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Album 1989 Complete Track-By-Track Guide:
“Welcome to New York”
By now most fans will be familiar with this synth-pop NYC anthem, co-written with Ryan Tedder, though they might not realize that it makes more sense as the album’s opener. In that context, the song is less about Swift’s real-life change of address and more about her move into full-on pop. Perhaps that’s why the central metaphor the song uses for the city is a sonic one: She says she came “searching for a sound [she] hadn’t heard before” and found “a new soundtrack” and a new beat she can “dance to … forevermore.” It’s as much a welcome to her new sound (for forevermore!) as it is about the city.
“Blank Space”
“Welcome to New York” may be wide-eyed and innocent, but the acid “Blank Space” is anything but. Those who don’t listen closely might miss the irony, but the song finds Swift—over a hip-hop-influenced drum machine beat recorded with Max Martin and Shellback—sending up her own reputation as a naive heartbreaker, a “nightmare dressed like a daydream.”
“Style”
Another song that isn’t quite what it first appears, “Style” is ostensibly about timeless fashions. “You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye,” Swift sings, “And I got that red lip classic thing you like.” But, slowly and subtly, it reveals itself to be something slightly more sinister: a song about a relationship that goes round and round but is never quite healthy. The arrangement matches the noir-ish feel perfectly, with Nile Rodgers-y funky guitar and a chugging synth riff that would fit right in on the Drive soundtrack.
“Out of the Woods”
Those who pre-ordered 1989 have already heard this chanting, synth-heavy ballad, written with Jack Antonoff of Bleachers and Fun, but it’s another that makes even more sense in the context of the album. If “Style” is about being stuck in a vicious cycle with (apparently) Harry Styles, then “Out of the Woods” is about breaking out of it.
All You Had to Do Was Stay
Completing what plays like a three-song cycle that begins with “Style” and “Out of the Woods,” “All You Had to Do Was Stay” sees the man who was unwilling to commit (Swift has implied that this one, too, is about Styles) come crawling back to her. He may “want it back,” but—as Swift sings with a nearly audible wagging finger—“It’s just too late.” While perhaps not as memorable as the other two songs, the track gets points for attitude.
“Shake It Off”
Its a No. 1 hit song of the album and really catchy also.
“I Wish You Would”
The most striking thing about this song initially is that it’s the first to actually place the emphasis on guitars. Written to go over a Fine Young Cannibals-sampling track assembled by Jack Antonoff . The song builds and builds—sliding into half time on the chorus—as it finds the singer wishing a lover would run back.
“Bad Blood”
Written about a professional feud with another artist who “basically tried to sabotage [Swift’s] entire arena tour,” according to Swift, “Bad Blood” is rumored to be about Katy Perry, who may or may not have hired dancers away from Swift’s tour supporting Red.
“Wildest Dreams”
It’s hard to imagine that this song, which finds Swift quivering and whispering and reinventing herself as a sort of summer-dress-wearing femme fatale, wasn’t inspired by Lana Del Rey. The sultry lyrics describe a surreptitious, doomed affair that the singer enters under only one condition: “Say you’ll see me again,” she sings, “even if it’s just in your wildest dreams.” Swift’s own distinct songwriting voice gets a little lost, but she does a convincing Del Rey impression.
“How You Get the Girl”
Though it follows immediately after the very sedate “Wildest Dreams,” “How You Get the Girl” is perhaps the most chipper song on the album. Built over strumming acoustic guitars, it’s also the one that sounds the most like Red.
“This Love”
The slowest song on the album, “This Love” opens with a wash of synths seemingly meant to evoke waves on the ocean shore. These ocean currents provide the song’s central metaphor, which is about hoping that, if you let it go, love will come back to you just like the tide.
“I Know Places”
A song about trying to carry on a love affair while the vultures (the media, presumably) are circling, “I Know Places” has eerie, sinister verses that burst into triumphant, major-key euphoria on the chorus) But with its manipulated vocals, martial drums, and references to the flashing lights of photographers, the song (which was made with Ryan Tedder) achieves the mood it aims for.
“Clean”
Employing another water metaphor, “Clean” finds Swift after a breakup drowning in the stuff (tears, presumably), until she is “finally clean” and ready to move on. Written and recorded with Imogen Heap, the sad but ultimately hopeful song is in the vein of similarly-themed Swift album closers like “Begin Again.”
Bonus tracks
“Wonderland”
“You R in Love”
“New Romance”
