16. Shake it Off
I think this is probably my least favourite track because after it was released, I listened to it about 500 times. I love the video to this, and I absolutely love how much Taylor is having a laugh at herself - everything the critics and haters could say about her and this song she's already said it first. But having said that, the catchy tune definitely comes at expense of the lyrics, which is what I love the most about her music, hence why I've put it in last place.
'I go on to many dates, but I can't make them stay, at least that's what people say...'
15. Wonderland
If there's yet another Alice in Wonderland adaptation any time soon, this could be on the soundtrack! Again, the songs I like the least on this album are the ones that are more focused on a catchy tune than lyrics, and even after several listens through, I'm still not mad on Wonderland.
'You searched the world for something else to make you feel like what we had...'
14. New Romantics
In my opinion, this is the most 'pop' sounding track on the album and I can definitely see the 80s influence. I like it, but I just don't love it. I wouldn't say it's as catchy as How You Get the Girl, and it's one of the only songs from 1989 that I haven't found myself singing, I do like the idea and theme of it. I can see why it didn't make it onto the full album.
'The rumours are terrible and cruel but honey, most of them are true...'
13. How You Get the Girl
This song reminds me of Stay Stay Stay and Today was a Fairytale in the way that it's describing the perfect love, and everything a girl dreams that someone would say to her. It's upbeat, funny, and cute. I can imagine someone coming in from a first date, putting on this song and dancing around their room with a huge grin on their face. Cute, cute, cute!
'I want you for worse or for better, I would wait for ever and ever...'
12. Bad Blood
One of the more poppy songs on the album, but it's super catchy, and would make a brilliant break up song! I really love the beat and it's one of many tracks on 1989 that makes me want to turn the volume up in my car, wind my windows down and sing along.
'Band-aids don't fix bullet holes, you say sorry just for show...'
11. This Love
Like I said, there are several tracks on 1989 that could fit well on one of her earlier albums, and this is one of them. It has the soft, lyrical feel to it that made me fall in love with Taylor's music so many years ago. I love the lyrics and a love the pace, I just wish the chorus was a little stronger, something that is a common theme throughout the album in my opinion.
'This love left a permanent mark, this love is glowing in the dark, these hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me...'
10. All You Had to Do Was Stay
Anyone who is a hardcore Swift fan will know about the 'track five' theme from her previous albums, and three of my top five all time Taylor Swift are track fives (Dear John, All Too Well, White Horse), so when I heard this song and how UN 'track five' it was, I was really, really disappointed. But the more I listened to it, the more I loved it. I just wish Taylor had humoured all of us crazy fans and had either Wildest Dreams or Clean as track five.
'People like you always want back the love they pushed aside, but people like me are gone forever when you say goodbye...'
9. I Know Places
I love the kind of dark, mysterious feel to this one and can picture Taylor sneaking around in back alleys with a date trying to avoid the paps. Most of the tracks on the album have a stronger bridge and quite a weak chorus, but the chorus of I Know Places is catchy without being too repetitive.
'Cause they got their cages, they got their boxes, and guns. They are the hunters we are the foxes, and we run...'
8. Welcome to New York
What an awesome first song! It makes me want to travel to New York more than I already do, and I had this track on repeat while in London earlier this week, the closest I'll get to NY in a while... I think it really introduces Taylor's new style, and I hope she releases it as a single soon. Yet another one that must be listened to at as high a volume as possible.
'It's a new soundtrack I could dance to this beat forevermore...'
'Everybody here was someone else before, and you can want who you want boys and boys and girls and girls...'
7. You are in Love
Like How You Get the Girl, this is a fairytale track that's everything you'd want from a love song, but this one is slow and beautiful and definitely not a pop song. Just lovely.
'You keep his shirt, he keeps his word and for once you let go of all your fears and your ghosts...'
6. Style
I love the story behind this one, and its one of the few tracks on the album that are a hybrid of a catchy pop tune and a more traditional Taylor Swift track. Long time and new fans will both love this one.
'You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye and I got that red lip classic thing that you like, and when we go crashing down we come back every time...'
5. I Wish You Would
There's always at least one song on every album by Taylor Swift that makes me feel like she's read my diary or somehow got inside of my mind and written down exactly what I wish I could say to someone, and this was it. Like Style, it's catchy, but it tells a story - a story of regret that everyone can relate to. Think Back to December but pop.
'I wish we could go back and remember what we were fighting for and I wish you knew that I miss you too much to be mad any more
4. Wildest Dreams
For me, another one that is more 'old style' Taylor Swift, with a more mature, romantic feel. Regret, heartbreak, and longing. Everything you'd want someone to feel about you after you'd broken up.
'Say you'll remember me standing in a nice dress staring at the sunset, babe, red lips and rosy cheeks, say you'll see me again even if it's just in your wildest dreams...'
3. Clean
Out of all of the songs on the album, this is the one that I'd most like to ask Taylor what she was thinking when she was writing it, as there seems to be two very different currents running through it. I love both of them. I love how it shows the moment of realisation after a break up that you know that you're going to be okay. I love the lyrics. I love the upbeat chorus. Fabulous!
'The rain came pouring down when I was drowning that's when I could finally breathe, and in that morning, gone was any trace of you...'
'10 months sober I must admit, just because you're clean doesn't mean you don't miss it, 10 months older I must admit, now that I'm clean I'm never gonna risk it...'
2. Out of the Woods
This one and my number one track are the two songs that I've found myself singing the most, it's catchy, and it makes me want to dance around my room and sing into my hairbrush (not that I'd do anything that embarrassing *ahem*...). But like all of my favourite tracks on 1989, it combines Taylor's usual lyrical brilliance and a good beat. The only thing I don't like his how repetitive the chorus is, but the brilliant verses more than make up for it.
'You took a Polaroid of us then discovered, the rest of the world was black and white and we were in screaming colour...'
'Your necklace hanging from my neck, the night we couldn't quite forget...'
1. Blank Space
I'm so happy that this is going to be the next single, I love the lyrics so much and it's definitely the song that makes me wish I had a decent voice so that when I'm singing this at top volume I could at least do it justice. If you're only going to listen to one of the songs from 1989, pick this one.
'I could show you incredible things...'
'Cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream...'
Thanks for reading,
Tilly.
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