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1989 (Ryan Adams album)

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1989
Studio album by
Ryan Adams
ReleasedSeptember 21, 2015
StudioPax-Am, Los Angeles
Genre
Length54:18
LabelPAX AM
Producer
  • Ryan Adams
  • Charlie Stavish
Ryan Adams chronology
Ryan Adams
(2014) 		1989
(2015) 		Prisoner
(2017)
Singles from 1989
  1. "Bad Blood"
    Released: September 3, 2015

1989 is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, released digitally through his own PAX AM record label on September 21, 2015. The album is a track-by-track cover of American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's album of the same name.[1] It debuted at number 7 on the US Billboard 200 chart, one position ahead of Swift's own 1989, which was in its 48th week on the chart.[2]

Background

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Adams first became interested in Taylor Swift's album while coping with the collapse of his marriage to Mandy Moore.[3] On what attracted him about Swift's album, Adams stated "There's just a joy to 1989,"[3] describing the album as "its own alternate universe".[3] Adams initially described the album as being in the style of the Smiths.[4] When recording the album, Adams said he found a sound somewhere between Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and the Smiths' Meat Is Murder (1985).[5]

Taylor Swift's response

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On the day that Adams announced the project, Swift responded enthusiastically from her Twitter account, writing, "Cool I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight or ever again and I'm going to celebrate today every year as a holiday".[6]

Two weeks later, an official statement was released via Entertainment Weekly, whereupon Swift expressed further excitement and anticipation:

"Ryan Adams is one of the artists who shaped my songwriting. My favorite part of his style of creating music is his ability to bleed aching vulnerability into it, and that's what he's done with his cover project of my album 1989. When I first heard that Ryan was going to be covering my entire album, I couldn't believe it. It's such an honor that he would want to take my stories and lyrics and give them a new life. He's gotten some of the best musicians together to record this album and if the clips he's released are any indication, this is going to be something really special".

— Taylor Swift, August 20, 2015[7]

On September 21, a day after the album's release, Adams was on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show when Swift made a surprise appearance. Swift praised Adams' work, and described the ways in which his interpretation of the songs differed from her own. She stated that they were "not cover songs" but rather "reimaginings of my songs, and you can tell that he was in a very different place emotionally when he put his spin on them than I was when I wrote them. There's this beautiful aching sadness and longing in this album that doesn't exist in the original".[8] In the same interview, Swift also admitted that, after spending time listening to an advance copy of Adams' album, she had picked up some of Adams' melodies when performing her songs on tour.[8]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic69/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
American Songwriter[11]
The A.V. ClubA−[12]
The Boston GlobePositive[13]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[14]
Los Angeles TimesPositive[15]
Pitchfork4/10[16]
Slant Magazine[17]
Sputnikmusic3.9/5[18]
The Telegraph[19]

Adams's interpretation of 1989 received mostly positive feedback from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 from selected independent ratings and reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a metascore of 69 out of 100, based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[9]

Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt praised the album, commenting "If turning the biggest, shiniest pop record of the past year into a survey course in classic rock economy sounds like a novelty, it is. But it's also the best kind – one that brings two divergent artists together in smart, unexpected ways, and somehow manages to reveal the best of both of them".[14] Jim Beviglia of American Songwriter also complimented the album, stating, "It is 1989 reimagined, with often startling results".[11] On a similar note, The A.V. Club's Annie Zaleski said of the album in her review: "What his version of 1989 does best is illustrate the strength of the source material. With the radio-ready gloss stripped away, these songs compare to the best moments in Swift's back catalog".[12] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times, however, called the album, "a love letter from an indie idol to a pop queen," and considered Adams "not built for the songs".[20] In a similarly negative review, Mark Richardson of Pitchfork declared, "Adams has transformed [1989] into ... a run-of-the-mill Ryan Adams album".[16] Robert Christgau, writing for Vice, named "This Love" and "I Know Places" as highlights and summed up Adams' cover album with, "Chivalrous Nashville fellow traveler proves the superiority of younger fellow traveler by failing to top much less reinvent a single performance on her breakaway album, which he covers front-to-back like the gifted fanboy I guess he must be".[21]

Accolades

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Publication Rank List
Diffuser 8 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[22]
Entertainment Weekly 40 The 40 Best Albums of 2015[23]
NME 50 NME's Albums of the Year 2015[24]
Paste 40 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[25]
Rough Trade 99 Albums of the Year 2015[26]
Huffington Post 8 Albums of the Year 2015[27]

Commercial performance

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The album debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200, earning 56,000 equivalent album units sales in its first week.[2]

Track listing

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All tracks are produced by Ryan Adams and Charlie Stavish.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Welcome to New York"
3:18
2."Blank Space"
3:21
3."Style"
2:44
4."Out of the Woods"
6:09
5."All You Had to Do Was Stay"
  • Swift
  • Martin
3:30
6."Shake It Off"
  • Swift
  • Martin
  • Shellback
4:06
7."I Wish You Would"
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
3:44
8."Bad Blood"
  • Swift
  • Martin
  • Shellback
3:55
9."Wildest Dreams"
  • Swift
  • Martin
  • Shellback
5:21
10."How You Get the Girl"
  • Swift
  • Martin
  • Shellback
3:50
11."This Love"Swift4:45
12."I Know Places"
  • Swift
  • Tedder
5:14
13."Clean"
4:23
Total length:54:18

Personnel

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Credits are adapted from liner notes of 1989.

Musicians

Technical

Charts

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Weekly charts

[edit]
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[29] 9
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[30] 9
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[31] 21
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[32] 28
Irish Albums (IRMA)[33] 15
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[34] 18
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[35] 21
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[36] 78
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[37] 38
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] 58
UK Albums (OCC)[39] 19
US Billboard 200[40] 7
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[41] 1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[42] 3
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[43] 2

Year-end charts

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Chart (2016) Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[44] 192

Release history

[edit]
Date Region Format(s) Label Ref.
September 21, 2015 United States
PAX AM [45]
November 6, 2015 CD
December 11, 2015

References

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  1. ^ Stutz, Colin (August 25, 2015). "Ryan Adams Says Taylor Swift '1989' Cover Album Will Be Finished This Week". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (September 27, 2015). "Both Taylor Swift and Ryan Adams' '1989' Albums Are in Top 10 of Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c O'Donnell, Kevin (September 21, 2015). "Ryan Adams opens up about his Taylor Swift 1989 cover album". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  4. ^ Crucchiola, Jordan. "The Complete History (So Far) of Ryan Adams' Taylor Swift Cover Project". Wired. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  5. ^ "The Story Behind Ryan Adams's '1989′ Homage to Taylor Swift". WSJ Blogs – Speakeasy. September 21, 2015. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  6. ^ "@TheRyanAdams Cool I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight or ever again and I'm going to celebrate today every year as a holiday. I'M CALM". Twitter. August 6, 2015. Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  7. ^ "Taylor Swift says Ryan Adams' 1989 cover album is 'such an honor'". Entertainment Weekly. August 20, 2015. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Taylor Swift Surprised Ryan Adams on a Radio Show to Talk About 1989". TIME. September 21, 2015. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Reviews for 1989 by Ryan Adams". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  10. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "1989 – Ryan Adams". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Beviglia, Jim (September 21, 2015). "Ryan Adams: 1989". American Songwriter. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Annie Zaleski (September 21, 2015). "Ryan Adams transforms Taylor Swift's 1989 into a melancholy masterpiece". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  13. ^ Reed, James (September 22, 2015). "Ryan Adams turns Taylor Swift's '1989' into mellow gold". The Boston Globe. John W. Henry. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Greenblatt, Leah (September 21, 2015). "1989 by Ryan Adams: EW Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  15. ^ Wood, Mikael (September 21, 2015). "Ryan Adams turns to Taylor Swift for help on his version of '1989'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  16. ^ a b Richardson, Mark (September 25, 2015). "Ryan Adams, 1989". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  17. ^ "Slant review". Slant Magazine. October 21, 2015. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  18. ^ K., Rudy (September 22, 2015). "Review: Ryan Adams – 1989". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  19. ^ McCormick, Neil (September 22, 2015). "Ryan Adams, 1989, review: 'beautifully evokes the ghosts in Taylor Swift's pop machine'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  20. ^ Caramanica, Jon (September 22, 2015). "Teaming Up, Together (Drake and Future) or Apart (Ryan Adams and Taylor Swift)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  21. ^ Christgau, Robert (October 20, 2017). "Reinvention and Reclamation: Robert Christgau on a Batch of Cover Albums". Vice. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  22. ^ Diffuser Staff (December 8, 2015). "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Diffuser. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  23. ^ EW Staff (December 9, 2015). "The 40 Best Albums of 2015". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 12, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  24. ^ NME Staff (December 2, 2015). "NME's Albums of the Year 2015". NME. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  25. ^ Paste Staff (December 2, 2015). "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Paste. Archived from the original on December 3, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  26. ^ Rough Trade Staff. "Albums of the Year 2015". Rough Trade. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  27. ^ Kristi York Wooten. "The Best Albums of 2015 2015". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on June 15, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  28. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Ryan Adams – 1989". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  29. ^ "Ultratop.be – Ryan Adams – 1989" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  30. ^ "Ryan Adams Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  31. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Ryan Adams – 1989" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  32. ^ "Ryan Adams: 1989" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  33. ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 39, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  34. ^ "Charts.nz – Ryan Adams – 1989". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  35. ^ "VG-lista – Topp 40 Album uke 41, 2015". Lista.vg.no. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  36. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Ryan Adams – 1989". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  37. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Ryan Adams – 1989". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  38. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Ryan Adams – 1989". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  39. ^ 26, 2015/7502/ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  40. ^ "Ryan Adams Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  41. ^ "Ryan Adams Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  42. ^ "Ryan Adams Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  43. ^ "Vinyl Albums : Jan 02, 2016". Billboard. December 9, 2014. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  44. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 2016: Albums" Archived December 29, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch). Ultartop Flanders. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  45. ^ "Ryan Adams: 1989: Music". ASIN B015I145OC. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
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