** (out of four)
Taylor Swift has sold millions upon millions of albums, but it's not because of her just-OK voice. What makes her work special is the heart and sincerity she puts into it. Seriously: Not every pop star becomes an icon for teenage breakups and aw-shucks excitement.
So it's odd that the 24-year-old singer follows 2012's great, genre-straddling "Red" with the disappointingly anonymous "1989," her fifth studio album and the first she's openly labeled "pop." Taylor is richer than Scrooge McDuck and isn't far from having double digits worth of Grammys. An album named after the year in which she was born shouldn't suggest that her past records were just paying the bills and that she's finally ready to express herself through the power of pop music, right? Methinks something suspicious is going on here. A few possibilities:
>> Bestie Lena Dunham needed a few more tunes for the "Girls" soundtrack
>> This Taylor is a clone; the real one is living in Montana with a cowboy lover and fully functioning ranch (over-under on sheep: eight)
>> She decided that being richer than Scrooge isn't enough. Her current goal: Richer than Martha Stewart.
At any rate, "1989" sounds so unlike anything Tay has done in the past (which is the point, for better and worse) that it may as well be a new Selena Gomez album. (Oh, hey, she's a Taylor bestie too! This explains a ton.) And since comparing "1989" to the singer's previous work would lead to using the word "boring" about 18 times, I took a step back and tried to listen as objectively as possible. Here's what happened.
Songs I objectively liked:
>>"Out of the Woods." Super-catchy chorus. Would dance in my bedroom to this.
>>"Wildest Dreams." One of the few songs that evokes genuine nostalgia and emotion.
>>"Clean." Moody and cool, this one feels like Taylor is maturing.
Songs I objectively disliked:
>>"Welcome To New York." Ugh, shut up.
>>"Blank Space." The opening beat sounds vaguely stolen from Nicki Minaj's far superior "Beez in the Trap." At first I thought Swift was singing, "Got a long list of Starbucks lovers," which 100 percent sounds like something Taylor would say.
>>"Bad Blood." And I quote, "Band-Aids don't fix bullet holes." Really, Taylor? He shot you?
The whole hollow, formulaic thing is tinged with '80s-inspired synthesizers and features at least two references to Taylor's lip color. Can we go back to 2012?
damoran@tribune.com | @redeyedana
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