The album 1989 made Taylor Swift a mega-star and a songwriting force to be reckoned with, marking a multiple Grammy-winning transition from the all-American country darling of her late teens and early twenties to the visionary all-rounder she eventually became.
It was a massive album culturally, both for its content and its context, whose wide-reaching influence is now being felt in the music produced by the new generation of artists the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and Gracie Abrams. It put Taylor Swift on the map in a way she hadn’t quite managed before and made her the most talked-about celebrity in the media for a good year.
For all those reasons, there was a lot of pressure for the re-recording of 1989 to rise to its original counterpart’s legacy, honoring it and furthering it. It was an album that, unlike every other “Taylor’s Version” album before it, most of the world had previously listened to and would have an opinion about.
The re-recordings of the original setlist are always contentious, with the nostalgic section of fans latching on to every little change and resenting it. However, it’s the “Vault” tracks that usually smooth ruffled feathers and get everyone excited.
Now, new Taylor music is always a great thing, but the five newly released tracks rejected from 1989 in 2014 didn’t have quite the impact of Fearless (Taylor’s Version)‘s “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” Red (Taylor’s Version)‘s “All Too Well (10 Minutes Version),” or even Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)‘s “I Can See You”.
All five are classic Taylor songs with great build-ups and clever lyrics, but their production and structure feel too familiar — probably a by-product of releasing seven albums in three years. They’re all good, because when Taylor sticks to her winning formula, she can’t possibly go wrong, but they lack any sort of novelty. Still, we’re always happy to have more music to scream the lyrics to in the shower or on the road.
5. “Say Don’t Go” — Been there, done that
All the elements of a good Taylor Swift song can be found in some way, shape, or form, in “Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” but it’s arguably the least memorable out of the bunch. The track starts with the musician singing in her always-iconic low range before it picks up and speeds up, climaxing in an upbeat and, frankly, melodically poor chorus that doesn’t quite gel with the rest of the song. Lyrically, it’s rich as always, although dependent on a lot of idiomatic cliches we’ve heard often in Taylor’s music in the past. Familiarity and predictability aside, it’s still an addictive heartbreak anthem like only Taylor can write.
4. “Now That We Don’t Talk” — Short, but sweet
At 2 minutes and 32 seconds, “Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” is surprisingly short for a Taylor Swift song, but it definitely does the job. Sonically and lyrically, it’s once again reminiscent of the effervescent pop of 1989 and Midnights, with classic Taylor songwriting and Jack Antonoff’s tried-and-true synth-heavy production. The construction, however, works a lot better than the previous entry on this list, as it smoothly goes from deep verses to a dreamy falsetto chorus, topped off with a sarcasm-dripping staccato outro that packs all the punches.
3. “Suburban Legends” — Feels like sparkly bomber jackets and overly-filtered Instagram selfies posted straight to your feed
It’s understandable that a lot of these vault tracks, left unfinished in 2014, were infused with the sound of Taylor and Jack’s latest album, Midnights, as the duo completed them all these years later. “Suburban Legends (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” is like the love child of 2022’s “Mastermind” and 2014’s “New Romantics”, but that chorus is pure 1989. The storytelling is also possibly the most interesting among its vault peers, as the musician details a Bonny and Clyde type of high school romance with the sort of imagistic vividity you can only find in Taylor Swift songs. The ending feels abrupt, but we’ll allow it.
2. “Is It Over Now?” — The fact that Taylor Swift and Harry Styles used to date is actually crazy
“Is It Over Now (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” could have easily been a single. Even if it suffers from the same trite ailments as the rest of the vault tracks, this angry break-up track is so compelling and energizing that it still works. The damning lyrics are reminiscent of other brutal take-downs of past lovers like “All Too Well” and “Mr. Perfectly Fine” — the type to breed scandal, sell records, and top charts. Fans seem to think this one is about Harry Styles, but with a delivery this unhinged, anyone could scream the lyrics to that bridge and feel it in their bones. Really, that’s the magic of Taylor Swift’s music, and this gem is a prime example.
1. “”Slut!”” — Would have made it to every girl’s Tumblr bio
No one writes a falling-hard-in-love song quite like Taylor Swift. This one is majestic and infectious and, as the lyrics talk about getting tipsy, you, too, feel a bit drunk from the psychedelic production as you listen. The lyrics don’t sound like they come from an unfinished song with “being this young is art,” and “if they call me a ‘slut!’ you know it might be worth it for once” standing out as some of the most poignant to come out of Taylor’s notably potent pen-game.
Also of note is the subtle commentary about the way Taylor was always attacked by the media whenever she would get a new boyfriend back in those times, while the men would rarely suffer the same fate. She explored the same topics in the career-defining “Blank Space,” and while she’s confessed to having to pick between that and “Slut!” for the album in 2014, we’re feeling blessed that we now get to have both.
