1989

The year may be 2014, but Taylor Swift fans are ready to party like it's 1989.

Officially, there are just about 6 and a half hours until the release of Taylor Swift's fifth studio album, 1989.  However, several people who pre-ordered the album from Target (including myself) received their copy a day or so early.  I got my copy in the mail yesterday morning, and the tears (of joy, of course!) were so close to falling.  This is the selfie I took with the album when I opened the package it was in and saw it for the first time yesterday morning -- just ignore my messy "I just woke up 5 five minutes ago" hair!

It probably comes to a shock as no one when I say I'm a huge fan of Taylor.  When I was fifteen, in 2006, my mom stopped at Walmart and bought me a copy of Taylor Swift's first album, and I quickly fell in love with absolutely everything about that sixteen-year-old country cutie.  It didn't take long for anything Taylor sang to top my "most played" list.  Now, eight years later, my dedication to that girl hasn't wavered.  The only thing that has changed is the fact that we're both eight years older now than we were eight years ago.

As someone who loved Taylor as a country artist, how do I feel about her switch to pop music?  I feel like anyone who claims they didn't see this change coming must have been lying to themselves.  Taylor's first album is the only album she has that one could consider to be just a country album.  Even by Fearless, her second album, Taylor was a solid country-pop "crossover" artist.  Speak Now had traces of country, but when Red was marketed as a "country" album, things just didn't make sense anymore.  Red had a few songs that could be considered country, but for the most part... 1989 wasn't Taylor's first pop album.  Red was.  1989 is just the "official" first pop album.

When Shake It Off came out in the middle of August, I honestly hated it at first listen because, I thought at first listen, that it was too different.  What I've come to realize is that it really isn't that different from previous Taylor music.  It took a couple of days, but Shake It Off quickly grew on me.  It's one hell of a catchy song.  What the first single did for me was make me incredibly nervous about what 1989 as a whole would sound like.

I was so glad when Out of the Woods came out, and I instantly fell in love with that song.  It did for me exactly what Shake It Off didn't - it made me excited again for the new music Taylor would be blessing us with.

The album as a whole is absolutely fantastic.  For the first time since her first album, all of the songs on the album feel like they belong on the same album.  Every previous album has one song I skip because I just don't like it.  On Taylor Swift, I skip Mary's Song.  On Fearless, I skip over You Belong With Me.  I honestly can't stand Innocent from Speak Now, and on Red I don't like The Last Time.  I've listened through 1989 in its entirety four times now, and I can truthfully say that there isn't a song I feel like I'll skip every time.  I love every single song on this album.

1989 sounds nothing like Taylor Swift, but at the same time, it somehow sounds exactly like Taylor Swift.  The album is catchy, upbeat, and fun to listen to.  I personally am so beyond excited for the 1989 tour because with the songs on this album, every concert is going to be a giant dance party.

No matter what style of music Taylor chooses to do, the thing that makes a song a "Taylor Swift" song is the lyrics.  Her style of music may have changed over the years, but the lyrics still, as always, come first.  So, I'm just going to go though and write down my favorite line from each song; I bought the deluxe edition from Target, so there are three extra songs.  (And in case you were curious, I Know Places and Wildest Dreams are my two favorites off the album.)

1. Welcome To New York - You can want who you want / boys and boys / and girls and girls

2. Blank Space - It's gonna be forever / or it's gonna go down in flames

3. Style - I should just tell you to leave / cause I know exactly where it leads

4. Out Of The Woods - The rest of the world was black and white / but we were in screaming color

5. All You Had To Do Was Stay - People like you always want back the love they pushed aside / but people like me are gone forever when you say goodbye

6. Shake It Off - It's like I've got this music / in my mind / saying it's gonna be alright

7. I Wish You Would - We're a crooked love in a straight line

8. Bad Blood - You say sorry just for show / if you live like that / you live with ghosts / if you love like that / blood runs cold.

9. Wildest Dreams - Someday when you leave me / I bet these memories / follow you around

10. How You Get The Girl - Broke your heart / I'll put it back together

11. This Love - Lantern, burning, flickered through the night only for you

12. I Know Places - Loose lips sink ships all the damn time / not this time / just grab my hand / and don't ever drop it

13. Clean - 10 months sober / I must admit / just because you're clean / don't mean you don't miss it

14. Wonderland - Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?

15. You Are In Love - And you understand why they lost their minds and fought the wars / and why I spent my whole life trying to put it into words

16. New Romantics - Baby I could build a castle / out of all the bricks they threw at me