If Taylor Swift is a Religion, Today is Church
Nine years ago today Taylor Alison Swift released the pop album that would solidify her superstardom - today, we celebrate it all over again.
Where the Red album bridged a compromise between Swift’s country roots and her pop leanings, 1989 dove unapologetically into the pop sphere and rejected the idea that Taylor could only write break-up ballads. ‘Blank Space’, ‘Shake it Off’, and ‘Bad Blood’ monopolized the charts to an almost excruciating degree, but it’s songs like 'Welcome to New York’ and ‘Wildest Dreams’ that succeed in epitomizing this era in Swift’s career.
Swift has just reached billionaire status, and this is without a makeup line, a skincare brand, or any of the other cash grabs celebrities are concocting these days.1 She’s had one of the most successful years of her career; with the Eras Tour set to be the highest grossing tour of all time when it concludes in 2024.2 The show lasts 3 hours and 15 minutes and is currently set to be performed 146 times if no further dates are added: never before has being a pop princess been such a striking demonstration of athleticism.
My colleague asked me why Taylor Swift is so popular on Wednesday but it really isn’t a short and sweet answer, so I joked ‘how long is a piece of string’ (it’s easier this way, I saved her a lot of time). Swift has produced ten studio albums since her debut in 2006, each album manages to capsulate a moment in her own life, often a very personal one, while remaining entirely relatable and human - even as her fame transcends to levels almost no one can relate to.
Today we celebrate Taylor, the powerful woman that she is, taking agency over her fourth studio album. One of the most precious things about the re-releases is the subtle maturity in her voice as she sings about subjects that were perhaps sensitive at the time but now feel like a million years ago. The Speak Now re-release was a perfect example; the version released in August this year was devoid of a lot of anger originally apparent on the 2010 album as she powers through songs about revenge and unrequited love. The stolen versions (now owned by a private equity company) are relegated, rarely to be streamed again and banished to Spotify exile. 1989 goes there today, while Taylor’s Version inevitably skyrockets to number one.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-taylor-swift-net-worth-billionaire/
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/17/business/taylor-swift-eras-tour-two-billion/index.html#:~:text=The%20average%20attendance%20per%20show,the%20highest%2Dgrossing%20tour%20ever.