BY JOSEPH DEBELL, OPINION ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
Album cover courtesy of @taylorswift on Instagram
Stars cortesy of Wikimedia Commons
Even though most of the re-recordings of Taylor Swift’s older records have demonstrated improvements in sound, much of the initial magic is lost on “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
Taylor Swift is an artist who needs little-to-no introduction. From passing 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify to winning 12 Grammy Awards, her accolades are astounding.
Her best-selling album, “1989,” has a ton of replay value and includes many recognizable pop hits such as “Bad Blood” and “Shake It Off.” The original recording of “1989,” released in 2014, featured two of the best pop producers in the game, Max Martin and Shellback. It’s almost impossible to overstate both of their influence on pop’s DNA.
Despite a good stream of records between Rowe and Swift, taking on some of the daunting tasks of recreating the melodic hits of “1989” created a difficult, if not impossible situation. This is exactly why “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is less legible and palatable than the original record.
Even though the overall differences between the two records aren’t huge, there is something off with the production side of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
Max Martin is responsible for much of modern pop’s sound. His imprint is evident on The Weeknd’s record “Dawn FM” and on Britney Spears’s “One More Time.”
However, on “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift again teamed up with accomplished country producer Christopher Rowe. The pair’s prior success hinged on Rowe’s background and ability to meticulously recreate the instrumental palettes of her country records “Speak Now” and “Fearless.”
A common production misstep on this record is overuse and oversaturation of different sounds. Most times, this ends up being a synth.
“Clean,” the album’s 13th track, boasts a new mix that is unfortunately less clean than its title suggests. The newer version’s combination of bass, synths and vocals sound as if they are working against each other — rendering the song less blissful and optimistic than its original iteration.
The original record’s finite details illuminate how particular Martin and Shellback were in their initial production efforts. A prominent example is the anthem “Shake It Off.” The song, like many others on this record, is set up to be successful. However, the new mix is stripped back and skeletal despite including new instruments. Some instruments, such as the floor tom, become ineffective because they were sustained for too long — causing them to eat away at the original’s crisp and shouty atmosphere.
The impressive parts of this album were the Jack Antonoff-produced vault tracks. The standout among those is the anti-slut-shaming song “Slut!” While the lyrics are underwhelming, this track still sounds like a fully realized cut from her album “Midnights.”
My praise for this LP is almost entirely a by-product of nostalgia tied to the original record. Not to say this record doesn’t have its moments, but in terms of comparing the newer version to the original, we can just sum it up by applauding Max Martin and Shellbach’s production talents.
debelljb22@bonaventure.edu
