The Sadness of ‘Slut’ — And More of Our Takeaways from Taylor Swift’s New Vault Tracks
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Sweetening the deal of every re-recorded Taylor Swift album is the promise of hearing new vault tracks. These previously unreleased songs, which were written during their assigned eras, flesh out the diaristic narratives Swift laid out on their respective albums — and they also give us a glimpse into how her own songwriting has been changing and growing.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) is no different. In fact, these may be her best vault tracks yet, showcasing a fearless Swift charging into her pop sound at full-force with the help of her then-new collaborative partner Jack Antonoff. Like fan-favorite bonus track “New Romantics,” any of these new ones would have fit perfectly on the album that helped Swift go platinum for the first time in her career. Here are some other thoughts and revelations on the latest batch of new-old songs from Swift’s career.
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“Slut!” Is Not The Upbeat Anthem Swifties Expected — But It Is the Sad Girl Rumination We Needed
Look, with that exclamation point and the generally chaotic pop vibe of 2014 pop music at the time, it was reasonable to hope “Slut!” would be a massive synth banger. That is simply not the case: It’s a dreamy and tender love song that reckons with Swift’s own image at the time (which she more directly addresses on “Blank Space”) with a burgeoning romance she’s willing to risk being called a “slut” for pursuing. It creates a through-line from the sound of 1989‘s most sublime power ballads “Wildest Dreams” and “Clean” to the approach she and Antonoff take on much of 2022’s Midnights, sparkling like an Eighties prom slow dance.
Swift and Diane Warren Make for a Powerful Writing Pair
The most shocking credit in the 1989 credits is Diane Warren, a prolific songwriter known for her massive, Oscar nomination-bait power ballads. While Swift is no stranger to a power ballads, it’s certainly not the overall tone of 1989. Together, they join forces to create an absolutely devastating break-up song without shirking Swift’s pop girl ambitions of the time. The pair are a formidable team, finding an impressive middle ground between their musical and lyrical styles.
1989 Could Have Been a Much Sadder Album
While it feels criminal that it took nearly a decade to hear these vault tracks, one can understand why they didn’t fit into the vision and final sound of the album at the time. Mood-wise, they turn the album into more of a straightforward heartbreak album than what we received at the time, which glittered with the optimism of a girl in her mid-twenties forging a new path in her life and shaking off the bad times and bad blood. She has since called Red her “one true break-up album” and clearly didn’t want 1989 to follow in its footsteps in the traditional sense.
“Is It Over Now?” — the standout in a batch of standouts — is the perfect example of the decisions she made to soften the 1989’s perspective on the relationship with a certain British megastar that inspired much of the album. “Is It Over Now?” makes the bitter end feel more bitter instead of the hazy whirlwind of an affair she paints on “Style” and “Out of the Woods.” It almost feels like those two chart-topping hits couldn’t exist without her having worked through her anger on this track first. And if this song (along with the other vault tracks had been included), it certainly could have changed the narrative around the album entirely.
Don’t Talk About Acid Rock on Yachts With Her
“Now That We Don’t Talk” has some of Swift’s most funniest lines about an ex that she hears whispers about but clearly doesn’t talk to anymore. She takes aim at this former lover’s new life, full of new parties, new hair, and new icons. But the best of all? She kisses off their time together by being grateful she no longer has to act like she’s interested in the things he likes, singing “I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock/Or that I’d like to be on a mega yacht/With important men who think important thoughts.” Who knew she would have such strong feelings about such a hyper-specific subgenre? But like her “indie record that’s much cooler than mine” predicting her successful sonic shift on Folklore, maybe that means a Swift foray into acid rock is to be expected for her to ultimately have the last laugh down the line.
Swift and Antonoff Were Already a Match Made in Pop Heaven
This was obvious from the moment “Out of the Woods” took off. The duo have worked together on each of her albums since, with Midnights being their first full-album collaboration. It’s clear that their early writing sessions together were fruitful, since four of the five vault tracks were co-written by him. The trust and friendship intimacy seems to have been influential on Swift’s songwriting from the jump, but also their influence on each other early on is striking. “Suburban Legends” could be a Bleachers collaboration in name alone but also given their mutual songwriting fascinations with Bruce Springsteen-esque visions of small town high school life.
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