Can’t. Stop. Listening.
Our most recent musical obsession of late is without a doubt Ryan Adams‘ ambitious, much-buzzed-about, bizarre, visionary (yes, I said visionary) beginning-to-end sequential cover of Taylor Swift‘s album 1989.
We’d heard about the project but, honestly, not thought much of it. Adams strikes me as a fairly sincere, nice guy, so I didn’t for a second think it was a tongue-in-cheek thing (which, it turns out, it is not), but I also didn’t expect it to be all that great in the end. Boy was I wrong about that. Whether you’re familiar with the original versions or not, whether you’re a Swift fan or not (I assume there are some people out there who don’t like Taytay, right?), it’s worth a listen. More than that, I’d wager there’s something there for most everyone. It lives and breathes as it’s own album almost, and I keep finding myself forgetting the songs’ origins…until Adams sadly croons “haters gonna hate hate hate” maybe.
As Adams told Rolling Stone recently, the project started off as a personal catharsis and his admiration for Swift and her music is, in fact, 100% sincere. When rumors of the Adams’ 1989 surfaced, Swift was nothing but genuinely excited to hear it. Once it came to fruition, Adams’ sent Swift everything and the two talked it out in detail the next day. And as Adams claims, that was originally going to be it—”I just wanted to make it for me and play it for her and be done,” he told Rolling Stone. But, after being encouraged by friends and Swift herself, Adams finally decided to let his 1989 live. And thank god he did, for it is awesome.
“It’s not a reimagining or a reconstruction at all,” Adams told Rolling Stone. “It’s a parallel universe. That’s how I think of it. We’re creating an alternate universe, like in Marvel Comics.”
Dude’s speaking my language. Give it a listen below.
(Adams’) 1989 is available now digitally and will soon enjoy CD + vinyl releases. Keep your fingers crossed for a Swift-Adams world tour.
