Taylor Swift's 1989: The stories behind her biggest album

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Early signs are encouraging: A new version of This Love yearns harder, as Taylor gently but resolutely says goodbye to someone who isn't ready for commitment. Her vocals are more present than before, yet there's a lived-in quality that illustrates her growing maturity as a singer.

As anticipation grows, here's a guide to the songs and what Taylor has said about them.

"It's a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat forever more."

We open with a mission statement: The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now, she's dead.

After building her reputation in Nashville, 1989 jettisons the banjos in favour of insistent, needling beats and tales of bohemian nightlife. "A farewell to twang," the New York Times called it.

Taylor knew change was necessary. "I don't have the option of making music that sounds just like what I've done before," she told Popcrush. "People will see right through it. They'll see that I was lazy".

Her label begged her to add three country-leaning songs to the album, but she stood her ground.

"At a certain point, if you chase two rabbits, you lose them both."

Welcome To New York itself is the sound of creative and personal freedom. Taylor moved to the city in 2014 and was amazed to discover she could go grocery shopping largely incognito.

"My friends and people who know me have commented that I'm physically different since being here," she told NYC radio station WKTU. "That song is about the endless hopefulness and endless possibilities that New York seems to present," she added in an interview with Access Hollywood."...