Taylor Swift is known for dating Harry Styles, her horrible dancing, and songs about exes. But with her new album, “1989” she brings out a new side that no one saw coming. No more name calling anymore folks; she’s grown up. Between already announcing a world tour that is jam-packed (FYI the Des Moines date is Oct. 8th), selling over 1.3 million copies within the first week alone, and including treasured polaroids in each physical copy of “1989”, Swift makes sure that everyone takes notice of her.

The most obvious difference is Swift’s transition into pop music. Every song has a prevalent electronic beat in the background. In “Style”, she plays with a retro feel. It’s sad to see no more twelve-string guitar songs made for middle school slow dances, but who wants more flashbacks to those awkward times anyway.

Another impressive aspect Swift brings to her album is her voice itself. She incorporates flawless transitions into her falsetto at tasteful times, adding another level to her tracks. In “Wildest Dreams”, her voices resembles a Lana Del Rey style, intriguing and expansive.

Of course, some of her core characteristics remain. Swift continues to succeed at writing interesting lyrics while maintaining a story-telling aspect. At the same time, Swift seems to get repetitive in songs such as “Out of the Woods” and “Welcome to New York” by composing her choruses of basically the same phrase repeated multiple times.

The biggest flaw of Swift’s album is that it’s not available on Spotify. Swift recently took all of her songs off of this free music library, believing that music is an art to be valued, and valued things should be paid for.

Most importantly with this album, Swift shows the fact that she can evolve as an artist. She courageously explores outside of what might normally be expected from her, and whether or not you might like it, it’s memorable. When she cuts her hair, moves to the Big Apple, and swears off boys, it can only be expected that a change of pace will be reflected in her music. Not only does she do this, but she does it well.

Whether or not you actually enjoyed the album, Swift isn’t phased nor will she ever be. She’s on everyone’s radar as she continues her long projected career with another incredibly successful album. When everyone thought she had passed her peak, she came back fighting. Smart move, TSwift.