A big part of Taylor Swift's enduring appeal is that she seems like a supposedly perfect being, all willowy, blonde, cookie-baking, and stage-dominating, and yet, she knows all about being sad, lonely, jealous, angry, and frustrated. And once again she lays all those inner emotions on the floor on 1989. She's so enthusiastically emotive, so unabashed, it's hard to tear your ears away.
But that persona is something Swift has been mastering since 2010's Speak Now, so where does 1989 take us that differs from her previous albums?
Well she's completely ditched any trappings of country, and has gone full noise on the beats, synths, and electro programming.
Add to that a little more self-awareness, a little jadedness, and a sense of humour, and you have a Swift album that, in some ways, seems far removed from anything she's presented before.
The 24-year-old isn't reinventing any pop wheels, or even aiming to be cool and fresh, but she is evolving - you can hear an almost geeky love of past pop music woven in there. And yet the over-riding impression isn't that much different to the offerings from 20-year-old Swift. She still often perpetuates this image of innocence, and sweet-natured wholesome fun. Sometimes, that's a little tiresome - All You Had To Do Was Stay and How You Get the Girl leave you thinking of a sweet 16 year old.
