What was Taylor Swift doing during the “1989” era?

In honor of Taylor Swift’s latest record, we’re celebrating 1989 (Taylor’s Version) Week at The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. We’re going back to 2014. 1989 was released to introduce us to that era of Swift’s life. Did Harry Styles inspire every song? What about her best friend Karlie Kloss? Why did she have beef with Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj? Obsessed is here to experience it all with you.

The Daily Beast Obsessively Anticipates Taylor Swift’s Latest Re-Recording With 1989 (Taylor’s version) It seems necessary to understand what Taylor Swift was doing when she released her iconic pop album on October 27, 2014. What was going on in her life at that time? Where did she live? And more importantly, what and who were these songs inspired by?

I, for one, found myself Googling the meaning of each song as Swift re-released her first six albums. Each new track is not as obvious as “Style”, the track clearly written about an ex with the last name Stiles (smart, savvy) or “Dear John” written about an ex whose last name rhymes with Taylor. What about the rest? More context is needed.

However, before we delve into the details of the album’s many meanings, it is important to understand at what stage Swift was a pop star when 1989big singles hit the charts. She just released Redand also made a Hollywood name for herself thanks to Lorax And Donor. At the beginning of 2014, in March, the artist moved to New York, buying an apartment in Tribeca. (Not on Cornelia Street yet; that move happened in 2016.)

Moving forward, in April the musician hired her celebrity publicist Three Paines – a great idea considering the (unearned) backlash she soon had to face when she went to Reputation era. She stirred things up with Katy Perry and made enemies of future allies like Nicki Minaj and Spotify. Coming out in October 1989Swift removed her entire discography from Spotify and other streaming services offering free versions, claiming it resulted in artists receiving miniscule royalties. (Swift reversed this decision in June 2017 before Representativerelease, but I’ll never forget the pain of wanting to listen to “Out of the Woods” on repeat without being forced to use YouTube, draining my phone battery in the process.)

A happier memory is that 2014 was the year Swift developed her brilliant, powerful, star-studded team. Just take a look at the “Bad Blood” video to see the big names Swift was up against: Cara Delevingne, Selena Gomez and Blake Lively were some of the biggest names, and they remain among her closest friends. Many of these famous friends also attended her second annual Fourth of July party, which was both epic and noteworthy.

Most importantly, the vibrant cultural moment that Swift created around 1989 The album’s release marked her complete transition from young country breakout to pop megastar. And a lot of that was due to the noisy forces around her that inspired (get it?) tracks like “Clean” and “Wildest Dreams”—this wasn’t an album about people like Taylor Lautner and John Mayer. Much larger stars were involved in the project. 1989 knowledge.

So, click the pen and find a blank space in your journal – let’s write the names of everyone involved and how they made an impact. 1989 and the era surrounding the album.

Harry Styles

Swift’s famous relationship with One Direction’s dreamboat actually happened before 1989 this was in 2014 – looking back at old photos you can really see the difference between1989 and post-1989, thanks to Swift cutting her long locks into an iconic bob and then growing them back. Despite this, he is believed to have inspired most of the tracks on the album. 1989. And again: “Style.” Yes. The title is obvious and cute, but still makes Swift look like a genius.

Other songs that refer to Swift’s short time (a couple of months) of dating Styles are not as obvious. In “I Know Places,” Swift sings, “They are the hunters and we are the foxes.” In a photo of the couple that went viral in May 2014, Swift wore a memorable sweater. with a fox on it. But who were the hunters? Paparazzi? Rabid fans? In any case, the message was received.

These are the most specific references to styles on the album, but there are certainly others. They allegedly split up on a boat, which Styles then jumped off before it docked, possibly inspiring “All You Had to Do Was Stay?” In “Out of the Woods,” Swift mentions paper airplanes, which may be a reference to the paper airplane necklace she and Styles wore. The list goes on: Any songs about love or breakups on 1989 belong to Styles.

The best thing is that Swift completed the original release 1989 on “Clean,” a song about finally ending things with someone and cleaning up your existence—a truly uplifting post-breakup anthem.

Karlie Kloss

Swift became friends with Karlie Kloss after Kloss tagged her pretty flirty tweet in 2012. The rest is history – for better or worse, given that things supposedly got a little nasty. In the years that followed, they did everything together: went on a trip where Swift drew “Carly Hearts Taylor” in the sand; they wander together; and in an interview, Swift hinted that Kloss almost moved into her New York apartment. Understandably, fans began to believe that these two were one thing – they were pretty cute together, even as friends.

But looking back, none of the tracks on 1989 seems to be inspired by Kloss. Midnight“Maron” and Evermore“Right Where You Left Me” seems to have more to do with Swift’s ex-best friend than anything else on 1989 does. The album is all about handsome guys, knights in shining armor, and the stereotypical guy you date in your 20s. (For Swift, it was Styles; for others, it might not have been such a good-looking guy.)

That’s not to say Kloss wasn’t involved in the cultural moment surrounding 1989. She was actively involved in Swift’s performances at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, the women’s team and move to New York. And without Swift’s main event in New York, in particular, there would be no 1989.

Big apple

When any small town girl moves to New York City, she’s inclined to stare at the bright lights, meet new people, and try out wild style. In 2014, Swift did all of the above and even charted her magical transition to 1989opening track “Welcome to New York”. Swift took plenty of paparazzi photos—usually with Kloss in tow—as she strutted the streets of New York with her girls, dined at many local restaurants and established herself as the city’s biggest star.

Kloss took credit for convincing Swift to move to New York in 2014, persuading her to visit the West Village instead of London, where the singer initially thought she might live. (She later fled there to live with another British ex-boyfriend.) Styles is the inspiration for the songs, but Kloss—and New York—really pushed Swift toward a full-time career. 1989 fashion.

Famous beef

“Feud” became the greatest controversy not only because it was written about an existing spat between celebrities, but also because it caused the struggle to enter Swift’s orbit. IN rolling stone In a September 2014 cover story, Swift revealed that the track was about another female musician whom she once considered an equal until she began “stealing” members of her touring crew.

“For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not,” Swift said at the time of the other artist (whom she kept anonymous). “She’d come up to me at an awards show, say something and walk away, and I’d be like, ‘Are we friends, or has she just given me the worst insult of my life?’

Many believed that this story was related to Katy Perry, who shared intriguing tweet The next morning. “Beware of Regina George in sheep’s clothing,” she wrote. The feud continued for quite some time—Perry later intervened during Swift’s beef with Nicki Minaj—before they officially made up in the “You Need to Calm Down” music video in 2019. Was this all a publicity stunt? May be. Was I still buying into all the petty drama? Absolutely.

The star-studded video for “Bad Blood” was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2015 Video Music Awards, a ceremony that caused a stir when Minaj’s “Anaconda” was snubbed. Minaj took to Twitter to shame the VMAs, specifically calling out women “with very thin bodies” who were nominated instead. Swift intervened and asked Minaj not to pit women against each other, and the two got into an argument. But at the actual VMAs, they put their differences aside and danced together.

Today, Swift would never quarrel so publicly with her peers, either on social media or in interviews. Swift and Olivia Rodrigo are rumored to have a bit of a feud, but fans are still whispering about it, which pales in comparison to the volume of fights that have broken out between some of the industry’s biggest pop stars since1989.

But this was only the beginning of Swift’s feuds. She faced backlash again after clashes with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West just a couple of years later in 2016. Times were tough for our girl, but at least we got two damn good pop albums (1989 And Representative) from under the rubble.