Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version) (2023)

Reason for Listening:
#1 on the Billboard 200 (Week of 20231230). Weeks on Chart greater than 4x the rank.
Last Week: 2 | Peak: 1 | Week at No. 1: 4 | Weeks on Chart: 8
Billboard Listing: 1989 (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift - [below album cover]

---

Released 20231027.
21 songs. 77:49. 1989 (Taylor's Version) (Standard Edition) (2023)
21+1 songs. 77:49+03:54. 1989 (Taylor's Version) (Tangerine Edition) (2023)
21+1 songs. 77:49+03:20. 1989 (Taylor's Version) (Deluxe Edition) (2023)
21+1+1 songs. 77:49+03:20+03:00. 1989 (Taylor's Version) (Deluxe + Edition) (2023)
Wikipedia

---

Notes:
--20231230--
First listen. Deluxe.
As I'm listening, I'm thinking about familiarity. I've often noted that I like music more easily or better (e.g., I would rate a song better) if it's similar to what I already like or if I've heard the track before. Furthermore, I'll like a track or album better the more I listen to it. This would be opposed to the focus on the typical assumption that a person is listening to something more because they like it, which I'm sure is part of the feedback loop, but my emphasis is on a different aspect of why we have a tendency to like something. However, I'm curious if, for Taylor Swift, it's not only that she is familiar, but her distinct voice is also pleasing to listen to (but then I would defer back to whether this is an effect of familiarity) ("All You Had to Do Was Stay")
I suppose in some sense, these re-recordings behave kind of like "Greatest Hits" ("Wildest Dreams")
--20240102--
Finished listening to the album: "From the Vault" tracks.

All songs have "(Taylor's Version)" appended. Songs in bold additionally have "(From the Vault)" appended. The song in italics is the bonus track on the deluxe edition.
4: "Shake It Off"; 3: "Blank Space"; "Wildest Dreams";
2: "Style"; "Bad Blood"; "Now That We Don't Talk"; "Is It Over Now"; "Bad Blood" (ft. Kendrick Lamar);
1: "Out of the Woods"; "All You Had to Do Was Stay"; "Clean"; "Say Don't Go"; "Suburban Legends";
0: "Welcome to New York"; "I Wish You Would"; "How You Get the Girl"; "This Love"; "I Know Places"; "Wonderland"; "New Romantics"; "Slut!";

Summary:
This album carries my interest up to and including track 9, "Wildest Dreams". The album dips and then picks up with the "From the Vault" tracks. Overall, I think I'm feeling the album at about a 4.0. Looking up my review of the Deluxe version of her original recording, I found that I had given the Deluxe version a 4.0 and rated the Standard version (composed of the first nine tracks) a lower 3.8! Based on my recent listening experience, I would certainly have rated the Standard edition higher than the Deluxe edition. In any case, with all that considered, I will adjust gut rating of 4.0 to 4.6.

I would note that while "Shake It Off" is my favorite track, it is not one of the more played tracks from the album. The top four most played tracks (not including "From the Vault Tracks") are, from most played to less played, "Wildest Dreams" (604 K) , "This Love" (206 K), "Style" (107 K), "Blank Space" (89 K), and "Out of the Woods" (75 K). It is, however, one of the top five played tracks from the original recording: "Blank Space" (1.7 M), "Shake It Off" (1.3 M), "Style" (1.1 M), "Wildest Dreams" (0.9 M), and "Bad Blood" (0.6 M). Looking at the album's singles, I discovered "Shake It Off" was the first of seven singles released, and the only single that preceded the release of the album itself. The aforementioned top five played tracks align with the first five singles released. Finally, as of 20240102, "Shake It Off" was on the Billboard Hot 100 for 50 weeks, tying second for most weeks on the chart out of 232 songs, and one out of eleven songs to peak at number 1.

Overall Rating (Deluxe Edition): 4.6/5
Favorite Song: "Shake It Off"

---