a lasting romance.[34][69] For Lambert,1989 depicts a transformation in Swift's persona, "between her fairy-tale idealizations of love and her recently acquired cynicism".[43]
Although Swift's lyrics retain the storytelling aspect that had been nurtured by her country music background,[70] they show a strong influence of pop music songwriting: they are less detailed and more ambiguous, and contain more repetitions of the track titles to create memorable hooks.[71] Perone argued that the lyrics were less directly biographical and more metaphorical, allowing for wider interpretations.[50] According to the musicologist Nate Sloan,1989 abandons the "Time-Shift paradigm" that had informed Swift's previous works. While her country songs tell stories with their verses detailing the different stages and final refrains detailing the resolutions, the1989 songs have all of their refrains repeating the same phrases and use a "frozen-in-time song structure", symbolizing an emotional intensity lingering in the present without any progress or conclusion.[72]
Songs
"Welcome to New York" is about forgetting past heartbreaks to reinvent oneself while enjoying the bright lights and new sounds of New York City;[52][73] its synth-pop production incorporates pulsing synthesizers and programmed drum machines that createclapping-like rhythms.[73] In "Blank Space", Swift satirizes her public image as a woman having multiple romantic attachments but failing to maintain any lasting relationship: the narrator is a seductive but emotionally unstable woman whose romantic flings end up in disasters.[74] With a minimalistelectropop sound, it features Swiftspeak-singing the verses and using herupper register in the refrains.[75] "Style" is about anon-again, off-again relationship that the narrator cannot escape because she and her lover are "never out of style" akin to timeless fashion staples.[54] Built on an electric guitar riff, "Style" evokes influences of both 1980s and contemporary styles, namely synth-pop, new wave, andoutrun.[43][62]
"Out of the Woods" details a fragile relationship that instills great anxiety; itsbridge depicts a snowmobile accident as a metaphor for how the relationship ended: the ex-boyfriend hit the brakes and injured himself, leading to a hospital visit that required twenty stitches. Its insistent production is driven by loud, echoing drums, multitracked vocals, and undulating synthesizers that build up towards the conclusion.[40][76] In "All You Had to Do Was Stay", inspired by Swift's dream that she shouted "stay" multiple times to an ex-boyfriend,[77] her narrator determines to move on from a past relationship despite the ex-boyfriend wanting to reconcile with her, although she admits feelings of hurt, grief, and longing.[78] The vocal hook includes repetitions of the word "stay" sung in Swift's high-pitched vocals.[45][78] "Shake It Off" is about Swift's indifference to her detractors and their negative remarks,[63] and its beat is driven by stomping sounds that Martin and Shellback created by banging their feet on a wooden floor.[79]
In "I Wish You Would", Swift's narrator pines for an ex-boyfriend, hoping he knows that she would never forget him.[80] The track incorporates an electric guitar riff, and its refrains include erupting synthesizers, snare drums, and layered vocals.[52][57] "Bad Blood", with lyrics about a fallen friendship, was inspired by a fellow female musician who made Swift feel betrayed.[19] Its hip-hop-influenced production featurescheerleading-like chanting rhythms and booming drums.[81] "Wildest Dreams" describes a powerful romantic and sexual connection that Swift's narrator knows will ultimately end; she pleads with her lover to remember her and their fond memories while it lasts.[22] Its atmospheric synth-pop production incorporates a heartbeat-like rhythm, thick, insistent synthesizers andstrings.[20][82] Described by Swift as a "tutorial" for men who want to rekindle broken relationships, "How You Get the Girl" sees her narrator instructing an ex-boyfriend with how to win her heart back[83] over acoustic guitarstrums andbeatboxing rhythms.[84]
"This Love", a pensive ballad that started as a poem in Swift's journal,[85] is about her letting go of a relationship that no longer served her, knowing that the timing was not right;[86] it uses ocean imagery to describe a love affair that comes back and disappears like waves,[32] and her vocals are multitracked to create a haunting atmosphere.[86] In "I Know Places", which is instrumented by sparse piano, stuttering vocals, and drum-and-bass beats, the narrator vows to protect a fragile love, comparing herself and her partner to animals being hunted down.[60] Swift was inspired to write the standard album's closing track "Clean" after spending two weeks in London and realizing that she no longer missed an ex-boyfriend who lived there.[33] With a sparse, minimalist arrangement, the track details the narrator's journey towards recovery after a heartbreak: she compares getting over a broken relationship to an addiction that leaves her in deep pain, to the point that healing makes little sense,[58] and after a destructive yet transformative torrential storm, the narrator becomes "finally clean".[87]
The three bonus songs for1989's deluxe edition have varied themes. "Wonderland" referencesLewis Carroll's fantasy bookAlice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) to describe a dangerous, intense, and alluring romantic relationship that leaves the narrator falling "down the rabbit hole". While the couple fantasizes about staying in their "Wonderland" forever, this relationship's ending is foreshadowed by their curiosity and others' scrutiny on them.[88] The aggressive bass drum instrumentation of "Wonderland" evokes hip-hop andalternative rock.[89] Inspired by Antonoff andLena Dunham's relationship, the ballad "You Are in Love" recounts the ups and downs of a stable relationship through mundane daily activities over a soft electropop production.[90] "New Romantics", whose title references theNew Romantic cultural movement of the 1970s and 1980s decades,[32] finds Swift's narrator reclaiming her broken heart and celebrating the pain that she has endured[28] with a euphoric new wave, synth-pop, andindie electronic sound.[91][92]
Artwork and packaging
Swift served as the creative director for1989's packaging, which includes photographs taken with aPolaroidinstant film camera, a photographic method popular in the 1980s decade.[93] The photographic duo Lowfield shot over 400 Polaroid photographs, and they digitally mixed them to mimic those found in an oldalbum.[93] The cover is a portrait of Swift's face cut off at the eyes, which she thought to evoke a mysterious atmosphere that concealed "the emotional DNA of the album" because she did not want the audience to immediately identify whether1989 was a "happy" or a "breakup" record.[94] In the cover, she wears red lipstick and a lavender sweatshirt embroidered with flying seagulls.[95][96] Her initials are written with black marker on the bottom left, and the title1989 on the bottom right.[97][98]Billboard in 2023 included the1989 cover at number 50 in their list "100 Best Album Covers of All Time", deeming it one of Swift's most identifiable works.[99]
Each CD copy of1989 includes a packet, one of five available sets, of 13 random Polaroid photos, made up from 65 different photos.[100] The pictures portray Swift in different settings such as backdrops of New York City and recording sessions with the producers.[101] The photos are out-of-focus, off-framed, with asepia-tinged treatment, and feature the1989 songs' lyrics written with black marker on the bottom.[97] Perone thought that this photo package appeared as though it were Swift's personal gift to album buyers.[102] Polaroid's chief executive Scott Hardy reported that1989 propelled a revival in instant film, especially among thehipster subculture who valued the "nostalgia and retro element of what [their] company stands for".[103]
Release
Marketing
Swift marketed1989 as her first "official pop" album[104] and, with her label Big Machine, implemented an extensive promotional campaign through product endorsements, media appearances, and fan engagements.[105] Swift announced1989 via aYahoolive streaming sponsored byABC News on August 18, 2014.[106] She frequently posted onsocial media platforms to engage fans; based on their interactions with her posts, she selected the most engaged ones and invited them to "1989 Secret Sessions" album listening parties prior to its release.[107] These listening sessions were also attended by journalists and critics selected by Swift, and they were held at her properties in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville,Rhode Island, and London throughout September–October 2014.[108]
Throughout 2014–2015,1989 was supported by four further singles, with two reaching number one on theBillboard Hot 100—"Blank Space" and "Bad Blood", and two peaking in the top 10—"Style" and "Wildest Dreams".[115] The single release of "Bad Blood" was supported by aremix featuringKendrick Lamar.[116] "Out of the Woods" and "New Romantics" were released as the two last singles in 2016.[117] All singles were accompanied bymusic videos that featured Swift's new persona and styles: whereas the videos for her country singles had incorporated linear narratives and everyday fashion, those for the1989 singles featured fragmented storylines and elaboratemise-en-scène that evoke fantasy-like environments,Hollywood cinema productions, and lavish lifestyles.[118]
There have been commentary on the effects of1989's marketing. The popular culture academic Keith Nainby argued that the music videos created Swift's "pop" and "rarefied" persona that contrasted with the earnest, everyday, down-to-earth personae in her country music videos.[118] Maryn Wilkinson, a scholar in media studies, described Swift's1989 persona as "zany": she deliberately showcased that her "pop" persona was a construct of hard work, implying that her "real" persona existed beneath her "pop" performances in videos and interviews. In doing so, Swift reminded her audience that she still retained her authentic self from her country beginnings.[119] Wilkinson considered Swift's "zany" persona a means for her to both abandon country for pop, and retain fans from her country days,[120] while Randy Lewis of theLos Angeles Times thought that she did so via the intimate bonds with fans thanks to her social media usage and the "Secret Sessions".[107]
Distribution and streaming
Big Machine Records released1989 on October 27, 2014;[100] the digital album was available for a discounted price via aMicrosoft partnership.[121] Big Machine released the deluxe edition on CD exclusively viaTarget stores in the United States.[105] This edition includes three voice memos recorded on Swift's phone, containing her discussions of the songwriting process and unfinished demos for three songs: "I Know Places" (piano/vocal), "I Wish You Would" (track/vocal), and "Blank Space" (guitar/vocal).[122] For Perone, these voice memos personalized1989 by providing an insider's view of her creative process.[123] According to Myles McNutt, a scholar in communications and the arts, Swift used the voice memos to claim authorship of1989, defying pop music's "gendered hierarchy" which had seen a dominance of male songwriters and producers. While McNutt considered Swift's approachfeminist, he argued that it was promotional rather than activist, and thus its impact on the music industry at large was limited.[35]
On November 3, 2014, Big Machine removed Swift's discography fromSpotify, the largest on-demandmusic streaming service at the time.[100] Swift argued that their ad-supported, free service undermined the premium service that provided higher royalties for songwriters and artists.[124] She had written anop-ed forThe Wall Street Journal in July 2014, expressing her concerns over the decline of the album as an economic entity following the rise of free music streaming,[125] and reinstated her stance in a November 2014 interview withTime.[94] Big Machine kept1989 only on paid, subscription-required streaming platforms likeRhapsody andBeats Music.[105] This move prompted an industry-wide debate over the impact of streaming on decliningrecord sales during the digital era[104] and a response from Spotify's CEODaniel Ek, who defended the platform's royalty model.[126]
The deluxe edition bonus tracks were released onto the iTunes Store in February 2015.[127] In anopen letter published viaTumblr on June 21, 2015, Swift stated that1989 would not be available onApple Music, criticizing its non-payment of royalties to artists during their three-month free trial period.[128] The following day, head of Apple MusicEddy Cue announced that they would reverse their initial decision and pay artists royalties during the free trial period, directly addressing Swift's open letter.[129] Swift agreed to put1989 on Apple Music when it launched on June 30[130] and she later appeared in commercials for the service.[120] In June 2017, Big Machine reinstated Swift's catalogue on Spotify and all major streaming services, citing the milestone of theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA)certifying 100 million song units across her discography.[131][132]
Swift announcedthe 1989 World Tour on November 3, 2014, via herTwitter account.[133] Spanning 85 dates and visiting 53 cities,[134] it kicked off on May 5, inTokyo, Japan, and concluded on December 12, inSydney, Australia.[135] The 1989 World Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2015, earning over $250 million at the box office.[136] In North America alone, the tour grossed $181.5 million, breaking the records for the highest-grossing US tour by a woman[137] and the highest-grossing US tour by any act, surpassingthe Rolling Stones' record in 2005.[138] A documentary andconcert film,The 1989 World Tour Live, was released for streaming exclusively via Apple Music on December 20, 2015.[139]
On various dates of the 1989 World Tour, Swift invited special guests on stage with her.[135] While Swift had invited fellow musicians to perform with her on the Red Tour, the guest list of the 1989 World Tour was more random.[140] There were 78 such guest stars; they were unannounced and included actors, singers, models, and athletes.[134][135] A specific group of female celebrities, consisting of mostly singers and models, was referred to by the media as Swift's "squad".[134][141] Kirsty Fairclough, an academic in the arts, considered the celebrity guest stars on the 1989 World Tour a means for Swift to showcase her star power and keep her name constantly in the news cycle, giving the impression of a self-centric and inauthentic pop star. Commenting on the female "squad", Fairclough said that it was a visual representation of Swift's newfound feminist identity, but its members of wealthy and conventionally attractive celebrities undermined the "underdog" relatability that she had curated during her career beginnings.[134]
Commercial performance
In the United States, record sales had declined sharply in the 2010s decade due to the rise of download and streaming, but Swift's albums had achieved strong sales: her last two,Speak Now (2010) andRed (2012), each sold over one million copies within one week.[104][142]1989's sales were subject to projections by music-industry publications, considering her withdrawal from country music, which had been formative in driving her career, and free streaming services.[104][105] During the week prior to the album's release, publications predicted that it would sell short of one million copies, with estimations from 600,000–750,000[142] to 800,000–900,000.[143] After its release,Billboard closely monitored its sales and raised the first-week prediction from 900,000[144] to one million within 24 hours,[145] 1.2 million within 48 hours,[146] and 1.3 million after six days.[147]
Through November 2, 2014, the album debuted at number one on theBillboard 200 with first-week sales of 1.287 million, according to data for the chart dated November 15, 2014. Swift became the first artist to have three albums each sell one million copies within the first week, and1989 was the first 2014 album to sell one million.[148] It spent 11 weeks at number one on theBillboard 200[149] and one full year in the top 10.[150] With 6.215 million copies sold by the end of 2019, it was the third-best-selling album of the 2010s decade in the United States.[151] As of May 2025,1989 had accumulated 14.6 millionalbum-equivalent units in the United States.[152] The RIAA certified the album 14-times platinum in September 2025.[153]
1989 reached number one on charts and wascertified multi-platinum in Australia (eleven-times platinum),[154][155] Canada (six-times platinum),[156][157] Mexico (three-times platinum+gold),[158][159] New Zealand (ten-times platinum),[160][161] Norway (triple platinum),[162][163] and the United Kingdom (six-times platinum).[164][165] In other countries across the Americas, Europe, and Asia–Pacific,1989 reached the top five on charts in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland,[166] Japan,[167] and Brazil.[168] It was certified platinum in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and Switzerland;[c] double diamond in Brazil;[175] triple platinum in Austria, Denmark, Poland, and Singapore;[d] and four-times platinum in Belgium.[180] In China, it had sold over one million units as of August 2019 to become one of thebest-selling digital albums.[181]
According to theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry,1989 was the second-best-selling album of 2014[182] and third-best-selling of 2015.[183] By November 2022, the album was Swift's best-selling worldwide, having sold 14 million copies.[184] After Swift embarked onthe Eras Tour, a career retrospective world tour, in March 2023, sales and streams of her discography resurged.[185]1989 reached new peaks on charts in Greece (number one),[186] Austria (number four),[166] and Sweden (number 17),[187] and it appeared on new charts of Argentina (number one),[188] Uruguay (number seven),[189] and Iceland (number 25).[190]
Initial reviews of1989 were generally positive, although not universally so.[197][198] Based on reviews in mainstream publications,Metacritic assigns1989 aweighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 29 reviews,[192] and AnyDecentMusic? gives the album a score of 7.4 out of 10 based on 28 reviews.[191]
Positive reviews generally complimented Swift's songwriting,[199] highlighting the multifaceted lyrics exploring lighthearted and bittersweet sentiments of failed romance that various critics found mature[40][41][52][200] and absent of the naivete portrayed in her past songs.[34][69][201] Critics felt that compared to her previous albums,1989 was more playful[41][201] but still retained a deep emotional engagement.[64][87][202]Pitchfork's Vrinda Jagoda deemed Swift's persona of1989 more self-reliant and confidant without dwelling too much on past pain,[195] whileRolling Stone'sRob Sheffield characterized the album as a "deeply weird, feverishly emotional, wildly enthusiastic" record that explored her feelings to extremes.[84]
Critics considered Swift's embrace of 1980s synth-pop experimental[199] but were divided on its outcome. Many reviews praised the production ascatchy;[52][87][201]Robert Christgau thought that the "treated hooks and doctored vocals" made Swift sound "at home" despite her intention to abandon her old sound.[193] Powers contended that the electronic processing of Swift's vocals brought forth new shades of expressions and emotions, resulting in a pleasurable listening experience.[45]Jon Caramanica ofThe New York Times andAlexis Petridis ofThe Guardian lauded1989 as a faithful homage to 1980s pop, elevating Swift's status as a timeless musician ahead of her peers;[34] the latter attributed this success to her artistic vision despite the multiple collaborators and producers.[44]
Multiple reviews otherwise lamented that the synth-based musical approach eroded Swift's songwriting authenticity because they opined that its "capitalist" nature contrasted with country music's supposedly authentic values.[203] Several reviews criticized the heavy synth production that undermined the lyrical details[57][204][196] and came off as generic.[194] In his review forGrantland,Steven Hyden contended that1989 showcased consistent songcraft but felt the 1980s synth-pop palette repetitive and made Swift lose her distinctive voice.[4]AllMusic'sStephen Thomas Erlewine summed up the album as "a sparkling soundtrack to an aspirational lifestyle" desperate to cater to mainstream tastes.[91]Kitty Empire ofThe Observer thought that1989 played to Swift's strengths as a songwriter but was not as "unequivocally great" as her single "I Knew You Were Trouble".[64]
1989 transformed Swift's image from a country singer to apop icon,[230] a status that has endured into the 2020s.[134][231] It was the second album afterKaty Perry'sTeenage Dream (2010) to have at least five top-10 singles on theBillboard Hot 100 in the 2010s decade.[232] WithFearless and1989, Swift became the second woman afterJanet Jackson to have two albums each have at least five top-10 hits.[233] Its singles received heavyrotation on United Statesradio airplay for more than 1.5 years during 2014–2016, whichBillboard described as a rare "cultural omnipresence" for a 2010s album.[234] The widespread popularity of1989 put Swift "at the cutting edge ofpostmillennial pop", wrote Shaun Cullen, a scholar in the humanities.[235] Swift continued expanding on the synth-based pop sound on her next albums includingReputation (2017),Lover (2019), andMidnights (2022).[134][236] Antonoff worked with Swift on those albums and collaborated with other musicians to commercial success, and he credited Swift as the first person who recognized him a producer.[236]
Many journalists credited1989 with inspiring other artists to experiment with new sounds without being confined by a specific genre.[237][238][239] Artists who cited1989 as an influence included the singer-songwriterConan Gray,[240] the actor and musicianJared Leto,[241] and the pop bandVamps, who was inspired by the album to composeWake Up (2015).[242]Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, an actress and director, cited1989 as an inspiration for herfeature film directorial debut,Someone Great (2019).[243] The singer-songwriterRyan Adams released histrack-by-track cover album of1989 in September 2015. Finding it a "joyful" record, he listened to the album frequently to cope with his divorce fromMandy Moore in late 2014.[244] On his rendition, Adams incorporated acoustic arrangements of strings and percussions, embracing styles ofalternative country andindie rock.[245][246] Swift was delighted with Adams' cover and told him, "What you did with my album was like actors changing emphasis."[247]
Swift's success was accompanied by heightened media scrutiny on her public image. During promotion of1989, she identified as a feminist after having avoided discussing this issue in the past.[248] Her public appearances with her "squad" and the routinely documented 1989 World Tour led to a media overexposure,[134] and the public was getting weary of her public persona that appeared too calculated and aspirational, as opposed to the down-to-earth image she had curated in country music.[249][250] In 2015–2016, Swift's online disputes with other musicians likeNicki Minaj andKanye West blemished her carefully curated image, feminist identity, and sense of authenticity.[251][252][e] Swift announced a prolonged hiatus in 2016 thinking that "people might need a break from [her]".[251]1989's follow-up album,Reputation, was influenced by the media commotion surrounding her celebrity.[254]
Critical reappraisal
After Adams released his1989 cover in 2015,Pitchfork attracted criticism from several fellow publications when it reviewed his rendition but not Swift's.[255] Multiple reviews praised Adams for transforming Swift's1989 from a trivial or cheesy album to a more serious and authentic one.[68][256] The philosopherAlison Stone argued that this critical reaction was a result of bothrockism and sexism. According to Stone, music journalism assumed that Swift's pop music had its "feminine" qualities of "superficiality and triviality", which it deemed inferior to Adams's indie-rock singer-songwriter identity that supposedly embodied authenticity and meaningfulness.[257] Stone andSlate's Forrest Wickman added that this was due to rock-music critics' preference of male-oriented, "edgy" musicians to "mainstream" acts,[255][258] whileVox'sEmily St. James argued that Swift's1989 already embraced complex emotions like sadness and anger underneath its upbeat pop sounds, and that the emphasis on Adams's "authenticity" and "sincerity" was a result of music criticism's favoritism of certain genres like rock or acoustic singer-songwriter.[68]
Retrospective reviews have considered1989 an artistically accomplished album. Many have deemed it a masterpiece and a modern classic, upholding its 1980s synth-pop authenticity as an attribute of its timeless and nostalgic qualities.[f] According toThe Ringer's Nora Princiotti, by deliberately avoiding popular musical styles of the day, Swift situated1989 within the history of pop music itself, on par with classic pop albums likeMichael Jackson'sThriller (1982) andthe Beatles'Abbey Road (1969).[263]1989 was listed among the most significant albums of the 21st century byBritish GQ andThe Guardian,[264][265] andRolling Stone ranked it at number 72 on their 2025 list "The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far".[266]The Guardian's Ian Gormely wrote that it made Swift the catalyst forpoptimism—a critical reassessment of "mainstream" pop music that had been largely dismissed by "indie" music audiences.[267]1989 has been placed first in rankings of Swift's 11-albums discography byNME andThe Irish Times,[268][269] and second in rankings by theAlternative Press,[270]Spin,[271]Slant Magazine,[272] and theStar Tribune.[3]
Many publications ranked1989 among their best albums of the 2010s decade,[273] withThe A.V. Club andSlant Magazine placing in their top 10.[274][275] The album featured in the top 50 on lists byBillboard,[276]Consequence,[277]NME,[278]Paste,[279]Rolling Stone,[280] andUproxx.[281]Consequence additionally ranked it sixth on their list of the best 2010s-decade pop albums,[282] andVariety's Chris Willman ranked it first on his personal list.[283]The Times' Ed Potton dubbed it the "album of the century".[284] OnPitchfork's readers' poll for the 2010s decade, it ranked 44th.[285]1989 placed at number 393 onRolling Stone's 2023 revision of their list "500 Greatest Albums of All Time"[286] and number 39 onConsequence's "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2022).[287]
In November 2020, after adispute over the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she beganre-recording her first six studio albums that had been released by Big Machine. By re-recording them, Swift had the full ownership of the masters, which granted her full authorization ofusing her music for commercial purposes and therefore substituted the Big Machine-owned masters.[288] Swift released the re-recording of1989,1989 (Taylor's Version), on October 27, 2023, nine years after the original release of1989.[289]1989 (Taylor's Version)'s standard track-list contains re-recorded versions of all tracks on the deluxe1989 edition and five previously unreleased "From the Vault" tracks.[290] After the announcement of1989 (Taylor's Version), the original album re-entered the top 10 of theBillboard 200 chart dated August 26, 2023.[291] The ownership of the original1989 master was sold back to Swift on May 30, 2025, alongside the masters of the other five albums.[292]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^The "secret messages" of Swift's songs are decoded by arranging certain capitalized letters in each song's lyrics, printed in the album booklet, in the order they appear to spell out a certain word or phrase.[67]
^Swift and West had been embroiled in a controversy at the2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech forBest Female Video. Their adversary re-emerged when West released his 2016 single "Famous", in which he incorporated a lyric referencing Swift. West claimed that he had asked for Swift's approval, which she objected to.[253]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100".ČNS IFPI.Note: On the chart page, select44.Týden 2014 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
^2014年 年間音楽＆映像ランキング発表 [2014 Year-End Music and DVD Ranking Chart] (in Japanese).Oricon. December 20, 2014. Archived fromthe original on July 12, 2018. RetrievedJuly 12, 2018.
^2015年 年間音楽＆映像ランキング発表 [2015 Year-End Music and DVD Ranking Chart] (in Japanese).Oricon. December 23, 2015. Archived fromthe original on July 12, 2018. RetrievedDecember 30, 2018.
Cullen, Shaun (February 17, 2016). "The Innocent and the Runaway: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, and the Cultural Politics of Racial Melodrama".Journal of Popular Music Studies.28 (1):33–50.doi:10.1111/jpms.12160.
Leung, King-Ho (2024). "Begin Again (Taylor's Version): On Taylor Swift's Repetition and Difference". In Robb, Catherine M.; Mills, Georgie; Irwin, William (eds.).Taylor Swift and Philosophy: Essays from the Tortured Philosophers Department.Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 91–98.ISBN978-1-394-23859-0.
Nainby, Keith (2024). "More than Music: The Image 'Taylor Swift'".Examining Blank Spaces and the Taylor Swift Phenomenon: An Investigation of Contingent Identities.Lexington Books. pp. 81–128.ISBN978-1-6669-4272-9.
Perone, James E. (2017). "1989 and Beyond".The Words and Music of Taylor Swift. The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection.ABC-Clio. pp. 55–68.ISBN978-1-4408-5294-7.
Stone, Alison (2023). "Feminism, Gender and Popular Music". In Partridge, Christopher; Moberg, Marcus (eds.).The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music.Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 57–68.ISBN978-1-350-28697-9.
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