Taylor Swift took a big swing when she released 1989 in October 2014.
While the singer dipped her toes into the pop world on her 2012 record, Red, with songs like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” it wasn’t until 1989 that she fully embraced a new sound and left her country roots behind.
Switching genres comes with the risk of alienating longtime fans, but Swift navigated the transition so adeptly that it’s hard to remember she was ever anything but a pop star.
Come back in time with Us as we explore Swift’s official pop debut and how it helped cement her place as one of the greatest musicians and entertainers of all time.
What Happened:
Swift’s titular debut album, which was released in 2006, was a country album. Singles like “Tim McGraw,” “Our Song” and “Picture to Burn” fit right in on country radio, and Swift even sang with a slight twang on the record. However, Swift’s crossover appeal was apparent from the beginning; the second single on Taylor Swift, the ballad “Teardrops on My Guitar,” charted on pop radio.
Swift adopted a slightly different sound on her sophomore album, 2008’s Fearless, which was billed as country pop. With confessional lyricism that perfectly encapsulated the teenage girl experience, Fearless made Swift a household name. The record’s lead single, “Love Story,” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “You Belong With Me” peaked at No. 2. Fearless also earned Swift her first Album of the Year award at the 2010 Grammys.
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Swift continued to experiment with genres on 2010’s Speak Now, which is considered country pop and pop rock, and 2012’s Red, which was a blend of pop, country and rock. Her collaborations with legendary pop producers Max Martin and Shellback on several Red tracks — “We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “22” — marked the biggest sonic deviation of Swift’s career at the time.
After some critics took issue with Red’s lack of cohesion — The A.V. Club called it “unfocused” — Swift went all in on the pop sound for her next record, 1989. She traded in banjos, fiddles and guitars for drum machines and synthesizers; she collaborated with Jack Antonoff for the first time on “Out of the Woods” and “I Wish You Would,” both of which sounded nothing like anything she’d released before; she teamed back up with Martin and Shellback and worked with longtime collaborator Nathan Chapman on only one song, “I Know Places.”
“We made the most sonically cohesive album I’ve ever made,” Swift said when announcing her “very first documented, official pop album” during a livestream in August 2014. “I was listening to a lot of late ’80s pop, because I love the chances they were taking, and how bold it was, and how ahead of its time it was.”
The songwriter did her research when making the record, and learned from “reading up” on late ‘80s culture that it was a time of fearless self-expression.
“This idea that you can be who you want, wear what you want, love who you want — the idea of that was so inspiring to me,” Swift explained. “So, limitless possibility was a theme for me.”
Fans got their first taste of 1989 when the lead single, “Shake It Off,” was released in August 2014. The album came out that October, making Swift’s pop star transformation complete.
Why It Was a Big Deal:
1989 represented a moment of reinvention for Swift. She’d moved to New York City, cut her hair short and found a new sound. After years of being criticized for writing songs about her exes, Swift stopped dating altogether, and her large friend group of actresses, singers and models became the talk of the town.
“I look at this album as me starting over,” Swift told Billboard in October 2014.
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The 1989 era also felt like Swift’s true coming-of-age, when she learned to fully trust her own artistic instincts.
“This album was made completely and solely on my terms, with no one else’s opinion factoring in, no one else’s agenda factoring in,” she told Billboard. “I felt like making a pop album, so I did. I felt like being very honest and unapologetic about it, so I did. I felt like moving to New York — I had no reason to, it wasn’t for love or business — so I did.”
The message — and the music — resonated with fans. Swift not only kept her longtime listeners with the risky genre change, she gained new ones. 1989 became her most commercially successful album. The first five singles — “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Style” and “Wildest Dreams” — charted in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and the first three hit No. 1.
1989, which won Album of the Year at the 2016 Grammys, forever changed the trajectory of Swift’s career and cemented her pop star status.
What People Said:
1989 was largely praised by critics at the time of its release. Time called the tunes “leaner and keener than those on Red” and dubbed the album’s sound “perfectly crafted.” The New York Times’ review, titled “A Farewell to Twang,” noted that Swift had “set herself apart” and didn’t sound like any of the other pop icons of the time.
The album was not without its detractors — Forbes called it a “gluttonous pop record” that sounded “fake” despite Swift’s “genuine” persona” — but Swift largely proved the haters wrong. Forbes questioned what Swift’s “next viable option” could possibly be after 1989, speculating that a return to her roots would seem like a “retreat” while continuing on with pop would be “unsustainable” for her. However, as all of Us know, Swift continued to dominate the pop landscape while experimenting with other genres as well.
What Happened Next:
Swift stayed the pop star course for 2017’s Reputation and 2019’s Lover. She continued to work with Martin, Shellback and Antonoff on Reputation and collaborated with Antonoff on nearly every Lover track. 1989 was not a fluke or a one-off; it was the beginning of a long and prosperous career in pop.
Swift proved her ability to reinvent herself once again in 2020, when she released two albums, Folklore and Evermore, less than five months apart. Both records had elements of indie folk and alternative rock not previously explored by Swift and stood in stark contrast to 1989, Reputation and Lover. Folklore marked Swift’s first time working with The National’s Aaron Dessner, who went on to contribute to Evermore, the extended 3am Edition of Midnights, and The Tortured Poets Department.
While Swift’s 2022 record, Midnights, marked a return to pop, she continued to switch between genres on 2024’s The Tortured Poet’s Department, which features synth pop tracks like “Fortnight” and folk rock tunes like “But Daddy I Love Him.”
By deviating from her previous sound with 1989, Swift set the precedent that she could, and would, change genres when she felt inclined to. Her fans have loyally followed her through various sonic territories as her thoughtful lyricism remains a throughline.
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Where They Stand Now:
During the 1989 era, it seemed like Swift couldn’t possibly get more famous, influential or revered — and yet, she has. Her Eras Tour, which kicked off in March 2023, has smashed records including most tickets sold in a single day and highest-grossing tour of all time. Each performance lasts over three hours, and Swift takes the stage rain or shine.
The name of the tour is a satisfying nod to Swift’s ability to constantly evolve, leaving behind clearly delineated eras in her wake. Her fans revisit their own life chapters as Swift sings, recalling who they were when Reputation or Speak Now or Fearless was released.
Swift has also made history by becoming the first artist to have a rerecorded album top the Billboard charts. In fact, all four of the albums she’s rerecorded thus far to reclaim the rights to the masters — 2021’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) and 2023’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) — reached No. 1.
When announcing 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in August 2023 via Instagram, Swift noted that the OG album had “changed [her] life in countless ways.”
