Courtesy of businessinsider.com
Last Friday August, 15th, Taylor Swift organized a skywriting plane to spell out “TAYLOR SWIFT 8/18 5PM YAHOO” in the New York City sky. The message meant to inform her fans about a live stream surprise release of new music from her upcoming fifth album, 1989.
Come the scheduled time, on Monday at 5pm EST, Swift ended (some of) the torment of her fans. The Yahoo! live stream included the release of the cover and title of her new album (1989) as well as the date (October 27th) the album will be out, and the debut of her new single “Shake It Off” complete with a dance party music video to top it off.
The biggest surprise learned from the livestream was that 1989 will be a truly pop album – Swift’s first pop record. As you can deduce from the title, the album is heavily inspired by ‘80’s music, the decade Swift was born in. Even the album cover, a Polaroid of Swift, harkens to the 1980’s. Her fifth LP will definitely stand out against her last album, Red from 2012. Of the time between the two albums, Swift said, “Two years gives you enough time to grow and change; change what you believe in and what’s influencing and inspiring you. 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.”
1989 was made available for pre-order on Swift’s website right after the Yahoo! livestream, but fans must have been a tad too excited as the site unfortunately crashed right after Swift streamed her announcement. Who wouldn’t be excited to order the deluxe edition of 1989, featuring three lo-fi versions of tracks Swift recorded on her phone and an envelope of 13 Polaroids? The rest of the album is sure to be just as catchy, despite Swift ditching her guitar for pop beats and horns. If the music of the ‘80’s were “a time of limitless potential” to Swift, we won’t argue if it leads to more tasty previews as we wait for 1989 to drop.