Until Oct. 27., 2014, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift was known as a country pop-star around the world. Throughout her second, third and fourth studio albums, “Fearless”, “Speak Now” and “Red,” Swift was slowly beginning to shift from country to pop, but with the release of her fifth studio album, “1989”, Swift made the full shift to the pop genre. With the album’s release, Swift was launched into superstardom. Due to the incident in 2019 in which Swift lost the rights to the masters of her first six albums to Scooter Braun, Swift no longer owned the masters to her first six albums, including “1989.” Now, almost a decade later, Swift released the “1989” re-recording, titled “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” which debuted as No. 1 on Billboard 200.

To no one’s surprise, Swift did not disappoint. She brought the full package. With incredible vocals, striking instrumentals, catchy beats and unforgettable lyrics, Swift broke records. Within a week of its release, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is dominating charts on multiple streaming platforms. All 21 tracks made their way onto both Spotify and Apple Music’s Top 25.

Contrary to Swift’s releases of her other albums, two of the tracks on “1989” were already re-recorded and were re-released prior to the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” This tracks consist of “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version),” which was released in 2021 when it gained major popularity on TikTok, and “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” which was released in 2022 for the soundtrack of the hit TV series “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”

The re-recorded songs fully lived up to their expectations. The lyrics of all 16 tracks remained completely the same, but the background music and vocals of certain tracks were said to be noticeably different by fans around the world.

One of the major hit songs around America in 2014 was “Style.” In this song, 24-year-old Swift was able to fully encapsulate the true meaning of a pop song. The backing track was a subtle, not too loud, electric guitar riff that became easily recognizable around the world. A decade later, with the release of “Style (Taylor’s Version)” came some backlash from fans. The re-record of the song had a much louder backing track that varied slightly from the original versions, AKA “stolen versions.” Some fans even claimed that the differences in this song were one of the most noticeable and least popular changes. Fans preferred the calmer and more passionate feeling of the original version. On the other hand, I personally really liked the changes. I could truly feel how Swift has matured and while the lack of passion was noticeable, I believe it to be because Swift has moved on and gotten over the situation these songs were originally written about.

Other songs had more popular, yet still noticeable, changes. On the album’s 15th track, “You Are In Love (Taylor’s Version)” Swift sings in a softer, happier and more sincere tone. The shift in tone brings a newfound meaning and sense of comfort to the already incredible song.

The full album consisted of the 16 re-recorded tracks plus an additional five vault tracks: “Slut! (Taylor’s Version),” “Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version),” “Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version),” “Suburban Legends (Taylor’s Version)” and “Is It Over Now (Taylor’s Version).”

The new songs were personally some of my favorites from Swift’s entire discography. They all had a very upbeat vibe with catchy lyrics.

In general, the vocals had a dramatic shift. Obviously, as Swift matured as an artist, so did her voice. In the “(Taylor’s Version)” tracks, Swift’s voice is noticeably mature. Swift is able to hold notes longer and stronger than in the stolen versions.

If you aren’t fully convinced how groundbreaking this album is, well, the numbers don’t lie. Unheard Vault Track “Slut! (Taylor’s Version)” debuted at No. 1 on Spotify with 5.2 million streams.

Since its release on Oct. 27, the streams for “1989” (stolen version) went down 43.6% from the previous week. Swifties got the memo. Swift worked hard for her music, and they were streaming the version of these songs that Swift herself owned.

Swift continues to break records and wow the world every single day. The self-made singer-songwriter has proven to be incredibly talented and accomplished throughout her career. Swift is racking up more and more accomplishments with the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” and the continuation of The Eras Tour.