Celebrating Three Years of Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’
By Kara Johnson
Three glorious years ago an album was dropped that would soon become the most award pop album of all time.
2014 was a year filled with Taylor Swift dropping clues with elevator buttons, numbers and anything else she could to hype up her fans for what was to come. We knew she was announcing a new album but the questions were raised about what the album would sound like. Would it be country again? Was she going a different direction? All we know is that Swift was proud of the album she had created, which got us even more excited for the new music that was to come.
In August, Swift announced that 1989 would be her first documented pop album upon the release of her blockbuster hit “Shake It Off”. After hearing the lead single, we could tell the album was going to be bigger than the last, and we could hardly wait. Before the album even dropped, ‘Shake It Off” had scored major airplay and topped the charts for several weeks. The song debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for the week ending September 6, 2014, becoming Swift’s second single to hit No.1 in the U.S. and the 22nd song to debut at No.1 in the chart’s history. “Shake It Off” is Swift’s biggest Hot 100 hit to date, staying on the chart for 50 consecutive weeks.
During the promo for the album, Swift released two other promo singles, which hyped up the world. Songs released were “Out of the Woods,” and “Welcome to New York”. On October 28, the day after release, Starbucks announced “This Love” as their song of the week. The hype was already large before the album and became even bigger after, claiming itself to be one of the biggest pop albums of all time.
The album perfectly displayed the departure from country in pop, and Swift did it well. 1989 became the most successful album of 2014, selling more than 1.287 copies in its first week and debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 charts. By the end of the year, the album had sold more than 6 million copies, and has now sold more than 10.1 million copies worldwide.
Seven singles had been released from the album, and every one has gone to be successful. “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Bad Blood” had all reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Style,” and “Wildest Dreams” both reached the top 10. “Out of the Woods” reached the top 20, and the other 5 have all received a multi-platinum certification from the RIAA. The album also went to win Album of the Year the Grammy’s, making Swift the first female to win the award twice, being previously won by her sophomore album Fearless in 2010.
"“Two years gives you enough time to grow and change; change what you believe in and what’s influencing and inspiring you,” Swift said of the two years between Red and 1989. “In the process, my music changed. I woke up every single day not wanting, but needing, to make a new style of music. This album is a rebirth for me.” – Taylor Swift"
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1989 was an era filled with shaking things off, bright lights and dancing to the beat of your own drum. There was freedom in finding yourself and letting your voice be heard. There was nothing more beautiful than not having a care in the world what others thought. Swift sent a message to her fans, letting them know that they aren’t damaged goods because of the mistakes they have made. It’s okay to dance to the beat of your own drum and it’s okay to dance like no one is watching. Yes, the album has come to be the most successful in Swift’s career but it was more than that. It taught us about life, love, loss but finding yourself in the midst of it all. What a beautiful era we got to embrace. It was an era that we will always relive and will never forget.
