Flannels, high-waisted shorts, ripped tights, the 1975, Lana Del Rey, Tumblr. It’s 2014, and Taylor Swift just released “1989,” an anthology about growing up, heartbreak, and moving to the big city.
Swift released her fifth studio album on Oct. 27, 2014. The album was a smash hit, charting at number 1 on the Billboard 200 for 11 consecutive weeks, winning three Grammys, including “Album of the Year,” and selling 1.287 million copies within the first week.
And on Oct. 27, 2023, nine years later, listeners reminisced on those same feelings with the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
Swift revisits the album that transformed her from a country artist to an international pop sensation.
In the original album’s prologue, Swift gives an inside look into the story she was trying to tell with the release.
I’ve told you my stories for years now. Some have been about coming of age. Some have been about coming undone. This is a story about coming into your own, and as a result… coming alive.
— Taylor Swift
In Aug. 2019, Swift revealed, in an interview with CBS, that she planned to re-record her original albums. This was after news had broken that her old label, Big Machine Record, was sold to Scooter Braun, a music manager. The singer responded in June 2019.
“For years, I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my own work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta (Big Machine Record’s CEO) would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future,” Swift said in a Tumblr post.
This means that Braun had the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums. Anyone, including Swift herself who wanted to license the song to use in movies, TV shows, and other media would have to pay a licensing fee and get permission from Braun.
Swift had already released three old albums in their new “Taylor’s Version” forms. “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” was first, in April 2021, then “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and “Speak Now (Taylor’s version).” Swift announced she was releasing “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” on Aug. 9, the date of the Era’s Tour’s last show in the United States.
It’s my favorite album of all time. It’s just the most perfect pop album ever. I listened to the re-record with my friend right when it came out. I made a mug cake and everything.
— Ashley Hamanaka
The announcement was on the ninth day of the eighth month of the year (a nod to the album’s name). She called the album her “favorite” re-recording and revealed that she would release five vault tracks that did not make the original album. The five tracks are “Sl*t!,” “Say Don’t Go,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Suburban Legends,” and “Is It Over Now.”
Carlmont students have a lot to say about the original album and its re-recording. While some were indifferent to the release, Ashley Hamanaka, a sophomore, was particularly excited about this re-record, as it holds a special place in her heart.
“It’s my favorite album of all time. It’s just the most perfect pop album ever. I listened to the re-record with my friend right when it came out. I made a mug cake and everything,” Hamanaka said.
Recently, Swift became the first female artist in Spotify history to reach 100 million monthly streams on Spotify. She has around 180.098 million fans in the U.S. alone, many of whom became fans after the “1989” era.
“I feel like that album is chock full of stuff we just don’t talk about as a society. It definitely helped me on the road to becoming a Swiftie,” said Max Sinha, a Carlmont Senior.
While most Carlmont students were too young to remember the release of the original album, songs like “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” reached the top of the Billboard charts and became the most memorable and popular songs of the album. Other singles also topped the charts, with “Bad Blood (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” reaching the top spot and “Style” peaking at number six.
“I’m not the biggest fan of Taylor Swift, but I remember ‘Style’ and ‘Bad Blood,’” said Arjun Vinu, a sophomore at Carlmont.
With her fourth re-record out, Swift only has two more re-recordings left to do: her 2017 album, “Reputation,” and her 2006 debut album, “Taylor Swift.”
I was born in 1989, reinvented for the first time in 2014, and part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the release of this album I love so dearly.
— Taylor Swift
In the new prologue for “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift states that the album had a profound sentimental meaning to her.
“I was born in 1989, reinvented for the first time in 2014, and part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the release of this album I love so dearly,” Swift said.
