Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version) ALBUM REVIEW 

I’m sure (Anthony’s Version) of this review will be much better than the original one in 10 years or so

Can't wait for To Pimp A Butterfly (Kendrick's Version) to be released so it can lose the album of the year again at the Grammy's

anthony i admire your bravery putting out this video

Can’t believe Taylor Swift made her own version of the year 1989.

the de-MaxMartinification of 1989 is one of the worst things to happen this year

wild that she's already managed to rerecord all previous 1988 albums that fast.

The most clear example is on Style. It’s the best pop track she’s ever written, and the production is crucial in giving it the necessary scale. The mix, essentially in the chorus, sounds dead. It’s like she’s singing to a karaoke track, which certainly wasn’t the case on the previous TV releases. It makes me less interested in how a TV version of Reputation might sound, because I don’t think the team behind Swift will be capable of making the changes that will make that album sound less dated.

I THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY! I TOTALLY thought these mixes sounded bad and lowfi compared to the original recordings! Blank Space sounds awful, the only one I thought sounded on par to the original was Out of the Woods

I completely agree. Especially on Style there are just so many details about the original that just aren't here in the new one. The timbre of the guitar is robotic sounding and so much less bright which makes in just blend into the mush it doesn't stand out like in the original. The synths just sound muddy as hell, there's no debating it. And the thing that completely annoys me the most is that in the original throughout the verses the synth gradually swell and intensify, building up tension before the chorus. In Taylor's version there is little to no dynamic change throughout the verse which makes the chorus hit not nearly as hard when it does.

They did Style so dirty on this TV, I never thought that my favorite Taylor Swift song could ever make me feel deflated

I can't help but agree. 1989 is easily my favorite album of hers, and I think it's great that she's re-recording her music (because fuck Big Machine)... but the Taylor's Version just doesn’t hit quite like the original. It's disappointing for sure.

Even her fans are complaining about her version that’s how you know it’s not good

rest in peace anthony fantano. gone too soon 🙏

The album proves the importance of having great producers like Shellback and Max Martin. Taylor can record her music any way she like but she will never be able to give the same production like what Shellback and Max Martin do.

I'm a swiftie and 100% agree. Like, the re-record of Blank Space is missing so many of just those little vocal story-telling elements such as how she says "oh no" and a lot of the other playful things she originally did to let you in on the joke. The only plus to the re-release is the bonus tracks but yeah, production could have been better.

the vocals being too far forward in the mix and too clean just took me out of the fantasy tbh.

the balls you have to have to wear the red flannel on a swift album is crazy

You know it’s bad when the swifties admit that they’ll keep listening to the original releases

all the vault tracks on this album do not sound like “ 1989 “ , they sound very much “ midnights “ .

Thank you!! I'm a huge Swiftie like really but I'm so dumbfounded by all the praise and 5/5 she's getting from critiques with this mediocre re-recordings

As someone who loves 1989, this version is painful to listen to. Before Style was over I had to shut off the album because I couldn’t deal with the obnoxious production

As a swiftie I sadly agree. Out of The Woods is the only track that actually lives up to its original form

Today, Anthony takes his life in his own hands. Godspeed, king.

Thank you so much for explaining why i didn't like this Taylor's Version! It just all sounded really OFF but I couldn't put my finger on it. Honestly, listening to it made me just want to listen to the original 1989 even more! (Especially tracks like 'Style' which hits so much harder). I wonder now about Reputation (Taylor's Version) and whether it will suffer from being re-recorded?

I feel so justified. Thank God someone with a proven, amazing ear picked it out too. Particularly the smoothed out vocals that absolutely killed the songs I used to love.

I agree with all of this, but I also think a key factor was a pretty consistent rounding out of some of the more pivotal vocal phrasing and inflections that really made the album feel genuine in the past. Sanding down the gruff on certain songs, putting too much space in between words at times for "clarity" really adds to the sterility Fantano, and really everyone else that has issues with this Taylor's Version, gets out of this. Really, the production is awful, but I feel like this is the first time I really felt the years between the original and re-recordings. The immediacy just isn't there, like she forgot how she felt when these songs were initially written and recorded. Really disappointing since I, and a lot of people who aren't even really Swift fans, loved the original version.

Not going to lie, 1989 TV kind of made me listen to her entire discography for the first time this week. Went from 5 saved songs to 62

Putting "as a swiftie" because that seems to validate an opinion... I pretty much agree with this. There's many cuts in her other rerecordingz that felt distinctly different (mostly due to her better technical delivery and developed voice) but the vibes and original expression stayed intact. Unironically tho, I'd be one of those fans dedicated enough to just listen to the recording over the original anyway (like you assumed). I'm not the biggest on 1989 anyway, as I'm more of a Red fan, but I'm glad we're near past the journey of this crazy ride. New vault songs are always welcome and I'm glad to see appreciation for Now That We Don't Talk.

Since Letdown is a song off Radiohead’s OK Computer I see you were implying this album is both a 10/10 and a new classic of the century, very clever

I was not expecting a letdown/10. But the word letdown has 7 letters in it so I can only assume this means it is a 7/10.

taylor's voice also sounded like an AI cover on one or two tracks like Shake It Off and Style, but sounded completely fine, if not better than in the original album, on bsides like I Wish You Would and This Love. which I don't get like why'd they decide to make her voice sound more digital on the most popular tracks ????

I’m going to go out on a limb here and agree with Anthony on this one. My gf is a huge fan of the og 1989 and I’ve heard it so many times. I immediately felt like something was off with the mixes. Even the extra tracks felt like her and the team were phoning it in, which is understandable since she is doing so many other things now.

I’m not a big Swift fan, since I’m more into alternative and new wave, but I have enjoyed some of her songs. I just listened to some of the new 1989 and the quality difference is noticeable. I’m a musician though, so maybe it’s not as obvious to other people.

Style is always such a nostalgic song for me, the original release came out when I was finishing high school and I remember driving around with old friends, listening to that song on blast as our guilty pop pleasure. Hearing TV I thought maybe I'd just hyped up how good the original sounded with it laced with all the memories. Then I went back and listened to the original and it really just is that good. Max Martin not being involved in the recreation of this album is such a loss.

i knew fantano was more of a folklore guy

the fact christopher rowe is a country/rock producer and she got him to produce this pop opus.....choices!

I’m genuinely surprised because didn’t people also hate the original mix of 1989? I distinctly remember critics complaining about how loud and un-dynamic the mix was.

Definitely agree with your thoughts here. As someone who's been mixing sound for 6 years I immediately noticed how much weaker the mixes sounded in TV. The effects on her vocals sound so much worse, and all the killer riffs in intros like Style and Shake It Off sound noticably synthy/midi. As a whole I think the album is decent, I really liked the vault tracks, but the original 1989 is too iconic and engrained in my mind for my ears to be able to settle for 1989 TV

wildest dreams sounded good because shellbeck was involved it

Anthony saying that this album sounds like it was produced in 1989 does not count as a review.

The buzzing noise in many of the tracks is the main problem I have with this re-recording… it’s so unbearable listening with my headphones. I’ve heard some other people talk about this, but how it passed in production drives me crazy. I don’t mind the rest of the mixing that much, some of it is frustrating but passable, but this aspect makes some of the tracks genuinely unlistenable. I’m hoping they get switched out or refined at some points. It’s frustrating

As a swiftie yeah I kinda agree with the rerecording sound bit. the real travesty is putting is it over now as the worst vault track :// that was the only one that actually wowed me. I don't have your ears though!

Anthony, just because Taylor didn't give you her number doesn't mean you can't give her album one.

James Taylor needs to put out his version of 1989

I think on of the most interesting things I’m taking away from these TV project is learning about mixes and producers. In stead of just listening I’ve learnt to pay attention to all the different layers. It’s a cool outcome.

Swifties are the new disney adults

just because it’s called 1989 doesn’t mean you should’ve rated it a 19/89

I was going in ready to fight, but yeah the mixing was odd on this one

If it was called (bald version) you would have given it a 10

Was looking forward to this album for years! Fired it up in the sound system, was shocked. Had to go look for some reviews, looks like I'm not the only one that felt the mixing and production was not very good.

One track I actually liked better is Wonderland, it feels more grand and sweeping than the original and taylors obviously improved and more skillful vocals really help it soar.

The original album is simply way too iconic. This re-recording was never going to deliver or surpass the expectations and impact the original did when it made waves across the pop genre. Still, 1989 came out during a crazy point in my life, and I guess I'm just happy to see it come back in a new light is all tbh (still sticking with the original tho).

im not a huge taylor fan but i absolutely love 1989, and i was super excited for this and this was a total fumble its tragic

I think this is comforting information. Making an album (particularly a classic album) should not be very easy or straight forward. There's an alchemy to the greatest records that's in the chemistry between people and machines, basically making albums is like Terminator.

I just can’t believe she spent so much time and money on re-recording the whole album and didn’t think to make Shake It Off or Bad Blood less cringe

I have to agree with the review and many of the comments put forth. Besides the sonic differences and mixing, the one thing that really caught me off guard was how little emotion there seems to be in the vocals. Yes, it does have emotion, let me be clear there, but nothing like the feelings that the original instilled, and it doesn't have anything to do with her vocals being more mature now. 1989 was an album that was blasted on the a radio and online services for years. If you actually listen to the music and her vocals through any good headset, the emotional highs and lows are missing in the recreation, in some cases, it comes across as a metronome with no air between lyrics. This actually is very sad given some of the concepts that were expressed. My summary would be: this is Taylor Swift singing to Taylor Swift. but it isn't her baring her soul as before.

Totally agree, 1989 is one of the best pop album of the 10's and when you listen track by track of TV's version vs the OG it is a miss. This streamer will stick to the 2014 version

1989 is one of my favorite pop albums of all time but this new version proved that Taylor needs to slow things down a bit and not overwork herself as much as she has been this decade.

Gots to agree with melon as a swiftie. Although I know places TV's SLAPS

All these comments fearing for Anthony's life. Yet most of, if not all the comments I've seen from Swifties have been largely in agreement with him lmao

Yeah, after hearing the album a bunch of times, some songs - Style, Shake it Off, Wish You Would - are straight up worse to the point I started to notice static in the mix. Some songs I think got better were Out of the Woods, Wildest Dreams, I Know Places and All You Had to Do was Stay, mainly because of the vocal performance

Can’t wait for Reputation, Taylor’s Version

as a swiftie I hate to say that I do agree with you, and I heard all the things you pointed out. not to mention the new funny sounds in How You Get The Girl. the more processed vocals are also not a hit with me since it makes it sound too filtered. the smoothness in the production from Max Martin in the stolen 1989 was better as you said. I will obviously still stream 1989 Taylor's version, but with a blind eye to the new changes lol. One thing I will say is that All You Had To Do Was Stay was upgraded for me in terms of production compared to the stolen version. I enjoy this one a lot better. it's also interesting to know that the producer for the Taylor's Versions thus far has been a country producer. I hope he can deliver well for Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version) and reputation (Taylor's Version). I also think it's cynical to think that we (swifties) are only supporting Taylor's Versions from a money or consumerist perspective. at the end of the day Taylor wants to own HER work that she ALWAYS has a contribution in (she writes every single song she's ever put out and will put out). so to say that Taylor's Versions are simply in the best interest of her wallet is a fairly negative perspective to be approaching the reclaiming of HER work. anyway, I digress.

In my opinion, the only songs that sound worse to me are the first 3 Welcome To New York definitely sounds worse but I was never that into the song anyways so it’s not a big deal to me Blank Space sounds slightly worse, but I still like the Taylor’s Version Style is the biggest disappointment on the album by far, while the Taylor’s Version has grown on me a bit since the album released, it’s still a big step down from the original Overall I’m very happy with this Taylor’s Version for the most part, considering that almost all of my favorites, (All You Had To Do Was Stay, I Wish You Would, Wonderland, and New Romantics) got improved with this version, at least in my opinion

I really like now that we don’t talk but I just wish it was longer. Songs shouldn’t be under 3 minutes.

100% agree with you on this one fantano. I will be listening to the taylors version of this record when I am streaming with my best friend, because she will refuse to listen to the original. but when I am alone in my house vaccuming I will be streaming the exact same 1989 version I have been since it's original release. also, I really love the vault track now that we don't talk. I can feel how passionate she is about the situation and I think it's so witty lyrically, but I hate the ending! this track was given no closure at all and I hate that!

But if this album was called "To 19 an 89" You would've given it a NOT BAD

Fantano’s Version went crazzzyyyy

Yall heard that guitar solo on Style??? 🤣

Honestly, I think the main problem with the 1989 TV production is tied to how "of the time" most pop albums are, at least when compared to country. With the rerecordings of Fearless, and even Speak Now, there was a larger leeway in terms of getting the sound as perfect a mimicry as possible, because country music, especially pre-Bro Country™, uses more acoustic instruments like guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and live drums. If you can get those instruments to sound like 90% the same, whatever mixing issues that might occur are far easier to fix. But pop music is always made to cater to a specific moment in time. 1989, for all its pandering to 80s nostalgia, is definitively a mid 2010s album, from the drums of Bad Blood and Blank Space that got cribbed from the hip hop sounds of the time, to the horn hook of Shake It Off at the time when Problem and Talk Dirty were huge hits. And really, if I'm being honest, we should've seen this coming. Red TV is my favorite rerecording to come from this phase of her career, but that's mostly due to the country and rock cuts like State Of Grace, Sad Beautiful Tragic, Begin Again, and especially both versions of All Too Well. But the pop singles of this era were mangled. 22 is way too compressed, IKYWT's dubstep drop sounds even more limp than in 2012, and the crowd vocals on WANEGBT went from sounding like a genuine crowd of people wanting to sing along, to a classroom of untrained middle schoolers. Even the vault tracks have this issue. I love Nothing New, IBYTAM, and Babe, but The Very First Night and Message In A Bottle are way too synthetic and don't gel together at all. So yeah, I'm not surprised the mixing on this is shit. The signs were there. Which brings me to my next point. Taylor has just two records left to put out Taylor's Versions of, and one of them is Reputation. For all my pointing out that 1989 is not as timeless as it seems, most of the album does attempt to sound like 80s pop to the best of its ability. But there has never been an album that sounds more like 2018 pop than Reputation. It's probably the most timestamped album of her career, and though I don't think it's worth all the hate it gets, I am worried that the same problems of 1989 TV will rear their snaky head once more. At least one of the next rerecordings is her self-titled debut, so it's not a total loss.

He’s still heartbroken that this album won over To Pimp a Butterfly

Surprised at this one tbh. I’m a huge Swiftie and the original 1989 is one of my fav albums ever but I honestly thought this was easily the best TV so far. My favourite Taylor album is Speak Now but I thought this recreation of 1989 was fantastic and probably the best so far. I literally forgot I was listening to a remake at a lot of points on my first listen

I have permanently lost respect for melon with no score how does one form an opinion?

He's still mad that TPAB didn't win AOTY and 1989 did.

I think the quality of the previous rerecords set the bar too high, because there wasn't much to improve on this so it almost feels disappointing (and I'm expecting a similar situation with Reputation). The only issue I have is with the Vault tracks, because they sound like Taylor and Jack doing Midnights as opposed to their sound in 2014, so they kind of took me out of the album even though I enjoy them.

i dont know what happened to her voice in bad blood

Missed opportunity to call this review (Tony's version)

I am total agreement with you, while I did like the album overall and thought some of the songs did sound better..., there was no satisfaction when it came to my favourites ones off the album. While I'll be listening to this once a while, I think I'll be sticking to the older ones

"when you put it that way, maybe the cause isn't that dire" LMAO you're so real. keep up the good work. i respect that you just give your opinions even if it goes against public opinion

as someone who has 1989 in their top pop albums of all time, taylors version is unlistenable. i only really come back for the vault tracks which could honestly be midnights outtakes

Anthony Fantano was tragically found murdered in his home at approximately 12:11am on Halloween. Rip melon

At least you liked Say Don't Go tho that song goes so hard

my theory (i don’t actually know that much about music production so i could be completely wrong about this) is that the reason this re-recording sounds so much worse than the others is that the other albums she’s redone have all been her country albums, which have a more acoustic sound and likely have real recordings of real instruments, whereas 1989 is almost completely electronic. after ten or so years, a guitar sounds exactly the same, but electronically produced music sounds completely different, so it’s harder to replicate a sound from a decade ago. one of the only tracks like this in the other re-recordings is “i knew you were trouble,” and maybe it was just me, but i thought it sounded… kinda off. i’m assuming it’s the same reason?

Melon wearing the red flannel to show off what his favourite Taylor album was ❤❤

What they did to 'Style' is just...there are no words.

If it was called “1989 2 the core” you would’ve bought the physical release and started to seductively stroke it

I haven't made my mind up for sure. Some of her earlier stuff, I think had more room for improvement, and benefited from more mature vocals or improved drum sounds etc. In this case, being a newer album, the original version already had better production and more mature vocals compared to some of her early stuff. So the differences seem more subtle. Some of the time I feel like the new version might be worse, but only by a hair. There is one song that I think is a pretty dramatic improvement over the original though, This love. In the original the acoustic guitar sounds slightly out of tune, and her vocals sound much warmer and more soulful.

The fact Taylor fans will listen to and buy worse versions of already existing albums just to financially support a billionaire is honestly concerning... No one man should have all that power...

Some of the songs were butchered definitely, but I disagree, I don't think it's that bad. I actually think Red TV had more painful misses. The 1989 vault was so confusing because the production belongs on Midnights.

It is so smart of you putting on bulletproof vest under this red flannel.

I myself am a swiftie and i got roasted by the other fans when taylor started coming out w the taylors version releases bc i said that while i appreciate the reasoning behind making them, in a way its a slight insult to the fans to act like you can just re-create something that people developed an attachment to and grew up with- sure you can have the closest recreation of the vocals and production but that still doesnt mean youre capturing the original magic. But i came to feel like that was a narrow minded way to look at it bc some of the re releases ended up better than the original imo (like the TV or holy ground) and i didnt realize at the time that there would be vault tracks to look forward to w every release But i felt like the 1989 redo just solidified my original sentiment. This was the album that really made me a fan years ago and you cant just recreate the feelings it captured even if you make a beat for beat carbon copy. The vault tracks were mid even though i loved the production on them (i really wish the lyrical and melodic prowess on them was better bc these couldve been amazing) and i did love is it over now but this was meh overall

I don't think anyone could replicate that Swedish gang level of production especially coupeled with Serban Ghanea's mixing but for only one guy that did the whole thing, it's still insane. it could have been awesome if she released a remix version of the album instead fixing things that didn't work in the original and adding a 2023 touch on it.

Every time I hear Anthony review something I am amazed at how well he can critique how music sounds in ways specific enough to be detailed & interesting but without sounding like a college lecture on music production and mixing.

we NEED max martin back. but he probably has better things to do than recreate alums he worked on in the past and would probably make more money creating completely new songs, so I get that, but it's still a shame. my friend and I realised back in 2021 with Red TV how lacklustre the production was on the tracks previously produced by Max Martin (22, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together) and we were hoping that he'd come back for 1989 so that the same thing wouldn't happen but alas. here we are. so I'm very scared for reputation. especially considering the fact that it's had a renaissance of sorts not only amongst taylor's fanbase, but also amongst the public. 1989 needed Max Martin to nail the pop perfection in the production of 1989 and fulfil that nostalgia and those expectations, while reputation needs Max Martin back to secure the retrospective praise people are now putting out about the album. reputation's biggest highlight was its production, I don't think the Taylor's Version will match up

The new "Shake It Off" has a CLICKING SOUND THAT DROVE ME CRAZY

Seems like a lot of swifties have mentioned the issues with this album openly which is nice to see

I knew there was something off with this release. I put it down to a production issue but I have done that so often with releases I started to worry it was me. Nice to hear someone else actually coherently explain what I was thinking!

As a Swiftie I agree on this take

i must have an untrained ear for production bc i thought almost every song on this version sounded better than the original 😭😭😭 with the exception of style and new romantics i didn't notice any big differences and i prefer the new versions just because she just sounds like a much better singer now lmao

It sounds like Kidz Bop production