Taylor Swift gifted her fans an early Halloween present this October with the release of her newest re-recorded album, “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” After Scooter Braun bought the master recordings of Swift’s songs, she began re-recording her old albums as “Taylor’s Versions”. As of now, she’s re-recorded 4 of 6 of her old albums. With each re-recording comes 5-9 vault tracks, which are songs she originally wrote for the album that didn’t make the cut. The original 1989 tracks are near flawless – let’s see how the vault tracks compare.
“Sl*t!”
Rating: 6.5/10
‘“Sl*t!”’ kicks off the vault tracks with a slow, bedroom pop vibe reminiscent of her most recent album, “Midnights.” It feels very soft and dreamy, which is nice, but it doesn’t fit the vibe of 1989 very well. I’m personally not a fan of her lower-energy songs, so this track is not my favorite. It’s not the strongest introduction to the vault tracks, but a solid track overall.
Say Don’t Go
Rating: 8/10
“Say Don’t Go” is the perfect song for a late-night karaoke drive with the windows down. This track takes us through the emotions of someone who is begging their loved one to stay, even though they have lost feelings. Whether you’ve experienced this feeling or not, “Say Don’t Go” still gets you in your feels with emotional lyrics such as, “Why’d you whisper in the dark / Just to leave me in the night? / Now your silence has me screaming, screaming.” The emotional story, along with beautiful lyrics, make this one of the best vault tracks on this list.
Now That We Don’t Talk
Rating: 5/10
“Now That We Don’t Talk” is a track that should have stayed in the vault. It is definitely the most upbeat vault track, but also the most bland. Besides some beautifully executed high notes, this track doesn’t have much pizzazz or flare that draws me to it; it’s simply mediocre, earning itself a perfectly mediocre rating.
Suburban Legends
Rating: 6/10
Like ‘“Sl*t!,”’ “Suburban Legends” has a “Midnights”-esque vibe. This track has a lot of potential at the start, but the chorus is severely lacking. It has a fun, upbeat mood, however this mood stays through the whole track – no beat drops or anything. This makes it a pretty boring listen, as it sounds the same for the entire 2 minutes.
Is It Over Now?
Rating: 9/10
Despite some strange instrumental sounds that almost resemble a cat yelping, “Is It Over Now” finishes the album off strong. Beautifully crafted lyrics and powerful beat drops make this the perfect main-character song for dancing alone in your bedroom, hairbrush-microphone in hand. This track is by far the best of the vault songs, and possibly even one of the top tracks from the album overall.
With “1989” having the least amount of vault tracks out of all the Taylor’s Version re-recordings so far, an average vault track rating of 6.9/10 barely makes up for the lack of new tracks. Nonetheless, the re-recorded tracks sound amazing, which is what really matters. Overall, these vault tracks are slightly disappointing compared to the other albums’, but there are still a few gems.
