On October 27th, 2023, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift re-recorded and re-released her hit album “1989.” Over the course of the past few years, Swift has been re-recording all of her older albums after she had the rights of her previous albums taken from her by her former record manager. Swift has re-released four of her albums so far, the newest being “1989.” Upon the release of the highly anticipated album,  different opinions circulated about the new version, and the new songs that were added to it, called the “vault tracks.” 

All of the songs from the “1989 vault” were very well made, and I would even say that they’re the best vault tracks of Swift’s re-recorded albums. There are no new songs that I would skip from “1989.” My favorite vault track is the closing song “Is It Over Now?” This is my favorite track because I really enjoy the production elements, and the lyrics and meaning behind it are very impactful. Swift also used a writing style in this song that departs from a lot of her other work, which is something that I really enjoy. The “1989” vault tracks are also personal. Not to say that Taylor Swift hasn’t had personal vault tracks in the past, but a lot of these songs feel like a stream of consciousness, as if you are reading straight from Taylor Swift’s journal entries, which makes them very powerful. I honestly could not rank the rest of the vault tracks. “Is It Over Now?” stood out to me the most, but the other songs are also good. 

Some critical opinions of the vault tracks argue that they sound too similar to the production of songs from Taylor Swift’s newest album “Midnights.” I agree that they are similar, but I don’t think that’s a negative thing. I think that her new sound can be similar to the songs she’s made recently, but they’re all different in their own way. The songs that had already been released prior were good as well.  Taylor Swift didn’t change much of the production, and since the original version of “1989” only came out a few years ago, her voice didn’t sound too different. If anything, the re-recorded album sounds better with her more mature voice and its improved quality. The re-recorded version of “1989” ultimately made the album better. It’s always been a nostalgic and fun album, but the new version made me a bigger fan than I previously was.