Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’: 3 Highlights To Watch Out For

Bradley Stern | October 24, 2014 1:40 pm

Perhaps you’ve seen rumblings on Twitter, on the Internet or merely felt the vibrations coursing through the streets, but Taylor Swift‘s new album, 1989, may or may not have hit the web a little early.

To be fair, we’d already heard a bunch of new tunes leading up to the album’s eventual arrival, including her #1 smash “Shake It Off,” “Out Of The Woods” and “Welcome To New York,” as well as a hint of “Style.” But what else is there to look forward to? Let’s discuss.

1.) “Blank Space”

Click. Taylor’s a nightmare dressed as a daydream, and she’s got her songwriting pen ready for this obvious reflection on the media’s portrayal of Tay as a man-eater. “Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane/But I got a blank space baby…and I’ll write your name,” she brightly sings above the chant-ready chorus. The tripping beats bounce as hard as the hearts she breaks. Care to be the next name on her list?

2.) “All You Had To Do Was Stay”

Big, big, big! Taylor serves up an irresistibly catchy, dreamy chorus that builds in a way that recalls St. Lucia “All Eyes On You.” “Hey, all you had to do was…stay!” she repeats along the synth-pop pulsations. When Tay said she was navigating into a “late ’80’s”-inspired pop space, this song is exactly what she was (probably) talking about. Luckily, it’s huge — and an equally huge sigh of relief for fans.

3.) “Bad Blood”

Of all the songs that’ll “get ’em talking,” this is perhaps the one that’ll get them the most talking. Why? Because it’s about Katy Perry, maybe, which means that Swifties and Katy Cats will be tearing apart the song, lyric by lyric. Armed with a big chant (‘Cause baby, now we got bad blood/You know, we used to be mad love”), the ominous cut sees Tay at her most vicious. And while it might have been inspired by some backing dancer business, it can apply to any double-crossing situation. “Band-Aids don’t fix bullet holes, you say sorry just for show/If you live like that, you live with ghosts,” she tenderly tip-toes across the bridge. A Prism reference? Conspiracy theory away, y’all!

That’s only the tip of Tay’s iceberg. Are you excited to hear the rest of the album? If you’ve heard it already, what are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below.

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