Taylor Swift.Photo:Beth Garrabrant
Beth Garrabrant
She’ll never go out of style.
On FridayTaylor Swiftunleashed1989 (Taylor’s Version).The re-release,Swift’s fourth, comes nine years after she first dropped hercrossover pop albumand includes five previously unheard tracks from the vault that were written for the project.
Like1989’soriginal 16 songs, the vault tracks are synthy, twinkly gems about lost love. And for the re-recording process, Swift teamed up with her constant collaboratorJack Antonoff, who co-produced each of the new songs. (The pair have worked together since she first released1989in 2014.)
Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album art.Beth Garrabrant
Here, PEOPLE breaks down the five new vault tracks, from the swooping and soaring choruses to the Instagram-able lyrics.
“Slut!”
The hotly anticipated new song “Slut!” offers a response to the public slut-shaming Swift endured early on in her career. But unlike on its satirical, tongue-in-cheek sister-song “Blank Space,” Swift dreamily shrugs off the scrutiny and embraces a clandestine romance on “Slut!”
“But if I’m all dressed up they might as well be lookin’ at us / If they call me a slut, you know it might be worth it for once / If I’m gonna be drunk, might as well be drunk in love,” Swift sings on the effervescent tune.
Best lyric:“Being this young is art.”
“Say Don’t Go”
Best lyric:“Why’d you whisper in the dark / Just to leave me in the night / Now your silence has me screaming, screaming.”
“Now That We Don’t Talk”
“Now That We Don’t Talk” is Swift’s shortest song to date, but it packs a punch. The track finds Swift — specific as ever — seeking words of wisdom from her mom as she watches an ex move on post-split: ”You grew your hair long / You got new icons / And from the outside it looks like you’re trying lives on / I miss the old ways / You didn’t have to change / But I guess I don’t have a say / Now that we don’t talk / I call my mom, she says that it was for the best / Remind myself the more I gave, you’d want me less / I cannot be your friend / So I pay the price of what I lost and what it cost."
Best lyric:“Now that we don’t talk / I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock.”
“Suburban Legends”
Like most of these newvault tracks, “Suburban Legends” sounds like it would fit nicely alongsideMidnightstracks as they do1989highlights.
Over driving, sometimes wind chime-y production, Swift reflects on a lover with a “mismatched star sign,” singing, “I didn’t come here to make friends / We were born to be suburban legends / When you hold me, it holds me together / And you kiss me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever.”
Best lyric:“I broke my own heart because you were too polite to do it.”
“Is It Over Now?”
Best lyric:“Your new girl is my clone.”
source: people.com
