Looking at it now, it all seems so simple: the year was 2014, and Taylor Swift turned the world upside down by releasing a pure pop album called 1989. Already a superstar, 1989 sent Swift into the stratosphere. The singles were inescapable, the tour was a triumph, and the album neatly nabbed her the second of her three Album of the Year Grammys. She was raised up on a lofty pedestal that would soon topple over, but for a while, she was the ruling golden girl living out her glory days.
Cut to nearly a decade later, and the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is imminent. Swift’s re-recordings have been an invitation to fans to travel back to those bygone Eras, to revisit not just the music but the memories of what made the albums so special. For 1989, that’s everything from the massive, ’80s-synth production to the girl squad to the inside jokes shared on Tumblr. In honor of this nostalgia fest, The A.V. Club and some of our co-workers across the company are reminiscing about the original 1989, the album’s impact at the time, and how it still resonates today.
First impressions of 1989
Mary Kate Carr (The A.V. Club): My strongest and dearest memory of 1989 is listening to it in my Boston dorm with my roommates—the songs are so synonymous with that year of college for me, the soundtrack to putting on our crop tops and going-out skirts and screaming the lyrics to “Blank Space.”
Saloni Gajjar (The A.V. Club): 1989 is automatically linked to my first week as a journalism grad student because my classes started less than a week after the October 27 release date. I don’t know if I would necessarily call that part of the memory “good,” but famously, it is what it is. I excessively listened to the album as a morale booster back then, and I was extra glad about the timing because it was kind of nice to see fellow students indulge in it and use it as a way to connect with them in a new place and setting. Also, it was essentially impossible to escape “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” anywhere you went. Those are nowhere near my favorites on the album but they are weirdly my strongest memory of it because of that.
Lauren Tousignant (Jezebel): I listened to the whole album for the first time on a Monday morning (back when new albums came out on Mondays instead of Fridays) on a plane from San Francisco to New York. I just remember being completely, immediately obsessed. One month later and my friends threw me a party for my 25th birthday and I insisted on only playing “Blank Space” for the entire night. (I might have accidentally permanently ruined the song for a couple of friends, whoops. But a lot of my friends, to this day, still say that song reminds them of me!) That fall, I was coming out of a pretty wonky year of some professional shortfalls, the ending of a weird situationship that had painfully gone on much too long, some rough ghostings, and one really bad ghosting that shattered me. Since Taylor and I are the same age, all of her albums have really coincided with my own cycles of growing up, but I don’t think any album, from any artist, has ever met me more in my life than 1989. It really just made me go, fuck it I’m going to have fun. (And I did!)
Kevin Hurler (Gizmodo): I distinctly remember my Swiftie friends at the time getting really excited for Swift’s livestream in which she was set to announce a new album. During the livestream she debuted “Shake It Off” and a lot of those same friends were turned off with the justification of “It’s not country...” That’s a totally fair point, but as a pretty passive Taylor Swift fan up until that point, it really felt like she was putting her all into switching over from country to pop and I admired that. I thought “Shake It Off” was a total earworm and I was really excited to hear what else was on 1989. I remember the album being the first album from any artist I was really following the rollout of.
Drew Gillis (The A.V. Club): I don’t think I’ve ever listened to the whole album. I remember when “Shake It Off” came out and my coworker, who was a huge Swiftie, saying, “You’ve gotta admit it’s catchy” and thinking no, it’s just bad. But then the “Blank Space” video came out and I watched it five times in a row. Credit where it’s due, that’s still one of the best pop songs ever written. I also remember the “Bad Blood” video being a big event, even if it does look like CGI slop now.
Thomas Germain (Gizmodo): I think “Shake It Off” is the only Taylor Swift song I can name.
Vicky Leta (G/O Media): My first memory of 1989, I was driving down Route 9 to my job at a FroYo shop (it was 2014 after all) when I heard “Blank Space” come on the radio. I loved it immediately but couldn’t for the life of me place the artist. When the DJ revealed it was Taylor Swift I was in awe. I hadn’t been much of a Swiftie before; her Red album didn’t do much for me, and kinda sounded like everything else on the radio (sorry!). In 1989, however, her voice and style had a new maturity that was absolutely enticing.
Emma Keates (The A.V. Club): The first time I listened to 1989 from start to finish was during the first hour of a 13-hour car trip from Philadelphia to Jacksonville, Florida, with some friends my freshman year of college. It was the only CD we had at the time, and it initially provided a perfect and nostalgic-feeling soundtrack for the drive, even though none of us had really engaged with it thus far. That was before we realized there are a lot of dead spots on that long stretch of highway and the radio would not be the companion we initially thought it would be. By the fifth spin, we had a lot of bad blood with Taylor. But by replay number 12, we had all fallen back in love.
Lauren Tousignant: When she premiered the “Out Of The Woods” music video that New Year’s Eve, one of my closest friends from college (who’s since passed) and I were texting about how SHE’s out of the woods and WE’RE out of the woods, and everyone’s out of the woods! It’s a memory I think about weekly.
Taylor’s pivot to pop
Saloni Gajjar: I’ve been a mild Taylor fan since Fearless, but it’s Red that really worked most for me in her early years and proved she’s a beautiful lyricist. That’s why I don’t think I loved 1989 instantly. Let me expand: The album definitely immediately pops off because it was quite literally her first full-time foray into pop music. And I enjoyed it for that, but it definitely felt like a shift from Red—I know, I know, that was the goal. Eventually, with multiple listens, like it always happens, the album steadily grew on me. It currently comfortably sits at number five in my ranking of all her albums.
My initial favorite songs were “Style” and “Clean,” and they remain strong contenders, especially “Style.” I do think my favorite right now is “New Romantics.” “Wonderland” also sneakily grew on me a lot over time, enough to add it as a top underrated song from 1989 on our lovely list last year.
Vicky Leta: I loved it. I had just graduated college and was set to move to New York in January 2015, so 1989 felt extremely aligned with my status in life as a post-grad starting a new and exciting and terrifying adventure. My favorite song was “Style.” The intro with the guitar and the synths sends a chill down my spine. My love of it hasn’t changed at all. I play it on nights when I’m out and look hot and find myself downright strutting down the street.
Kevin Hurler: I really, really loved the album when it was released. Since then, my excitement about certain songs has certainly waxed and waned as I’ve spent nine years of my life listening to it. For example, “This Love” was a frequent skip around the time 1989 came out, while now it is one of my favorite tracks on the album. That said, my favorite song has been and will always be “Style.” I think that is a damn near perfect pop song. “You Are In Love” off the deluxe edition is a close second.
Lauren Tousignant: It’s a perfect album, and I probably feel even more strongly about that now. “Out Of The Woods” and “Blank Space” have always been my top two (and both are in my top 10 favorite Swift songs of all time). My boyfriend’s obsessed with “Bad Blood,” which is a song I always enjoyed. But seeing him get excited whenever it plays has given me an entirely new appreciation of it.
Mary Kate Carr: My impression of the album itself was that it was such a solid, immaculately created product, I just couldn’t find a fault with it. Even my least favorite songs (“I Wish You Would,” “I Know Places”) fit perfectly in the sonic landscape of it. It was the beginning of Jack Antonoff’s reign as a producer and his sound still felt fresh and new, and paired with Taylor it just felt like a match made in heaven. “Blank Space” is still an utterly perfect pop single to me, her at the peak of her powers, the ideal marriage of production and lyrics. (Of the songs written about her own image and reputation, it may still be the best.) But as everyone knows, “New Romantics” is an absolutely staggering song to have relegated to the bonus tracks.
Emma Keates: Before that long drive, my impression (based only on the singles) was that it was a fun and catchy album that I didn’t think had all that much staying power for me. While the memories of that trip gave it some extra shine, I didn’t really become a Swiftie until the folklore/evermore era, and I still think this is one I don’t go back to nearly enough in its own right. My favorite song was and is “Style.”
Drew Gillis: Okay, I just listened to the full album for the first time and I don’t really think I’ve been missing out on anything by only knowing the singles. “Clean” and “I Know Places” are decent, and the latter feels like a decent warmup for the mad-as-hell Taylor we’d come to know intimately on Reputation. Mostly, though, the production on 1989 just made me want to listen to Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion instead.
Everything from the 1989 era
Saloni Gajjar: Okay, let’s talk about the 1989 era because I genuinely think she accomplished so much while promoting the album and branding herself as the cool, summertime girl who throws 4th of July parties, invites her famous friends, wears fun outfits, and takes colorful Polaroids; all of this paints a distinct, vivid image of the carefree vibe she wants to associate with the album and that stage of her life. For a pop star, it felt both aspirational and relatable. It’s Taylor we’re talking about, so I don’t know how real everything was, but it was spectacularly staged. We’re seeing a version of the same stuff now that she’s inevitably promoting 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and recreating that era—she’s in the spotlight, her girl group is out and about, and she’s in a surprising, high-profile relationship. I don’t think Travis Kelce will be wearing an I <3 T.S. tank anytime soon, but I think she’s successfully tapping into that specific original album nostalgia really well.
Lauren Tousignant: I saw the 1989 tour in Australia with two of my best friends. We didn’t travel there specifically for the tour, we just happened to be in Sydney when she was there. We easily bought nosebleed seats the day of the show (if you can even believe) for like $300. And, like I said above, I was in a very stereotypical mid-20s moment of my life where I was like, what the fuck is this shit and why is it actually just as bad as the Friends’ theme song warned us. I really, really embraced being single in New York, I embraced my shitty job, I signed up for improv classes and started performing stand-up (LOL), and stopped crying myself to sleep every night. 1989 was playing in the background of all of this.
Mary Kate Carr: For better or worse, the 1989 era is marked by the girl squad and an overarching theme of white feminism. At first, it felt exciting to have the biggest pop star in the world embracing the word “feminist” and preaching girls-supporting-girls (following in the footsteps of Beyoncé’s self-titled era), but as history shows, the schtick got old for the public, including me. Still, the street style, the red lip, the sleek bob, that all made such an impression back in 2014. It was just fun.
Vicky Leta: Her style. There was always a paparazzi photo circling on Tumblr (or Buzzfeed, lol) of her leaving her New York apartment on Franklin Street with her blonde bob and impeccable, youthful fashion.
Kevin Hurler: I have an incredibly strong memory of all the press Swift was doing on release week and beyond. It felt like she was performing on every award show, in every headline, and being interviewed on every radio show in the U.S. and abroad. I think that speaks to her work ethic and belief that she made the right decision switching from country to pop. She really wanted people to take this album seriously and was willing to work hard to prove it. I also vividly remember her wearing this glittery pleated skirt that I thought was really cool.
Emma Keates: I remember a bunch of guys I knew being really embarrassed to admit how much they unironically loved “Shake It Off.”
Hopes and dreams for Taylor’s Version
Kevin Hurler: 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is probably my most anticipated of the re-recordings, because 1989 is my favorite of the albums that she has to re-record (with evermore being my favorite of her entire discography). So far, I’ve been really titillated by the amount of nostalgia I’ve been taken by. For example, Swift releasing a Target-exclusive version of the re-recorded album takes me back to buying the album on release day from the same store in 2014. Seeing her reimagine what is arguably her most iconic album cover has also been a total trip.
Saloni Gajjar: It’s not like 1989 is my favorite album by any means, as I’ve said (that’s evermore, even though no one asked), but I still do love it now after all this time. So for the re-recording, I’m curious and most excited to see if people will dig into the lesser-appreciated tracks like “I Know Places,” “I Wish You Would,” and “You Are In Love.” Those are all great, and I think only proper Swifties realize that. I’m also excited for the vault songs (“Slut!” hello?). As for the emotions it evokes, it helps that Taylor is reinvigorating nostalgia around an album that’s more universally beloved than Fearless, Red, and Speak Now, a.k.a. her other re-recordings so far. Will her vocals, perspective, and experiences bring anything new to it? Or are we bound to relive the same thing again? Either way, I’m in.
Vicky Leta: I recently listened to the Switched On Pop podcast episode about the Speak Now rerelease, and how her sound has matured and frankly, exuded more assuredness in the messages. Now that Taylor Swift and I are in our thirties, I’m curious and excited about how her life will alter the songs both in production and the underlying emotions.
Emma Keates: I’m excited to experience something of what this release was like for fans who were more keyed in at the time. While (most of) the songs obviously won’t be new, I think approaching the album as a whole outside of the context of college parties and pump-up playlists will feel quite different than it does even listening to the non-Taylor’s version now. I’ve only had that experience of real freshness with Red (Taylor’s Version) so far, so I’m excited and hopeful for that.
Lauren Tousignant: This is the re-release I’ve been waiting for. I watched the Eras livestream every night of the Los Angeles stop because I was like, there’s no way she doesn’t finish the U.S. leg with this announcement. I was visiting my parents that weekend and was in my childhood bed watching the livestream on my phone at 3 a.m. and was squealing every time she came out in a new blue outfit. That period of my life just brings back so much joy, I’m so excited to relive it.
Mary Kate Carr: The prospect of these vault tracks, which Taylor says are her favorite, is definitely exciting. But my overall feelings about the re-recordings is that they can’t really touch the magic of the originals, and that includes how it felt to live through the 1989 era the first time. I’ll always look forward to her new releases, but now that we’re several Taylor Swift pop albums deep, a certain novelty has worn off. The original 1989 was a pop explosion, a completely confident turn in a bold new direction, the first and possibly most exciting in a career of hard pivots. It’ll be nostalgic to revisit 1989 (Taylor’s Version), but nothing can really replicate everything 1989 was the first time around.