1989: Deluxe Edition ［19 Tracks］＜初回生産限定盤＞

新生Taylor Swift!プリンセスからクィーンへ!2年振りにリリースされる5作目のアルバム、自身初の「ポップ・アルバム」!

■本作: 世界的大ヒット・アルバム、”Red”以来2年振りとなる5作目のスタジオ・アルバム。
■タイトル: Taylor Swiftが生まれた年。
■コンセプト: Taylorによる初の公式「ポップ・アルバム」。カントリー・ミュージックとしてはポップ寄りだったが、5作目にして初めてポップ・ミュージックに振り切ったものになるとのこと。彼女の試みをサポートしてプロデューサー陣は、Max MartinとShellback。共作者にはDiane Warren、Ryan Tedder(One Republic)の名前も挙がっている。

Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[F]everishly emotional, wildly enthusiastic, 1989 sounds exactly like Taylor Swift, even when it sounds like nothing she's ever tried before." Spin - "The most impressive thing about 1989 is probably how Taylor is able to maintain the '80s pop veneer for virtually the whole album...while also showing the clear influences of such modern hitmakers as Lorde, Sia, and Jack Antonoff of fun." Clash - "Taylor Swift has grown into a tremendous pop artist..." Entertainment Weekly - "[S]he's the most vivid songwriter of her generation, able to summon the storm clouds of every heartbreak you've ever had with one couplet and then sweep them away with another." -- Grade: B

Onetime country princess Taylor Swift continued her journey to pop stardom with her fifth studio album, 1989, which followed the 2012 release Red. Swift teamed up with songwriter Max Martin and producer Shellback (One Direction, Maroon Five), as well OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder and Fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff, in an album inspired by late-'80s pop. The debut single "Shake It Off" was an immediate success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. ~ Scott Kerr|

When she announced 1989 a few months prior to its October 2014 release, Taylor Swift called her sixth record her first "documented, official" pop album, explicitly severing herself from her country roots. Truth be told, Swift already made the leap from country to pop with 2012's Red, a nominally country LP distinguished by three songs co-written and produced by Max Martin and Shellback, a team that returns for twice that number on 1989 (Martin has one additional non-Shellback co-write with Swift). Taylor is rarely without co-writers here: only "This Love" belongs to her alone, with the other major collaborators being OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, fun.'s Jack Antonoff, and Imogen Heap. This busy kitchen is typical of modern pop albums, as is the incessant gleam of 1989's steely productions, every element of which blinds when caught in the sun. Swift claims she patterned the album's sound after the MTV-ready sound of the year 1989, and while some cuts are conceivably anchored in the era of Debbie Gibson and George Michael -- "Shake It Off" is giddy on the momentum of its own pom-poms, the bonus track "New Romantics" effectively conjures the ghost of 1983 new wave, "Out of the Woods" veers into territory previously pioneered by one-video wonder T'Pau (their big hit "Heart and Soul" arrived in 1987, two years before Taylor's year zero) -- this is a modern album through and through. The heavy presence of Martin, who wound up producing all the vocals along with half the record, is something of a feint. Swift tailored 1989 after Tedder's patterns, constructing nearly every one of the album's 13 tracks as an imposing skyscraper that deliberately casts its shadow upon on its predecessor. Considering that this album begins with the fanfare of "Welcome to New York," that progressive escalation in size is something to behold. 1989 emphasizes its reflective surfaces, the hyperactive rhythm tracks -- dance by definition but rarely danceable in practice (the effervescent "How You Get the Girl" is an exception) -- functioning as an aural accent to the surging synthesizers and vocals. Underneath the digital clatter lie some sturdy songs because, at her core, Swift is a canny songsmith, but 1989 isn't a record about songs, it's all about sonic style. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

自身が〈初めての公式ポップ・アルバム〉と表明しているこの新作に、なるほどカントリー色は皆無。マックス・マーティンとシェルバックがソングライトからプロデュースまでをガッツリ手掛けているので、シンセの音が派手に鳴り、彼女の歌もいつもより強め。ポップスターとしての自覚を歌に込めて、いまの状況をダンスしながら楽しもうとしているかのようだ。批判を恐れず大胆に踏み出したそのタフさを支持したい。
bounce (C)内本順一