![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
![Holding her dog, Nova, senior Ariana Balakrishnan poses for her senior pictures while Nova wears a bandana with her college decision. Balakrishnan applied to 18 colleges in total, but she decided on Columbia in the end. “Right before I clicked the button to open Columbia’s letter, I literally looked at the camera and go ‘This is just gonna really suck because I wanted it so bad,’ and I clicked it and all of a sudden you hear trumpets,” Balakrishnan said. “There’s a video that plays when you open it and I actually didn’t watch the video, I just watched the screen go black, because every day of December before ED [Early Decision] I would go on YouTube and watch the acceptance video to manifest it, so immediately when the screen went black, I started screaming and jumping up and down. And my parents in the video are like ‘What are you doing, where’s the letter,’ and I was just screaming ‘I got in, I got in.” I just started crying, and it just felt like everything in the world came together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ariana-2-300x217.jpg)
When I was eight years old and before I had my own phone or computer, I would watch YouTube videos on my dad’s computer. When he wasn’t working, I would spend hours and hours there watching all sorts of music videos or toy reviews. I used to love putting his big headphones on and jamming out to Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. My absolute favorite song that really got me into Swift’s music was “Out Of The Woods” for sure. I used to love watching the music video of her running out of the woods on loop, and just listening to her repeat “are we out of the woods yet” over and over again is what really got me through some of those difficult times that I struggled with throughout my childhood.
Whenever new music is released, I tend to rank albums completely different than when I listen to that same music a month later. With the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” a little over a month ago, the album has had time to sink in and I feel like I’ve had some time to really reflect on the new rerecording of one of my favorite albums of all time.
Taylor Swift is currently underway in the process of rerecording her first six albums, already having rerecorded four. The reason she’s rerecording her albums is because when she first started making her music, she got signed onto a record label known as Big Machine Records, where she was able to create pop sensations such as “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space”. When her contract with this label ended, she shifted over to Universal’s Republic Records. According to Time, the reason she decided to switch over is because Big Machine Records sold to a corporation owned by Scooter Braun, who then sold her original music to another company, resulting in him receiving the profits from the streams of the original albums. Swift’s goal is to own and control her own music that she created, hence the phrase “Taylor’s Version”.
In 2014, Swift released her album titled “1989” (named after her birth year), with 1.2 million copies sold in the first week according to The Washington Post. This album was her first big shift into the pop music industry, where she created masterpieces such as “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood”. Now in 2023, she has rerecorded this album as “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”, and has outsold the original with over 1.3 million copies sold in the first week, according to Rolling Stone.
One of the reasons I decided to review this album (besides being a massive “Swiftie”) is because of the fact that I grew up with its music. I was 8 years old when it first came out in 2014, and I would say that this album really transformed me into the Swiftie that I am today. I would hear it all over the radio and everyone was always talking about it. Now that she’s rerecorded it nine years later, I was very excited to get to listen to it and compare it to my childhood memories.
The first song on the album is “Welcome to New York (Taylor’s Version).” I had always loved the original of this song and its “big city” vibe, and I used to have it on repeat when I would travel to New York. My first impression after listening to Taylor’s Version was that her voice sounded the same but the production sounded a little different. Now, after a month of listening to the song, I can definitely hear a difference in her voice, which sounds a lot more mature.
Another song that I definitely noticed a major difference in was “Style (Taylor’s Version).” I would argue that the original version of the song is the epitome of pop music, with a beat that just makes you want to dance. My first impression of this song was that it sounded vastly different from the original. I felt like her voice was really good, of course, but the production of the song
was very weird and did not have the same “vibe” as the original version. I think now, after a month, I would say that the song is amazing and that all it took was a little bit of time to get used to it.
“Shake It Off (Taylor’s Version)” was definitely a song that I was curious about hearing the difference in, since the original was such a popular song. I definitely prefer this new version a whole lot more because it sounds less “annoying” than the first and I could really hear how her voice had matured. I also felt like it sounded really similar to how she sounded live, which I thought was really nice.
Jumping ahead to “New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)”, this was probably the song I was most excited about because the original was my favorite off of the album. When I first heard the new version, I was completely speechless and honestly in tears because it sounded so good. I later saw some complaints on social media about how different this song’s chorus sounded, and at first it took me a little time to get over it, but now I would say that it’s my number one song off of this album (again).
In addition to the 16 rerecorded songs, Swift also released five songs known as “vault tracks”. Vault tracks are songs that were originally written for the album but didn’t end up making it on. So when listening to the new version, I also got to hear five brand new songs.
The first vault track that really got my attention was “Say Don’t Go” because of her low register at the beginning of the song, leading into a higher one. I really love this song because of the lyrics and how it’s another example of Swift’s songs having sad lyrics, but a beat that makes you want to dance. I was definitely blown away by this whole song on my first listen and it’s definitely still one of my favorites.
The last song that I would say is really notable (even though they all are) is definitely “Is It Over Now?” The noises at the beginning of this song completely caught me off guard on my first listen because they reminded me of how her songs from “Midnights” sound. This song is definitely my favorite vault track and probably my second favorite song off of this album because it left me speechless. The lyrical references to a… certain someone had me shocked, and the bridge of this song is absolutely phenomenal. I feel like this song was an incredible way to end this album and I can’t believe this had just been out there for so long without anyone getting to hear it.
Overall, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” was definitely an experience to listen to and compare to the original. I’m really not sure if I can say if I like this better than the original, because I don’t think anything can compare to the sounds of my childhood. But at the same time, getting to hear her voice mature, better production on the songs, and new vault tracks really make it harder to decide on which one I prefer. Instead I’ll just give it a ranking…
13/13!
