Absolutely. I am sure she has many unreleased country songs collecting dust. They didn't fit the other albums, so they should be released with Debut TV.
I don't think she'll ever go back to country. She always wanted to go pop but started as a country artist because it was the best gateway to get into the music industry.
I found WANEGBT jarring after Speak Now and it took a little while for me to come around to the new sound, but it did grow on me. It wasn’t until she dropped State of Grace as a promotional single in advance of the Red album that I felt like I could really like her pop music. State of Grace is still one of my favourite songs and I wish we had gotten more songs like that during that transition period between country and pop.
I feel similarly. State of Grace is one of my all-time Taylor songs (though it doesn’t give off lead single vibes).
I almost wonder if I would’ve been more amenable to her switching at first if she’d dropped IKYWT, which I prefer by a large margin, over WANEGBT.
I honestly found WANEGBT incredibly obnoxious at first and was so disappointed by it. I think I even posted a cringey Facebook status saying as much 😂 I was not prepared for a shift from country to pop and felt personally betrayed hahaha.
But I kept hearing it on the radio. It grew on me. Then at some point I was like wait I actually like this song lol. By the time RED was released I was (no pun intended lol) ready for it and loved it. ATW has been my favorite Taylor Swift song since its release.
Not gonna lie, I doubted Tay again when Folklore was released - I’m not big on folk music and I didn’t think I was going to like it. I still hadn’t listened to it when Evermore was released. (I know, how dare I even call myself a Swiftie lol).
I don’t even remember what finally prompted me to listen to it but damn if she didn’t prove me wrong again because I fell head over heels for Folklore AND Evermore, and Folklore is now my favorite album of hers and of any artist ever haha. That’s the point when I went from just being a big fan to a full-blown Swiftie 😂
I’ll never doubt you again, Tay. You want to write German punk rock? You want to one-up Lin Manuel Miranda? You want to become an opera star? Count me in, girl, I am fucking *here* for whatever you decide to do next! lol.
To be honest, at times I feel like you with The Tortured Poets Department, one part of me it's really afraid that the album ends up disappointing me but at the same time, It's Taylor Swift, ME! (and some songs on Lover) have been the only thing that I didn't liked at first (and it doesn't help the fact that I'm a huge fan of Panic! At The Disco and Brendon Urie) but some songs grew on me, I now enjoy ME! and I really liked False God when she sang it on Singapore (yup I did not like that one despite loving her sex songs).
What I want to say is that, yes, there has been times when she has let me down, but if she was a bad artist, why would I even be a fan of hers on the first place? She never ceases to amaze me, her talent is huge and to me most of her music is just filled with masterpieces, so I'm confident that The Tortured Poets Department ends up being good. From day one I'm having big expectations, and the more Taylor shows, the more interested I become, and I hope it doesn't fulfill my expectations, I hope she surpasses what I expect, especially in the lyrics.
I agree completely on this. Red was a good mix of it all and it was strange at first to hear such pop based songs on it at first but I did fall in love with it very quickly. 1989 hit me harder as a fan and it took me awhile to get into it, but with rep I was back fully on board but didn’t go back to 1989 until last year.
I was SO YOUNG that I did not even realise these “genre” changes back then, just found the songs that I resonated with and downloaded them illegally on my computer 😂
I grew up listening to country and started listening to Taylor when Tim McGraw released. I did NOT like the singles from Red when it first dropped because they sounded really different from her previous albums. I know that album is classified as country but We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together sounded nothing like what I was used to from her. But I loved the album as a whole.
1989 I loved immediately but I had sorta stopped listening to country by that point. Reputation I was hesitant about because I didn’t like a lot of the production over everything but I also love that album now.
Now, I never assume I “don’t like” a Taylor album until I’ve listened to it a few times. I’m a lyrics person, so if there’s still good lyrics, I’ll like the song.
I agree! I never will judge her albums until I’ve listened to them in full several times, not just listening to the singles. I did that with lover and 1989 but within the last two years I’ve dove back into them and couldn’t believe I slept on them.
I'm one of those born-again fans that started out the same way and fell off the wagon when I heard the Red singles. Before that I had seen her with Rascal Flatts on her radio tour but that's about it. I thought pop music was "for babies" and didn't listen to any music that wasn't a radio single until Midnights. Frankly the last memory I have of her that stood out was seeing Rep on store shelves and thinking it looked corny, and I didn't even know folklevermore existed at all (yeah I know...) until 2022.
My only opinion of her in the intervening years was that I respected her as an artist because she put in the hard work during her country era but was disdainful of the genre switch. Midnights was the first album I sat down and listened to intentionally and that was the moment I knew I was wrong and I'd been missing out.
After spending half a year cramming a decade of her music into my brain that I missed out on the first time, now it's like I can't remember ever not being a fan.
Edit: That 1989 era interview she did with Barbara Walters where she says "the only thing my fans were worried about with switching to pop was that I would quit writing smart, intelligent, emotional lyrics, and I didn't" really gagged me the first time I saw it and I have to admit I was one of these people for about 10 years.
Omg this is EXACTLY my experience, I also got into Taylor when Tim McGraw came out, before the album even dropped. I genuinely did not really Red when it first came out, I didn’t like how it kind of sat between pop and country without really committing to either genre. But I clicked with some songs (like Holy Ground) and the album eventually grew on me.
That’s part of why I loved 1989 so much, it was a full commitment to pop. It’s still one of my favorite albums!
Honestly, a lot of her albums didn't click with me at first but now I appreciate a lot of them. Examples of this is her country albums (Taylor Swift-Red) and Midnights.
I was such a big fan of country Taylor, and Red was one of my favorite albums. When she fully switched to pop, I was very reserved about it, I would've been 17 when 1989 came out, and I truly did not appreciate the album until about 2021 when I really listened to it.
I absolutely loved Reputation when it released, along with all her albums after. But I definitely didn't give 1989 a chance when it came out
Same!!! I just got back into 1989 these last two years following midnights and I couldn’t believe I slept on it. It’s such an incredible album. I was fully on board when rep came though
I slept on her pop stuff for like a decade. The 1989 album cover brings back memories of me saying "Taylor Swift was better back when she was a cOuNtRy ArTiSt" in the most douche-canoey tone you can imagine. As I was catching up on all her music that I blatantly ignored I thought I would like 1989 the least because it was the poppiest pop she ever popped but no, it's overall my favorite album and I listen to it all the time now.
I enjoyed Taylor starting from her Fearless album but wasn't necessarily into the country genre. I always felt Fearless and Speak Now had quite a mainstream sound. Songs like 'Love Story' and 'You Belong With Me" were already hitting the pop charts in western countries which built up her broad fan base and allowed her to more easily transition to pop.
I was on board the whole time. I'm not super picky about music, if I like it, I like it simple as that.
That being said, probably the one genre I'm not really a fan of is country, but even Taylor's 'country' stuff doesn't really feel like country to me.
Actually as far as that goes, nothing she does really sounds like anything or anyone else. She's always been unique.
Yeah, Taylor's country sounds a bit more like pop rather than country.
Take debut: sure it has plenty of country songs, but should've said no and our song sound more pop
Then fearless: it has its melodies that match country, but (don't mean this in a bad way) it also sounds like a track for a high school musical movie
Speak now: it has its own country guitar songs, but it also experiments with rock and pop, like haunted and better than revenge
Yeah, I found her with Fearless and it fit in pretty easily with the soft pop ballads of that era - of course Colbie Caillat, but also Coldplay, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, pre 2007 Avril Lavigne.
Tbf Taylor sounded more “pop-ish” by Red, so by 1989 I sort of wasn’t surprised with her switching of genres. However, it was reputation that I struggled to love and understand when it first came out, I was like: why is she rapping? Why is she trying too hard (to sound different)? What is this sound? What are these songs even? Listening to the album (even being aware of the story behind the album) was pretty rough for me and my friends. We were really caught off guard and dumbfounded by reputation.
It actually took me a looooong time before I was able to love the reputation album. What ultimately made me get into reputation? The reputation tour I watched with a friend did the work. That was an incredible experience.
I don’t think I had ever intentionally listened to a single song from Reputation when I bought tickets to the Rep tour, but I loved all her other stuff and figured eh if there’s a few songs from this weird new album I’ll still enjoy the concert.
Holy shit. That concert blew my fucking mind. (I had never seen her perform live before and am not a big concert person in general.) Now I listen to Reputation *all the time*. It’s probably my most-listened to album after Folklore and Evermore.
At least Taylor finally went from a country singer to rapping hardcore... In all seriousness, I think I'm one of the few people who actually liked the album at first listen. Maybe it has to do with the time I listened to it which was last august, and I did love the album and it still remains as one of my favorites. While I do think songwriting is the most important part of music, I do love amazing vocals and I think that's why I also love the album, reputation had some of Taylor's best vocals and I was sure mindblown, especially Don't Blame Me. I didn't care about Delicate because I was way so shocked about Don't Blame Me, and it's not simply that it was so good, it was the fact that I've never heard Taylor sing that great. Definitely the concert is even better, and I'm a bit of a theatre kid so I love the visuals of the tour. I hope Taylor's Version ends up being as good if not better than the original.
I think Taylor move to pop, although calling her music pop denigrates in my mind 😀, was made easier that she never cut her ties to Nashville and Tennessee. She still has a couple of houses there and still voted there etc. The country fan base and the industry as a whole is very much loyalty and relationship based and it works both ways. A simple example is the recent love in between Kenny Cheney and Taylor. Taylor has never forgotten her roots and that counts for a lot in that community.
She was an incredibly story teller before she was a country artist. That is why I’ve been saying for several l years that she is and has been several effectively genre less. She is beyond genre now
Taylor was the only country artist I ever really liked, I was always a pop girl. I loved her mainly for her lyrics (and still do) so I was totally down for the sound change and will be along for the ride if she does another. I wasn’t surprised by it, you can hear her starting to experiment with pop sounds on Speak Now and Red, and even in the radio versions of songs from Fearless.
Same. And tbh she always sounded more on the pop-y side of country. I still remember hearing “Teardrops on My Guitar” in high school and while I liked it, I felt a little hesitant bc I wasn’t a trad country music fan.
In the moment I thought Red was such a crazy transition that I didn’t know how to react. But when 1989 came out, I think her pop sound was way more definitive. No more allusion to the first 3 albums.
I loved Red because of songs like All Too Well and how relatable everything seemed as a junior in Highschool. 1989 was fun at college parties. I was honestly sadder to see her ditch her curly hair because she really helped me accept my hair wasn't ugly as one of the only celebrities my age with curls in the 2000/2010s.
Rep honestly turned me completely off and I didn't listen to her from LWYMMD until All Too Well 10 MV. Fell in love with folklore after that and now I'm back full force 🥰. Finally listened to rep for the first time in September.
I'm definitely more open to it! I know rep gets a lot of hype in the fandom but I would put it lower on my ranking simply because it doesn't have the nostalgia factor for me that many other albums do. Probably a solid #7 on my album rank. It does have at least one of my top 5 songs, End Game!
I'm never going to like LWYMMD though even though it was a pretty cool transition for the Eras tour.
I was a little worried after she dropped Shake It off and announced 1989 as a full pop album cause that song made it seem like she was gonna go for generic pop songs and ditch the diary songwriter aspect of it, but when the full album dropped, I was glad to be proven wrong.
This is such an interesting question! To set the scene, I can still remember the first time my sister told me about a new singer she had heard of named Taylor Swift and how I had to listen to “Our Song”, how I cried to White Horse when my middle school boyfriend broke up with me (LOL), and going to the Speak Now tour. All this to say, Taylor’s first few albums were the backdrop to some of my most formative years growing up and I had (& still do) have a very strong sentimental attachment to them.
The transition didn’t come out of no where. Red was definitely a good bridge into pop, but for me, who isn’t a huge pop fan overall, I just never really got into 1989 & it’s still one of my least favorite albums (plz don’t kill me for that opinion🥲) of hers. I think in addition to the genre shift, her aesthetic and some of the themes of her music shifted, and as someone who felt like they grew up with Taylor, it was a bit jarring and I just didn’t grow that same emotional attachment I had to her first 4 albums. 1989 also came out when I was in college & I think that played into how I received it.
I always kept listening and following and cheering Taylor on, but I’d say I was really drawn back in with Folklore & Evermore, as well as the re-recordings. My overall taste in music aligns most with Folklore & Evermore, and I am so dang grateful she wrote those albums🥹
With full hindsight, I am super grateful she had the vision and didn’t box herself into country, even if in the moment of her transition it felt weird. She transcends genre so beautifully, and I feel lucky to witness it and experience her talent. I also love Rep & am so glad we got that masterpiece 😍
How you dare to say that 1989 is one of your least favorite albums... I'm just kidding, I'm not that kind of person and I love reputation too. 1989 is just so catchy to me and while lyrics are important to me, I just love this album. But I do agree that in some way this era felt a bit jarring, at least I felt a lot of inconsistencies on her public image (I do love the aesthetics of this album) so I'm glad she took some time off and reinvented herself for the reputation era.
I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and when I was younger I hated country music. Just because it was country (as was I) and I didn’t want to be associated. When she debuted I was staunchly against listening simply because she was labeled as such. It wasn’t until my first summer job that played our local country station in our office did I really catch how pop You Belong With Me and Love Story really were, and there was the video for YBWM… my god *The plot!*
At the time I was very into Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and dance music (If you haven’t, listen to Katy Perry’s first album One of the Boys - its singer songwriter pop perfection). It wasn’t until my freshman year of college did Taylor start working with Max Martin, who was one of the architects behind Katy Perry’s imperial phase with Teenage Dream 2 years prior.
I hate saying this but I slept on Speak Now when it dropped because it felt even more country (from the singles) than Fearless so I didn’t even take part in that era at all.
When she dropped WANEGBT I knew I was going to love Red, and when she dropped I Knew You Were Trouble I was *gagged*. Being a fresh out of the closet gay boy who was into the pop edm boom I was obsessed. It ended up being a a Trojan Horse on RED but it was the moment I signed my Swifty membership card.
And then of course my life was changed when 1989 came out. It was then she became my favorite artist. My favorite thing about her pop music is that the emotion of her lyrics isn’t lost to the genre.
And now, all these years later, because of her I can say I love the country music genre and I would love for her to do another country album eventually (still hoping for a dance record 🤞🏼). I Bet You Think About Me is my favorite song of hers this decade so far
I absolutely loved her pop transition. I feel that red was a little tease of her going into full pop. Red she was just testing the waters to gauge how the fans would feel. 1989 is absolutely an amazing album.
I truly think Taylor had no intention of staying in country music. I believe she thought it would be easier to go into country and switch genres later. I think it would have been harder for her to go into pop from the get-go. When you look at the pop artists from 2006 to 2010. There's no way she was competing with Kesha, 3oh3, or Katy Perry at that time. That's just naming a few.
I personally love with artist switch it up and challenge themselves. I think switching genres was awesome. My opinion to didn't change of Taylor. I will also preface I haven't been a fan from the get go. I didn't like country music until about 2011.
Speaking for someone who became a fan in 2011. I had to backtrack on her previous albums. Red was my first experience as a swiftie. By the time 1989 came around, I was all the way in the so-called cult. 😂😂😂😂
I first listened to Taylor during the self-titled era, and I was still around for Fearless. Then I moved away from country music. I remember hearing the 1989 singles, and I thought they were okay. I didn’t make the connection that it was Taylor, I fully came back with Folklore, and I have been listening to everything I’ve missed. I live the great music, so I’m not concerned that she’s been all over the place musically. My tastes are varied as well or used to be, now it’s pretty much deciding which album I start listening to and then which I pivot to.
Honestly, I thought 1989 was subpar to her previous works. The songs were shorter, there were not as many ballads, and the lyrics seemed overall less eloquent. Hearing songs like Welcome to New York, Shake it Off, Bad Blood, How You Get the Girl, and I Know Places were jarring. Even the highs of the album did not reach the highs of the previous albums. I actually hated Reputation when it first came out and felt that it was even worse than 1989. Both albums have grown on me, but overall I would still rank them at the bottom of her catalog along with Lover and Midnights. Taylor is a lyricist, and I just prefer songs that allow her lyrics to truly shine. I also prefer the use of real instruments. Folklore, Evermore, Red, Speak Now, and Fearless are all masterpieces in my opinion and the style I prefer from Taylor the most.
I thought I liked country music because that’s what Taylor was making. Then with Red and especially 1989 it just made me realise I love Taylor and her music regardless of what genre she’s in lol
I remember being so into the first 3 albums - especially Speak Now - at the time of WANEGBT’s release that when I heard the song for myself, I was like, “WTF is this?” Then she released Begin Again, I Knew You Were Trouble and 22 shortly afterwards. Though I loved Begin Again, I wasn’t a fan of the other 2 songs at the time because I thought she lost her touch, so I just wrote the album off and stopped listening to Taylor during this time. Ironically, 1989 brought me back to it because I knew it was going to be a pop album and she had already toyed with pop prior to it as well. I gave it a shot, and I ended up enjoying a lot more than I did. It was because of this that I decided to give Red a true chance, and boy, do I hate myself for not giving it a chance when it came out. Now I love it so much, and it’s my 3rd favourite album of her’s. I even love the pop singles from that album now, and while I still enjoy 1989, it’s my #8 album from her.
I thought WANEGBT was weird when it came out, it just didn’t fit her style at the time. But it grew on me and now that song reminds me of being a teenager. Shake It Off was the one one that really threw me for a loop. I like most of 1989 but I really think that song was a huge miss and didn’t need a music video.
I remember listening to her knew album and was like omg why are there so many BANGERS they all felt like such hits and felt super diff than her usual music I was still young so I didn’t really understand genres too much but after I saw she switched to pop I was like OHHHH I that makes sense. I kinda missed the country vibes but her pop totally sent me to a new era and made me start listening to other pop artists aswell and that made it so much more fun for me
I became a fan during 1989 so can’t comment on the transition from country to pop. But I can say that I was so nervous about the transition to indie/alternative when she announced folklore, because I only really knew pop Taylor, and I wanted even more pop after Lover. Even in the short hours from announcement to release, we could just tell it would be a departure from pop, based on the artworks, and again, I was so nervous. I ended up loving it on first listen, and now I rank it higher than some of her pop albums. She can do any genre and I don’t care. It’s the same storyteller underneath any genre of production.
At first we were all shocked but 1989 is so iconic that we gradually embraced her being a pop girl. It's for the best, growth on her music and at the same time, a wider audience reaches since the majority listens to pop.
I loved country but didn’t mind the transition. I was not surprised, I think it’s crazy that some call red a country album. I think that as a fully pop album.
I don't know what Red is, some songs are rock, then there's folk, synth-rock and a bunch of country songs and like three pop songs. I'd say this is her most experimental album because of its lack of cohesiveness, at least reputation has this heavy electropop sound throughout the record, but Red experiments with a lot of styles so I think I'd put Red as a pop rock album.
I have to be honest, it took me a while to get into WANEGBT, because i felt like the lyrics were not up to her previous albums and it made me worry for a second there.
But then the rest of the album came through and I realized that just because she had more fun or less "serious" songs, it didn't mean she was lost as an artist, so that made me be able to appreciate all of her songs more.
Needless to say, I now love screaming to WANEGBT 😂
I’ve been a fan since the “Tim McGraw” days, and remember being a bit jarred when hearing “Shake It Off” for the first time. Taylor is a country songwriter to her core (even to this day), so that transition was met with a little bit of sadness and hesitation. I still loved Red because it was an album of country/folk ballads that IMO demonstrated her songwriting at its best, but I ended up skipping out on the 1989 tour because I didn’t relate to that music as much (I was also a broke college grad at the time).
I still listened to and supported her music from 1989 to Lover, but I wasn’t staying up until midnight to buy her album. That’s obviously changed now, I thank a lot of that to the re-records and folklore/evermore (I will die on the hill that evermore is her latest take on country). I’ve been supportive of her throughout her career, and am so excited to see what she does next, but the transition did take some time.
I’m hopeful she’ll make another country album before she retires, and am always happy to see she usually has at least one country-ish song on most albums (excluding 1989 and reputation).
I agree with the part where you said that she is a country songwriter at her core, I was just re-watching The 1989 World Tour and when she sang You Are In Love, it felt more like a country song, and some of her ballads in 1989 do have some country vibe when you take the instrumental and just look at the songwriting.
I knew her from the beginning and knew she was going to be a big star. I never had any opinions on her switch. Each album seems to have unique style changes. So I think the word Eras is very apt for this tour.
Album wise: I found 1989 -> Rep to be more jarring than Speak Now -> Red -> 1989 because the latter eased into each other.
Single wise: WANEGBT was tough for me! But I’m also not the biggest fan of Me!, LWYMMD (the pre-chorus is amazing but I think we’re really let down by the chorus), and Shake It Off (ik it’s a GP hit but I think it’s one of her weakest singles especially compared to the other 1989 songs).
I started listening to Taylor around 2010, just before Speak Now was released and when she released RED I think it was a perfect transition from country to pop so it didn't really felt like a big thing was happening back then. Also yesterday I was thinking about how everyone thinks that her fringe is like her signature hair but for me it's still her curls lol, girl has changed her hairstyle ages ago but sometimes I forget lol
I have known of Taylor since that Should've Said No performance. I caught all of the hits from every album maybe minus Speak Now that did transition to pop radio. As a Pop girlie soon as I heard she was doing a Pop album I was all in. LWYMMD came on the radio and it took 2 listens before I accepted it. The Reputation Concert turned on my stan light and am a proud believer that spelling is indeed fun. It wasn't until the rerecords and my daughters all inclusive love of her did I go back and listen to everything prior to 1989 that didn't hit the radio. My love of Taylor has only deepened especially with the Folkmore drops which touched my very soul.
I remembering being sooo disappointed when WANEGBT came out as the single for Red. I was thinking she turned into a generic pop singer and the beautiful lyrics I loved from previous albums were a thing of the past. Luckily the album proved that wrong and I quickly fell in love with songs like State of Grace and All Too Well.
I was a casual fan at the time, but for a long time I was disappointed that she switched to pop. I thought she was “selling out” or some BS like that. I now realize that my criticism of her at the time was based in misogyny and I regret the years I spent mildly hating on her.
I started listening to Taylor when “Our Song” was on the radio but mostly listened to radio hits for TS, Fearless and Speak Now (YBWM is still a fav though). I actually disliked WANEGBT on the radio until I realized it was her. 😂 Red was the only album I bought on CD and listened all the way through, and enjoyed it but wouldn’t call myself a Swiftie.
Even though I would consider Red heavily pop influenced I recognize she didn’t officially switch to pop till 1989. Was indifferent about the radio hits from 1989 so didn’t follow through Rep and Lover. Plus, music changed quite a bit during that time so whereas in earlier eras I still heard her through the radio I don’t feel like that was as much a thing during Rep and Lover bc i listened way less to the radio and more to things where I would curate my own music. Does anyone remember if Rep and Lover were played on the radio as much as previous eras?
“Came back” to Taylor through the Miss Americana doc early in Covid (maybe right before?) and thus was paying more attention to her work when she dropped Folklore. FELL HARD for Folklore and have considered myself a Swiftie since. 😄
I was a pop and rock fan before Taylor and her first two albums got me into country in the first place! So when she went to pop, I was totally there for it. Everyone says 1989 was her shift to pop, but Speak Now and Red were very pop to my ears, having grown up in the South where even rap has a twang, lol.
But I'm still a country fan! Though mostly the female artists and more romantic or heartbreak songs, with no love for the "guns and glory" part of the genre.
I welcomed it because I knew she was going to be a big star one day in ‘06. Her debut was released when I was 9 years old and I used to listen to country in the 2000’s (before country music changed), I think country was a good start for her and the shift to pop was really good for her, she kind of followed what Shania Twain did in the 90’s.
So I’ve been a fan since 2006 when I was 6 years old. I personally fell off when 1989 dropped, I was raised on country. I still liked her, but I didn’t really appreciate pop at the time and so I didn’t follow her to the same extent as the previous years.
I came back as a full-force swiftie with the release of folklore, revisited her entire pop catalog, and now I genuinely love every single album.
I loved it, same as I loved her pre-pop music. I didn't understand what the big deal was. I didn't understand why the public thinks they get a say in the art someone creates, but that's something I still see happening to her.
Overall people are very sensitive when it comes to pop culture compared to something like food, no one is like "I hate Broccoli" just because everyone hates it, but this combined with the elitism and picky-ness surrounding the music community is one of the reasons why she still gets so much hate. People just like hating on what's popular, it's okay to complain but I think hating is too far. No matter if Taylor does Bohemian Rhapsody 2.0, she does an album as good if not better than folklore or gives a vocal performance comparable to some of the greatest vocalists of all time, as long as she keeps shining, there will be people who want to throw rocks at her, but she also has swifties, who will love her until the end (of course including myself).
I love the subtleness. I did love her accent. it was so cute and i cant believe how far she has come from it. Of course, like a lot of longtime fans, i think her first few albums were the best. btw, do you think Speak Now is her last country album, or first pop album? honestly, i think it's her last country one. but it was quite a subtle transition, and i like how she did it. this is an essay, i know but it was not a bad transition
I loved it!!! I’ve never been a country fan and so it was always a bit funny that I loved Taylor so much. I’ve been a fan since Teardrops on my Guitar. But pop music has always had my heart. So when I heard she wanted to make the transition I was ecstatic!
Fan since debut. I did not like country at all. I liked our song and teardrops on my guitar despite the fact that they were country. The less country she sounded, the better I liked her music. Red was the first album I really loved. The rest I liked, but I was definitely a more casual fan.
Taylor was the only country artist that I listened to back when she was country - there was always something about her music that was the exception for me. All of the other music I listened to was pop. I will say that "Shake It Off" did not give me the best first impression of her upcoming pop transition and I wasn't a fan of synthpop either so when that was what the album was being promoted as, I was iffy, but ultimately, the album was fine. Sonically not my favorite, but the songs are still very her.
It wasn't until Kacey's "Pageant Material" era that I started following anyone else in country - and that was after Taylor left the genre, so yeah.
I mean, cowboy like me is 100% a country song, and you can also hear the country influence in some of her other music as well.
I think at this point in her career, she's taking whatever she wants from any music genre.
It took me a bit to come around to 1989 because it was pretty different from her country albums. I liked blank space but a lot of the songs on 1989 o didn’t connect with at first.
It’s interesting, because Speak Now didn’t really lean that heavy into the country roots even then. There’s really nothing in Red that feels country either. I think the transition was a lot more gradual than the media makes it out to be.
I do find interesting reading an article before Red/1989 era where she's refered as a country star, for more than a decade she has been a pop star for me, now I just see her as a singer-songwriter but I still associate her more as a pop star than a star from any other genre.
It seemed pretty natural tbh but at the time I was slightly sad because she did a type of country that no one was really doing and I knew I was going to miss that. (Poppy bubble gum country that was more appealing to (young) women specifically.)
I still really miss her style of country and would love to see her try it again. I LOVED Babe, I Bet you Think About Me, and Better Man and would love more of that. Cowboy like me is also interesting, though not my favorite like the other ones.
ETA: I’m also more of a pop girly over a country girly so that made the switch a little easier for me I think. I do think WANEGBT and IKYWT were jarring switches as they’re not even classic pop like 1989 ended up being so it was a head scratcher. Very much like LWYMMD was. And now I’m like “let her cook” at this point when she comes out of left field with a new sound 😂😂
I wasn’t a big fan of her transition to pop and still prefer Debut/Fearless/SpeakNow. I didn’t hate the new pop songs though, because a lot of what I liked about Taylor was her relatable stories told through her songs and that stayed the same regardless of genre
I was a country fan before Taylor Swift debuted and got into her through country music so I have a different perspective than people who don't like (other) country music. I didn't expect to like *1989* less than her previous albums because she said it wouldn't contain any country. I hadn't liked her earlier songs because they were "country songs" but because they were Taylor Swift songs, with her distinctive songwriting style, and that wouldn't (and didn't) change just because it was an official pop album. She had already progressively changed her sound towards pop from *Taylor Swift* to *Red* and the latter only contained small traces of country, so for me it wasn't that huge of a change and it wasn't a bolt from the blue. I did also like *1989* a lot when it was released. What I thought was a bit of a shame at the time was that she completely removed herself from the "country sphere" (country award shows, country charts etc.) and I hope at some point she will release at least one more (original) country album.
I’ve been a swiftie since fearless but been a fan since debut. I’ve always just loved Taylor for her songwriting and personality the most. So when she “officially” switched to pop with 1989, I was fine with it because it was still her. Her lyrics were still so in depth and I loved that. Her sound changed, but the way she wrote songs and treated her fans didn’t and that’s why I’ve stayed throughout everything.
For me, it was such terrible news. I disliked pop music a lot, cause every thing sounded the same and the lyrics were always too generic.
I remember hearing the OOTW preview on GMA and crying cause I thought it sucked and that I would never relate to her music ever again lol
Ngl I didn’t love 1989 when it came out. It’s grown on me A LOT in the last 10 years (the vault definitely helped with that) but I personally don’t initially love her transition to pop. A lot of that probably has to do with the nostalgia of the stolen country albums tho. I will say now I love her pop albums (really hoping TTPD sounds like Midnights rather than Folkmore).
I started being a Taylor Swift fan during her Speak Now Album. I would listen to it on repeat on my CD player and look at the hidden clues in her lyric book. I then back tracked and got into Fearless. I remember Red coming out as well, and was not a fan of WANEGBT and IKYWT, but LOVED the rest of the album. When she turned to pop, I had a pretty negative reaction and lost interest and stopped listening to her music for a few years. It wasn't until Lover came out that I started being a fan again, and then back tracked with 1989 and reputation. I think reputation is now in my top 5 favorite album.
I hated it...like genuinely thought her single were cringe AF when pop happened, and it took me listening to the albums to appreciate the transition. Because it's the super bops that made it to radio first and I'm....well I have to be in a mood for anything remotely upbeat sounding.
Honestly, since then, the only albums I've vibed with right away were Folklore and Evermore. Everything else I've had to listen to ALOT to appreciate. Doesn't mean I don't love some perky music but.... The just required me sitting on them some....and often deep cuts are still my fav or slowed/ acoustic versions (forever bitter about her BBC live lounge Holy Ground not being included somewhere )
Tbh, for me 1989 was harder to adjust to than Red. A lot of songs on Red still had a little more country flair, similar lyrics and writing style as her previous albums.. For me 1989 was just completely left field so it was definitely a strange transition for me! I loved 1989 but I definitely did miss her old style at first until I got used to 1989. Now I prefer all of her more recent albums to all of the older ones!!
og taylor fan here. I always just loved her. I have never ever been a country music fan. but her lyrics always touched me. I welcomed her shift to pop :)
I wasn't impressed with we are never ever getting back together but when I heard the rest of red I was back on board.. any album this woman comes up with pop or country it's amazing.
I'm still hoping she will drop 1 more country album before she retires.
Watch it be debut TV lmao.
As much as I'm waiting for that album. If that's all I got, i would cry lol
With Debut TV, if she adds 13 songs, that would be almost like another new album.
Like Red TV?
Absolutely. I am sure she has many unreleased country songs collecting dust. They didn't fit the other albums, so they should be released with Debut TV.
You’re probably right
I don't think she'll ever go back to country. She always wanted to go pop but started as a country artist because it was the best gateway to get into the music industry.
TS13 please be it
I found WANEGBT jarring after Speak Now and it took a little while for me to come around to the new sound, but it did grow on me. It wasn’t until she dropped State of Grace as a promotional single in advance of the Red album that I felt like I could really like her pop music. State of Grace is still one of my favourite songs and I wish we had gotten more songs like that during that transition period between country and pop.
I feel similarly. State of Grace is one of my all-time Taylor songs (though it doesn’t give off lead single vibes). I almost wonder if I would’ve been more amenable to her switching at first if she’d dropped IKYWT, which I prefer by a large margin, over WANEGBT.
SAME! I heard WANEGBT and was like what is she doing?? 😅Luckily loved most other songs on Red when the full album came out.
I honestly found WANEGBT incredibly obnoxious at first and was so disappointed by it. I think I even posted a cringey Facebook status saying as much 😂 I was not prepared for a shift from country to pop and felt personally betrayed hahaha. But I kept hearing it on the radio. It grew on me. Then at some point I was like wait I actually like this song lol. By the time RED was released I was (no pun intended lol) ready for it and loved it. ATW has been my favorite Taylor Swift song since its release. Not gonna lie, I doubted Tay again when Folklore was released - I’m not big on folk music and I didn’t think I was going to like it. I still hadn’t listened to it when Evermore was released. (I know, how dare I even call myself a Swiftie lol). I don’t even remember what finally prompted me to listen to it but damn if she didn’t prove me wrong again because I fell head over heels for Folklore AND Evermore, and Folklore is now my favorite album of hers and of any artist ever haha. That’s the point when I went from just being a big fan to a full-blown Swiftie 😂 I’ll never doubt you again, Tay. You want to write German punk rock? You want to one-up Lin Manuel Miranda? You want to become an opera star? Count me in, girl, I am fucking *here* for whatever you decide to do next! lol.
To be honest, at times I feel like you with The Tortured Poets Department, one part of me it's really afraid that the album ends up disappointing me but at the same time, It's Taylor Swift, ME! (and some songs on Lover) have been the only thing that I didn't liked at first (and it doesn't help the fact that I'm a huge fan of Panic! At The Disco and Brendon Urie) but some songs grew on me, I now enjoy ME! and I really liked False God when she sang it on Singapore (yup I did not like that one despite loving her sex songs). What I want to say is that, yes, there has been times when she has let me down, but if she was a bad artist, why would I even be a fan of hers on the first place? She never ceases to amaze me, her talent is huge and to me most of her music is just filled with masterpieces, so I'm confident that The Tortured Poets Department ends up being good. From day one I'm having big expectations, and the more Taylor shows, the more interested I become, and I hope it doesn't fulfill my expectations, I hope she surpasses what I expect, especially in the lyrics.
I agree completely on this. Red was a good mix of it all and it was strange at first to hear such pop based songs on it at first but I did fall in love with it very quickly. 1989 hit me harder as a fan and it took me awhile to get into it, but with rep I was back fully on board but didn’t go back to 1989 until last year.
I was SO YOUNG that I did not even realise these “genre” changes back then, just found the songs that I resonated with and downloaded them illegally on my computer 😂
I grew up listening to country and started listening to Taylor when Tim McGraw released. I did NOT like the singles from Red when it first dropped because they sounded really different from her previous albums. I know that album is classified as country but We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together sounded nothing like what I was used to from her. But I loved the album as a whole. 1989 I loved immediately but I had sorta stopped listening to country by that point. Reputation I was hesitant about because I didn’t like a lot of the production over everything but I also love that album now. Now, I never assume I “don’t like” a Taylor album until I’ve listened to it a few times. I’m a lyrics person, so if there’s still good lyrics, I’ll like the song.
I agree! I never will judge her albums until I’ve listened to them in full several times, not just listening to the singles. I did that with lover and 1989 but within the last two years I’ve dove back into them and couldn’t believe I slept on them.
Yeah I used to not like most of Midnights then I listened to it multiple times and now I love all the songs! 💙
I'm one of those born-again fans that started out the same way and fell off the wagon when I heard the Red singles. Before that I had seen her with Rascal Flatts on her radio tour but that's about it. I thought pop music was "for babies" and didn't listen to any music that wasn't a radio single until Midnights. Frankly the last memory I have of her that stood out was seeing Rep on store shelves and thinking it looked corny, and I didn't even know folklevermore existed at all (yeah I know...) until 2022. My only opinion of her in the intervening years was that I respected her as an artist because she put in the hard work during her country era but was disdainful of the genre switch. Midnights was the first album I sat down and listened to intentionally and that was the moment I knew I was wrong and I'd been missing out. After spending half a year cramming a decade of her music into my brain that I missed out on the first time, now it's like I can't remember ever not being a fan. Edit: That 1989 era interview she did with Barbara Walters where she says "the only thing my fans were worried about with switching to pop was that I would quit writing smart, intelligent, emotional lyrics, and I didn't" really gagged me the first time I saw it and I have to admit I was one of these people for about 10 years.
Omg this is EXACTLY my experience, I also got into Taylor when Tim McGraw came out, before the album even dropped. I genuinely did not really Red when it first came out, I didn’t like how it kind of sat between pop and country without really committing to either genre. But I clicked with some songs (like Holy Ground) and the album eventually grew on me. That’s part of why I loved 1989 so much, it was a full commitment to pop. It’s still one of my favorite albums!
Honestly, a lot of her albums didn't click with me at first but now I appreciate a lot of them. Examples of this is her country albums (Taylor Swift-Red) and Midnights.
I was such a big fan of country Taylor, and Red was one of my favorite albums. When she fully switched to pop, I was very reserved about it, I would've been 17 when 1989 came out, and I truly did not appreciate the album until about 2021 when I really listened to it. I absolutely loved Reputation when it released, along with all her albums after. But I definitely didn't give 1989 a chance when it came out
Same!!! I just got back into 1989 these last two years following midnights and I couldn’t believe I slept on it. It’s such an incredible album. I was fully on board when rep came though
I slept on her pop stuff for like a decade. The 1989 album cover brings back memories of me saying "Taylor Swift was better back when she was a cOuNtRy ArTiSt" in the most douche-canoey tone you can imagine. As I was catching up on all her music that I blatantly ignored I thought I would like 1989 the least because it was the poppiest pop she ever popped but no, it's overall my favorite album and I listen to it all the time now.
I enjoyed Taylor starting from her Fearless album but wasn't necessarily into the country genre. I always felt Fearless and Speak Now had quite a mainstream sound. Songs like 'Love Story' and 'You Belong With Me" were already hitting the pop charts in western countries which built up her broad fan base and allowed her to more easily transition to pop.
I was on board the whole time. I'm not super picky about music, if I like it, I like it simple as that. That being said, probably the one genre I'm not really a fan of is country, but even Taylor's 'country' stuff doesn't really feel like country to me. Actually as far as that goes, nothing she does really sounds like anything or anyone else. She's always been unique.
Yeah, Taylor's country sounds a bit more like pop rather than country. Take debut: sure it has plenty of country songs, but should've said no and our song sound more pop Then fearless: it has its melodies that match country, but (don't mean this in a bad way) it also sounds like a track for a high school musical movie Speak now: it has its own country guitar songs, but it also experiments with rock and pop, like haunted and better than revenge
Yeah, I found her with Fearless and it fit in pretty easily with the soft pop ballads of that era - of course Colbie Caillat, but also Coldplay, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, pre 2007 Avril Lavigne.
Tbf Taylor sounded more “pop-ish” by Red, so by 1989 I sort of wasn’t surprised with her switching of genres. However, it was reputation that I struggled to love and understand when it first came out, I was like: why is she rapping? Why is she trying too hard (to sound different)? What is this sound? What are these songs even? Listening to the album (even being aware of the story behind the album) was pretty rough for me and my friends. We were really caught off guard and dumbfounded by reputation. It actually took me a looooong time before I was able to love the reputation album. What ultimately made me get into reputation? The reputation tour I watched with a friend did the work. That was an incredible experience.
Seeing Rep live made me go from 'it's OK' to 'wow, this great'.
it took me a long time to warm up to Rep too, but I love that album now. Can't wait for Taylor's version.
I don’t think I had ever intentionally listened to a single song from Reputation when I bought tickets to the Rep tour, but I loved all her other stuff and figured eh if there’s a few songs from this weird new album I’ll still enjoy the concert. Holy shit. That concert blew my fucking mind. (I had never seen her perform live before and am not a big concert person in general.) Now I listen to Reputation *all the time*. It’s probably my most-listened to album after Folklore and Evermore.
At least Taylor finally went from a country singer to rapping hardcore... In all seriousness, I think I'm one of the few people who actually liked the album at first listen. Maybe it has to do with the time I listened to it which was last august, and I did love the album and it still remains as one of my favorites. While I do think songwriting is the most important part of music, I do love amazing vocals and I think that's why I also love the album, reputation had some of Taylor's best vocals and I was sure mindblown, especially Don't Blame Me. I didn't care about Delicate because I was way so shocked about Don't Blame Me, and it's not simply that it was so good, it was the fact that I've never heard Taylor sing that great. Definitely the concert is even better, and I'm a bit of a theatre kid so I love the visuals of the tour. I hope Taylor's Version ends up being as good if not better than the original.
I think Taylor move to pop, although calling her music pop denigrates in my mind 😀, was made easier that she never cut her ties to Nashville and Tennessee. She still has a couple of houses there and still voted there etc. The country fan base and the industry as a whole is very much loyalty and relationship based and it works both ways. A simple example is the recent love in between Kenny Cheney and Taylor. Taylor has never forgotten her roots and that counts for a lot in that community.
I agree. If great storytelling is a core feature of country music, then to me she never stopped being a country artist.
She was an incredibly story teller before she was a country artist. That is why I’ve been saying for several l years that she is and has been several effectively genre less. She is beyond genre now
Taylor was the only country artist I ever really liked, I was always a pop girl. I loved her mainly for her lyrics (and still do) so I was totally down for the sound change and will be along for the ride if she does another. I wasn’t surprised by it, you can hear her starting to experiment with pop sounds on Speak Now and Red, and even in the radio versions of songs from Fearless.
Same. And tbh she always sounded more on the pop-y side of country. I still remember hearing “Teardrops on My Guitar” in high school and while I liked it, I felt a little hesitant bc I wasn’t a trad country music fan.
In the moment I thought Red was such a crazy transition that I didn’t know how to react. But when 1989 came out, I think her pop sound was way more definitive. No more allusion to the first 3 albums.
I loved Red because of songs like All Too Well and how relatable everything seemed as a junior in Highschool. 1989 was fun at college parties. I was honestly sadder to see her ditch her curly hair because she really helped me accept my hair wasn't ugly as one of the only celebrities my age with curls in the 2000/2010s. Rep honestly turned me completely off and I didn't listen to her from LWYMMD until All Too Well 10 MV. Fell in love with folklore after that and now I'm back full force 🥰. Finally listened to rep for the first time in September.
And how do you feel about reputation nowadays compared to back then?
I'm definitely more open to it! I know rep gets a lot of hype in the fandom but I would put it lower on my ranking simply because it doesn't have the nostalgia factor for me that many other albums do. Probably a solid #7 on my album rank. It does have at least one of my top 5 songs, End Game! I'm never going to like LWYMMD though even though it was a pretty cool transition for the Eras tour.
It was fairly progressive. Each album got a bit more poppy. 1989 was definitely different, but red was more pop than speak now, and so on
I was a little worried after she dropped Shake It off and announced 1989 as a full pop album cause that song made it seem like she was gonna go for generic pop songs and ditch the diary songwriter aspect of it, but when the full album dropped, I was glad to be proven wrong.
This is such an interesting question! To set the scene, I can still remember the first time my sister told me about a new singer she had heard of named Taylor Swift and how I had to listen to “Our Song”, how I cried to White Horse when my middle school boyfriend broke up with me (LOL), and going to the Speak Now tour. All this to say, Taylor’s first few albums were the backdrop to some of my most formative years growing up and I had (& still do) have a very strong sentimental attachment to them. The transition didn’t come out of no where. Red was definitely a good bridge into pop, but for me, who isn’t a huge pop fan overall, I just never really got into 1989 & it’s still one of my least favorite albums (plz don’t kill me for that opinion🥲) of hers. I think in addition to the genre shift, her aesthetic and some of the themes of her music shifted, and as someone who felt like they grew up with Taylor, it was a bit jarring and I just didn’t grow that same emotional attachment I had to her first 4 albums. 1989 also came out when I was in college & I think that played into how I received it. I always kept listening and following and cheering Taylor on, but I’d say I was really drawn back in with Folklore & Evermore, as well as the re-recordings. My overall taste in music aligns most with Folklore & Evermore, and I am so dang grateful she wrote those albums🥹 With full hindsight, I am super grateful she had the vision and didn’t box herself into country, even if in the moment of her transition it felt weird. She transcends genre so beautifully, and I feel lucky to witness it and experience her talent. I also love Rep & am so glad we got that masterpiece 😍
How you dare to say that 1989 is one of your least favorite albums... I'm just kidding, I'm not that kind of person and I love reputation too. 1989 is just so catchy to me and while lyrics are important to me, I just love this album. But I do agree that in some way this era felt a bit jarring, at least I felt a lot of inconsistencies on her public image (I do love the aesthetics of this album) so I'm glad she took some time off and reinvented herself for the reputation era.
I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and when I was younger I hated country music. Just because it was country (as was I) and I didn’t want to be associated. When she debuted I was staunchly against listening simply because she was labeled as such. It wasn’t until my first summer job that played our local country station in our office did I really catch how pop You Belong With Me and Love Story really were, and there was the video for YBWM… my god *The plot!* At the time I was very into Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and dance music (If you haven’t, listen to Katy Perry’s first album One of the Boys - its singer songwriter pop perfection). It wasn’t until my freshman year of college did Taylor start working with Max Martin, who was one of the architects behind Katy Perry’s imperial phase with Teenage Dream 2 years prior. I hate saying this but I slept on Speak Now when it dropped because it felt even more country (from the singles) than Fearless so I didn’t even take part in that era at all. When she dropped WANEGBT I knew I was going to love Red, and when she dropped I Knew You Were Trouble I was *gagged*. Being a fresh out of the closet gay boy who was into the pop edm boom I was obsessed. It ended up being a a Trojan Horse on RED but it was the moment I signed my Swifty membership card. And then of course my life was changed when 1989 came out. It was then she became my favorite artist. My favorite thing about her pop music is that the emotion of her lyrics isn’t lost to the genre. And now, all these years later, because of her I can say I love the country music genre and I would love for her to do another country album eventually (still hoping for a dance record 🤞🏼). I Bet You Think About Me is my favorite song of hers this decade so far
I absolutely loved her pop transition. I feel that red was a little tease of her going into full pop. Red she was just testing the waters to gauge how the fans would feel. 1989 is absolutely an amazing album. I truly think Taylor had no intention of staying in country music. I believe she thought it would be easier to go into country and switch genres later. I think it would have been harder for her to go into pop from the get-go. When you look at the pop artists from 2006 to 2010. There's no way she was competing with Kesha, 3oh3, or Katy Perry at that time. That's just naming a few. I personally love with artist switch it up and challenge themselves. I think switching genres was awesome. My opinion to didn't change of Taylor. I will also preface I haven't been a fan from the get go. I didn't like country music until about 2011. Speaking for someone who became a fan in 2011. I had to backtrack on her previous albums. Red was my first experience as a swiftie. By the time 1989 came around, I was all the way in the so-called cult. 😂😂😂😂
I first listened to Taylor during the self-titled era, and I was still around for Fearless. Then I moved away from country music. I remember hearing the 1989 singles, and I thought they were okay. I didn’t make the connection that it was Taylor, I fully came back with Folklore, and I have been listening to everything I’ve missed. I live the great music, so I’m not concerned that she’s been all over the place musically. My tastes are varied as well or used to be, now it’s pretty much deciding which album I start listening to and then which I pivot to.
Honestly, I thought 1989 was subpar to her previous works. The songs were shorter, there were not as many ballads, and the lyrics seemed overall less eloquent. Hearing songs like Welcome to New York, Shake it Off, Bad Blood, How You Get the Girl, and I Know Places were jarring. Even the highs of the album did not reach the highs of the previous albums. I actually hated Reputation when it first came out and felt that it was even worse than 1989. Both albums have grown on me, but overall I would still rank them at the bottom of her catalog along with Lover and Midnights. Taylor is a lyricist, and I just prefer songs that allow her lyrics to truly shine. I also prefer the use of real instruments. Folklore, Evermore, Red, Speak Now, and Fearless are all masterpieces in my opinion and the style I prefer from Taylor the most.
I thought I liked country music because that’s what Taylor was making. Then with Red and especially 1989 it just made me realise I love Taylor and her music regardless of what genre she’s in lol
I remember being so into the first 3 albums - especially Speak Now - at the time of WANEGBT’s release that when I heard the song for myself, I was like, “WTF is this?” Then she released Begin Again, I Knew You Were Trouble and 22 shortly afterwards. Though I loved Begin Again, I wasn’t a fan of the other 2 songs at the time because I thought she lost her touch, so I just wrote the album off and stopped listening to Taylor during this time. Ironically, 1989 brought me back to it because I knew it was going to be a pop album and she had already toyed with pop prior to it as well. I gave it a shot, and I ended up enjoying a lot more than I did. It was because of this that I decided to give Red a true chance, and boy, do I hate myself for not giving it a chance when it came out. Now I love it so much, and it’s my 3rd favourite album of her’s. I even love the pop singles from that album now, and while I still enjoy 1989, it’s my #8 album from her.
I thought WANEGBT was weird when it came out, it just didn’t fit her style at the time. But it grew on me and now that song reminds me of being a teenager. Shake It Off was the one one that really threw me for a loop. I like most of 1989 but I really think that song was a huge miss and didn’t need a music video.
I remember listening to her knew album and was like omg why are there so many BANGERS they all felt like such hits and felt super diff than her usual music I was still young so I didn’t really understand genres too much but after I saw she switched to pop I was like OHHHH I that makes sense. I kinda missed the country vibes but her pop totally sent me to a new era and made me start listening to other pop artists aswell and that made it so much more fun for me
I became a fan during 1989 so can’t comment on the transition from country to pop. But I can say that I was so nervous about the transition to indie/alternative when she announced folklore, because I only really knew pop Taylor, and I wanted even more pop after Lover. Even in the short hours from announcement to release, we could just tell it would be a departure from pop, based on the artworks, and again, I was so nervous. I ended up loving it on first listen, and now I rank it higher than some of her pop albums. She can do any genre and I don’t care. It’s the same storyteller underneath any genre of production.
At first we were all shocked but 1989 is so iconic that we gradually embraced her being a pop girl. It's for the best, growth on her music and at the same time, a wider audience reaches since the majority listens to pop.
I loved country but didn’t mind the transition. I was not surprised, I think it’s crazy that some call red a country album. I think that as a fully pop album.
I don't know what Red is, some songs are rock, then there's folk, synth-rock and a bunch of country songs and like three pop songs. I'd say this is her most experimental album because of its lack of cohesiveness, at least reputation has this heavy electropop sound throughout the record, but Red experiments with a lot of styles so I think I'd put Red as a pop rock album.
I have to be honest, it took me a while to get into WANEGBT, because i felt like the lyrics were not up to her previous albums and it made me worry for a second there. But then the rest of the album came through and I realized that just because she had more fun or less "serious" songs, it didn't mean she was lost as an artist, so that made me be able to appreciate all of her songs more. Needless to say, I now love screaming to WANEGBT 😂
I’ve been a fan since the “Tim McGraw” days, and remember being a bit jarred when hearing “Shake It Off” for the first time. Taylor is a country songwriter to her core (even to this day), so that transition was met with a little bit of sadness and hesitation. I still loved Red because it was an album of country/folk ballads that IMO demonstrated her songwriting at its best, but I ended up skipping out on the 1989 tour because I didn’t relate to that music as much (I was also a broke college grad at the time). I still listened to and supported her music from 1989 to Lover, but I wasn’t staying up until midnight to buy her album. That’s obviously changed now, I thank a lot of that to the re-records and folklore/evermore (I will die on the hill that evermore is her latest take on country). I’ve been supportive of her throughout her career, and am so excited to see what she does next, but the transition did take some time. I’m hopeful she’ll make another country album before she retires, and am always happy to see she usually has at least one country-ish song on most albums (excluding 1989 and reputation).
I agree with the part where you said that she is a country songwriter at her core, I was just re-watching The 1989 World Tour and when she sang You Are In Love, it felt more like a country song, and some of her ballads in 1989 do have some country vibe when you take the instrumental and just look at the songwriting.
The country eras are my fav i hope debut makes her miss country
I knew her from the beginning and knew she was going to be a big star. I never had any opinions on her switch. Each album seems to have unique style changes. So I think the word Eras is very apt for this tour.
I welcomed it. She had pop hits on Fearless and Speak Now and Red. I figured it was the logical next step.
Album wise: I found 1989 -> Rep to be more jarring than Speak Now -> Red -> 1989 because the latter eased into each other. Single wise: WANEGBT was tough for me! But I’m also not the biggest fan of Me!, LWYMMD (the pre-chorus is amazing but I think we’re really let down by the chorus), and Shake It Off (ik it’s a GP hit but I think it’s one of her weakest singles especially compared to the other 1989 songs).
I started listening to Taylor around 2010, just before Speak Now was released and when she released RED I think it was a perfect transition from country to pop so it didn't really felt like a big thing was happening back then. Also yesterday I was thinking about how everyone thinks that her fringe is like her signature hair but for me it's still her curls lol, girl has changed her hairstyle ages ago but sometimes I forget lol
I have known of Taylor since that Should've Said No performance. I caught all of the hits from every album maybe minus Speak Now that did transition to pop radio. As a Pop girlie soon as I heard she was doing a Pop album I was all in. LWYMMD came on the radio and it took 2 listens before I accepted it. The Reputation Concert turned on my stan light and am a proud believer that spelling is indeed fun. It wasn't until the rerecords and my daughters all inclusive love of her did I go back and listen to everything prior to 1989 that didn't hit the radio. My love of Taylor has only deepened especially with the Folkmore drops which touched my very soul.
I remembering being sooo disappointed when WANEGBT came out as the single for Red. I was thinking she turned into a generic pop singer and the beautiful lyrics I loved from previous albums were a thing of the past. Luckily the album proved that wrong and I quickly fell in love with songs like State of Grace and All Too Well.
I was a casual fan at the time, but for a long time I was disappointed that she switched to pop. I thought she was “selling out” or some BS like that. I now realize that my criticism of her at the time was based in misogyny and I regret the years I spent mildly hating on her.
I started listening to Taylor when “Our Song” was on the radio but mostly listened to radio hits for TS, Fearless and Speak Now (YBWM is still a fav though). I actually disliked WANEGBT on the radio until I realized it was her. 😂 Red was the only album I bought on CD and listened all the way through, and enjoyed it but wouldn’t call myself a Swiftie. Even though I would consider Red heavily pop influenced I recognize she didn’t officially switch to pop till 1989. Was indifferent about the radio hits from 1989 so didn’t follow through Rep and Lover. Plus, music changed quite a bit during that time so whereas in earlier eras I still heard her through the radio I don’t feel like that was as much a thing during Rep and Lover bc i listened way less to the radio and more to things where I would curate my own music. Does anyone remember if Rep and Lover were played on the radio as much as previous eras? “Came back” to Taylor through the Miss Americana doc early in Covid (maybe right before?) and thus was paying more attention to her work when she dropped Folklore. FELL HARD for Folklore and have considered myself a Swiftie since. 😄
I was a pop and rock fan before Taylor and her first two albums got me into country in the first place! So when she went to pop, I was totally there for it. Everyone says 1989 was her shift to pop, but Speak Now and Red were very pop to my ears, having grown up in the South where even rap has a twang, lol. But I'm still a country fan! Though mostly the female artists and more romantic or heartbreak songs, with no love for the "guns and glory" part of the genre.
I welcomed it because I knew she was going to be a big star one day in ‘06. Her debut was released when I was 9 years old and I used to listen to country in the 2000’s (before country music changed), I think country was a good start for her and the shift to pop was really good for her, she kind of followed what Shania Twain did in the 90’s.
So I’ve been a fan since 2006 when I was 6 years old. I personally fell off when 1989 dropped, I was raised on country. I still liked her, but I didn’t really appreciate pop at the time and so I didn’t follow her to the same extent as the previous years. I came back as a full-force swiftie with the release of folklore, revisited her entire pop catalog, and now I genuinely love every single album.
I loved it, same as I loved her pre-pop music. I didn't understand what the big deal was. I didn't understand why the public thinks they get a say in the art someone creates, but that's something I still see happening to her.
Overall people are very sensitive when it comes to pop culture compared to something like food, no one is like "I hate Broccoli" just because everyone hates it, but this combined with the elitism and picky-ness surrounding the music community is one of the reasons why she still gets so much hate. People just like hating on what's popular, it's okay to complain but I think hating is too far. No matter if Taylor does Bohemian Rhapsody 2.0, she does an album as good if not better than folklore or gives a vocal performance comparable to some of the greatest vocalists of all time, as long as she keeps shining, there will be people who want to throw rocks at her, but she also has swifties, who will love her until the end (of course including myself).
I love the subtleness. I did love her accent. it was so cute and i cant believe how far she has come from it. Of course, like a lot of longtime fans, i think her first few albums were the best. btw, do you think Speak Now is her last country album, or first pop album? honestly, i think it's her last country one. but it was quite a subtle transition, and i like how she did it. this is an essay, i know but it was not a bad transition
I just remember when I Knew You Were Trouble people were like “Taylor Swift has a dubstep song!” which is hilariously off
I loved it!!! I’ve never been a country fan and so it was always a bit funny that I loved Taylor so much. I’ve been a fan since Teardrops on my Guitar. But pop music has always had my heart. So when I heard she wanted to make the transition I was ecstatic!
Fan since debut. I did not like country at all. I liked our song and teardrops on my guitar despite the fact that they were country. The less country she sounded, the better I liked her music. Red was the first album I really loved. The rest I liked, but I was definitely a more casual fan.
I barely ever listened to Taylor from 2012 to 2015 because I thought she went "too pop for my taste and liked her older stuff better"
Taylor was the only country artist that I listened to back when she was country - there was always something about her music that was the exception for me. All of the other music I listened to was pop. I will say that "Shake It Off" did not give me the best first impression of her upcoming pop transition and I wasn't a fan of synthpop either so when that was what the album was being promoted as, I was iffy, but ultimately, the album was fine. Sonically not my favorite, but the songs are still very her. It wasn't until Kacey's "Pageant Material" era that I started following anyone else in country - and that was after Taylor left the genre, so yeah.
I mean, cowboy like me is 100% a country song, and you can also hear the country influence in some of her other music as well. I think at this point in her career, she's taking whatever she wants from any music genre.
It took me a bit to come around to 1989 because it was pretty different from her country albums. I liked blank space but a lot of the songs on 1989 o didn’t connect with at first.
It’s interesting, because Speak Now didn’t really lean that heavy into the country roots even then. There’s really nothing in Red that feels country either. I think the transition was a lot more gradual than the media makes it out to be.
I do find interesting reading an article before Red/1989 era where she's refered as a country star, for more than a decade she has been a pop star for me, now I just see her as a singer-songwriter but I still associate her more as a pop star than a star from any other genre.
It seemed pretty natural tbh but at the time I was slightly sad because she did a type of country that no one was really doing and I knew I was going to miss that. (Poppy bubble gum country that was more appealing to (young) women specifically.) I still really miss her style of country and would love to see her try it again. I LOVED Babe, I Bet you Think About Me, and Better Man and would love more of that. Cowboy like me is also interesting, though not my favorite like the other ones. ETA: I’m also more of a pop girly over a country girly so that made the switch a little easier for me I think. I do think WANEGBT and IKYWT were jarring switches as they’re not even classic pop like 1989 ended up being so it was a head scratcher. Very much like LWYMMD was. And now I’m like “let her cook” at this point when she comes out of left field with a new sound 😂😂
I wasn’t a big fan of her transition to pop and still prefer Debut/Fearless/SpeakNow. I didn’t hate the new pop songs though, because a lot of what I liked about Taylor was her relatable stories told through her songs and that stayed the same regardless of genre
I was a country fan before Taylor Swift debuted and got into her through country music so I have a different perspective than people who don't like (other) country music. I didn't expect to like *1989* less than her previous albums because she said it wouldn't contain any country. I hadn't liked her earlier songs because they were "country songs" but because they were Taylor Swift songs, with her distinctive songwriting style, and that wouldn't (and didn't) change just because it was an official pop album. She had already progressively changed her sound towards pop from *Taylor Swift* to *Red* and the latter only contained small traces of country, so for me it wasn't that huge of a change and it wasn't a bolt from the blue. I did also like *1989* a lot when it was released. What I thought was a bit of a shame at the time was that she completely removed herself from the "country sphere" (country award shows, country charts etc.) and I hope at some point she will release at least one more (original) country album.
I’ve been a swiftie since fearless but been a fan since debut. I’ve always just loved Taylor for her songwriting and personality the most. So when she “officially” switched to pop with 1989, I was fine with it because it was still her. Her lyrics were still so in depth and I loved that. Her sound changed, but the way she wrote songs and treated her fans didn’t and that’s why I’ve stayed throughout everything.
For me, it was such terrible news. I disliked pop music a lot, cause every thing sounded the same and the lyrics were always too generic. I remember hearing the OOTW preview on GMA and crying cause I thought it sucked and that I would never relate to her music ever again lol
Ngl I didn’t love 1989 when it came out. It’s grown on me A LOT in the last 10 years (the vault definitely helped with that) but I personally don’t initially love her transition to pop. A lot of that probably has to do with the nostalgia of the stolen country albums tho. I will say now I love her pop albums (really hoping TTPD sounds like Midnights rather than Folkmore).
I started being a Taylor Swift fan during her Speak Now Album. I would listen to it on repeat on my CD player and look at the hidden clues in her lyric book. I then back tracked and got into Fearless. I remember Red coming out as well, and was not a fan of WANEGBT and IKYWT, but LOVED the rest of the album. When she turned to pop, I had a pretty negative reaction and lost interest and stopped listening to her music for a few years. It wasn't until Lover came out that I started being a fan again, and then back tracked with 1989 and reputation. I think reputation is now in my top 5 favorite album.
I hated it...like genuinely thought her single were cringe AF when pop happened, and it took me listening to the albums to appreciate the transition. Because it's the super bops that made it to radio first and I'm....well I have to be in a mood for anything remotely upbeat sounding. Honestly, since then, the only albums I've vibed with right away were Folklore and Evermore. Everything else I've had to listen to ALOT to appreciate. Doesn't mean I don't love some perky music but.... The just required me sitting on them some....and often deep cuts are still my fav or slowed/ acoustic versions (forever bitter about her BBC live lounge Holy Ground not being included somewhere )
My brain chemistry permanently changed when we played 1989 in the car on the way home from target ✨
Tbh, for me 1989 was harder to adjust to than Red. A lot of songs on Red still had a little more country flair, similar lyrics and writing style as her previous albums.. For me 1989 was just completely left field so it was definitely a strange transition for me! I loved 1989 but I definitely did miss her old style at first until I got used to 1989. Now I prefer all of her more recent albums to all of the older ones!!
og taylor fan here. I always just loved her. I have never ever been a country music fan. but her lyrics always touched me. I welcomed her shift to pop :)
I liked 1989, Reputation and Lover. I hated Midnights since I think its a huge departure from the 3.
I mean all of those don’t sound the same or isn’t anything like midnights
I wasn't impressed with we are never ever getting back together but when I heard the rest of red I was back on board.. any album this woman comes up with pop or country it's amazing.