Enter now for your chance to win a digital copy of 1989 from Taylor Swift!

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of social activity, live shows (including Seinabo Sey and Jessie Ware!) not to mention the responsibilities afforded me by my day job, hence my being severely behind on posting. Not that I’m complaining, I know I have a lot to be grateful for. I live in New York City, for one. I have friends to be social with, live music opportunities galore AND I have a job! All good things. You know what’s also a GOOD THING? Taylor Swift‘s new album, 1989 (Big Machine Records). The album just came out this week and I’m kind of in love with it.

When Taylor announced her new album/single and revealed that it would be ALL POP/NO COUNTRY I don’t think anyone was too shocked. Anyone who listened to her last album, 2012’s (ALSO very good) RED could see the writing was on the wall. Those dubsteppy flourishes all over “I Knew You Were Trouble“— just the beginning. For lead single, “Shake It Off,” what it lacks substantively, it more than makes up for in infectiousness. While not my FAVORITE song on the record, “Shake It Off” clearly sets the tone for the rest of the record.

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FULLY ditching her country-pop roots for full-fledged, 80s-inspired synthpop, Taylor Swift has hands down created her most commercial album yet—AND I DON’T MEAN THAT IN A BAD WAY! Listening to the album today, I could actually imagine ¾ of the songs on this album being used in one form of advertising or another. While commercial pop music could EASILY go CHEESILY, 1989 does not, thanks in part to collaborations with some of pop music’s BIGGEST power players, including: OneRepublic‘s Ryan Tedder (Adele, Beyoncé, Ella Henderson), Max Martin (Britney Spears, P!nk, Katy Perry), Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Kelly Clarkson, P!nk), Shellback (Adam Lambert, Britney Spears, Maroon 5), singer/songwriter Imogen Heap and Jack Antonoff—lead guitarist in Fun. and frontman/founder of a new hot indie pop act called Bleachers. Not only that but Swift co-wrote every track on 1989 and co-produced a handful as well. This all helps to keep the album consistently…for lack of a better word, TAYLOR. Her personality is very much present in every aspect of this album from the lyrics to the production and even the Polaroids used for the artwork.

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1989 marks the second time Taylor and Shellback have collaborated on an album, the first time being when he produced TWO hit RED singles—”We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and the aforementioned “Trouble,” so it makes sense that some of the new album’s brightest highlights are those Shellback produced (including the recently announced OFFICIAL second radio single, “Blank Space.” Now, is every song a winner? No. To be honest, I am not a big fan of Swift’s third “BUZZ” single, the annoyingly repetitive, lyrically and melodically bland ode to New York City (Swift’s home since March) “Welcome To New York” nor do I care much for the “AH-AH-AH-AYE” intro heard on “I Know Places,” which recalls Celine Dion‘s 2013 Sia-collab, “Loved Me Back To Life.” The good news is that, on the whole 1989 is better than both of these tracks.

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Stand outs for me include “Style” (co-produced by Shellback, Martin and Ali Payami), “Bad Blood” (Max Martin, Shellback), “This Love” (co-produced by Taylor AND the producer on her first four albums, Nathan Chapman) and a stunning synthpop ballad co-written with Imogen Heap called “Clean.” While I admittedly own all of Taylor’s albums, 1989 is the one I’ve been WAITING for her to make.

To promote the album, Taylor has made a number of high profile TV appearances (morning, daytime AND late night) including Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Ellen and this morning on Good Morning America, where she teased an upcoming tour. Next up for Swift…HOPEFULLY announcing tour dates, promoting second single, “Blank Space” (scheduled to hit radio November 10th) and more to be announced soon. With insiders already predicting album sales close to 1 million, I think it’s safe to say Taylor Swift is going to be busy for a while.

Oh and a vinyl version of 1989 looks to be hitting stores in early December, just in time for Christmas!

To celebrate the release of 1989, I’m giving away 3 digital copies of the album! If you win, I’ll be sending you a digital download card so you can snag it for yourself. As per usual, this giveaway is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. Enter between now, October 31st and next Monday November 3rd, by filling out the form below. GOOD LUCK!

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