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Tag: 1989

  • Taylor Swift Tells Ryan Adams in GQ That Song ‘Stay’ Came To Her In a Dream

    Taylor Swift has gotten more mileage out of tunes about her ex-boyfriends than Gloria Gaynor. Before she went pop, jokes about Swift’s songs practically wrote themselves. How could a girl that young have had more breakups than a whole juke joint full of rambling bluesmen, and managed to churn that into tunes?

    In a recent interview for GQ Magazine, Ryan Adams got to talk to Taylor Swift, the woman whose 1989 album he completely covered and reimagined — to much critical acclaim. Just about the time Swift was finishing up her tour behind that album, here came Ryan Adams with his take on the whole thing. The best part about his release: it’s actually on Spotify.

    The conversation between the entertainers quickly revealed yet another breakup story behind one of Swift’s pop songs. The story was unearthed when Ryan Adams asked Taylor Swift if any of her songs had ever come to her in a dream. Several songs and parts of songs have popularly been dream-induced material, including “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones and “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

    Swift admitted that “All You Had To Do Was Stay” came to her in a dream about an ex.

    “I had a dream that my ex showed up at my door, knocked on my door, and I opened it up, and I was about ready to launch into the perfect thing to say,” she told Adams. “And instead, all that would come out of my mouth was that high-pitched chorus of people singing, ‘Stay.’”

    True to form for most dreams, it was pretty bizarre at the time.

    “You go to say something else, and it’s just like ‘Stay, stay, stay,’” Swift recounted. “And I woke up and I was like, ‘Oh, that was mortifying, but that’s kind of a cool vocal part.’”

    In the interview, Swift and Adams got to compare notes on what each was saying in a song like “Stay.”

    Swift said, “My version of it is like, ‘All you had to do was stay. Sorry about it. I don’t miss you. And now you’re back.’”

    Ryan adams, who did his version after an actual divorce, said he was implying, “All you had to do was stay. You broke my heart. That’s all you had to do.”

  • Taylor Swift Talks 1989 And New York City

    Taylor Swift Talks 1989 And New York City

    Taylor Swift has made a lot of changes over the last two years. Not only did she move to New York, but she also released her new album, 1989, which was much different from her previous album, Red.

    Swift talked about the new album and said that although many of the songs are different than what she has written in the past, she still feels like she was being true to herself on the album and was allowing her emotions at the time to reflect through her music.

    “I think you have to stay true to who you are [and], at the same, time challenge who you are to explore all the different aspects of what you can create,” Swift said on Good Morning America.

    “I could have made Red twice. I could have done the same thing over again but, instead, I decided to go in a completely different direction, and I’m so happy that I did because the fans are truly going to get a new album,” Swift said. “This felt like the most authentic thing for me to follow because I’ve been playing around with pop sensibilities with my writing for the past couple of years and I just really wanted to go for it this time.”

    “I feel so without a doubt [that] this is the best thing I’ve done — so to have people able to finally have it now and to have the fans understand what I’ve been working on for two years, it’s just the most amazing feeling,” she added.

    Swift moved to New York last spring and said that the city inspired many of the songs on her new album. She even named one of the songs Welcome To New York.

    “New York was a huge landscape for what became this album and it’s affected my life in ways I am not even aware of fully,” Swift said.

    “I’m still learning but I’m so enthusiastic about this city that I feel like when I love something, I’m very vocal about it,” Swift added. “I just go around going like, ‘Everybody, New York is amazing.’ So I think they just picked up on that and they gave me, like, a title.”

    Swift will be having even more fun in New York this New Years Eve when she performs during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

    The singer said she can’t wait to give New York a great show and bring in the new year in her favorite city.

  • Olivia Benson With Taylor Swift in New Diet Coke Ad

    Olivia Benson appears along with ‘Shake It Off’ singer Taylor Swift in a new ad for Diet Coke. No, this isn’t the Olivia Benson that fans of Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: SVU are thinking of. This Olivia Benson doesn’t fight crime. She licks herself and coughs up fur balls instead. Yes, this Olivia Benson is Taylor Swift’s cat, and she’s just made her small screen debut.

    The new ad also teases fans who are eagerly awaiting the release of Swift’s new album, 1989. The song playing in the background hints at something akin to ‘Shake It Off,’ telling fans that Taylor has really shaken off her country roots and gone for something far more pop culture with this record.

    “And that’s how it works, how you get the girl, girl,” the lyrics say.

    An MTV reporter reviews the new Diet Coke ad saying, “Swift’s latest Diet Coke ad shows her in her perfect world–a dream made possible by drinking one of their beverages, of course. Her perfect world–along with mine–is swimming in a sea of cuddly felines set to the tune of a song off her new album, out October 27.”

    It fits. Taylor Swift’s ‘perfect world,’ replete with Olivia Benson and a bevy of her feline friends, sets the scene for what one would expect from the (former?) country sweetheart. It will no doubt serve to sell Diet Coke and further hype enthusiasm for Taylor’s upcoming album.

    Those who don’t find the new ad, along with Olivia Benson, amusing can just–in Taylor Swift’s words, ‘Shake It Off.’

  • Taylor Swift Invites 89 Fans to Her R.I., NYC Homes

    Taylor Swift invited 89 of her fans to her Rhode Island home for a secret concert–or ‘secret listening party’ on Thursday. The number of chosen fans coincides with the title of her new album, ‘1989.’ That’s the year Taylor was born.

    One of those fans shared her experience via Instagram.

    “Well, this is gonna sound really bizarre, but I met THE TAYLOR SWIFT last night!!!” @ToryAmandaRay wrote in her caption that accompanied her photo. “On Thursday, my sister (along with 87 other people) was hand picked & invited by Taylor herself to a “Secret Session” at Taylor’s home in Rhode Island! We were sworn to secrecy; we were only allowed to tell immediate family & we weren’t allowed to post anything on social media.

    We hung out with Taylor, at her house, for 6 hours!! Her home was right on the beach, & absolutely beautiful! We all sat in her living room & she played her new album for us, 1989. She sang along to every song & at the end we all danced to Shake It Off!

    We got to talk to her parents; they took us out on her balcony which had a perfect view of a lighthouse & the ocean!

    There was tons of food, & Taylor even made us homemade cookies! We got goodie bags with tshirts, calendars, & a special key chain made just for us! She was so sweet, & talked to each of us individually & took pix.

    Of course, I couldn’t leave without holding a GRAMMY! It was absolutely amazing! Definitely a day I’ll never forget! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, & I’m so blessed to have been given it to meet one of my role models, & one of the biggest icons of my generation!”

    E! reports that Taylor Swift did the same thing again on Friday night–this time inviting fans, as well as her dad and her cat, Olivia Benson–to her New York City apartment. The ‘Shake It Off’ singer shared a photo of the fun she had with her fans via Instagram as well.

    “To see my dad photo bombing is to see him at his happiest,” Taylor captioned her photo.

    New York fan John Grande was excited to pose for a picture with Taylor Swift.

    “You can put today down as the greatest day of my life. Taylor Swift personally invited me and many others into her home to play us the whole 1989 album. It was the most amazing thing I have ever heard and she is one of the most amazing people on this earth. Even better, she is wearing my bracelet and listened to my whole life story. Thank you so much Taylor, you always have my heart #1989secretsessions #taylorswift @taylorswift,” he captioned the shot.

    How cool is Taylor Swift? She actually hosted fans in her own homes and shared music from her new album with them. The photos these fans have to commemorate these events will no doubt be shared for a lifetime with anyone who ever mentions the singer to them.

    Can you think of another singer who treats fans the way Taylor Swift treats hers?

  • Taylor Swift Talks Transition From Country To Pop

    When Taylor Swift held a worldwide live stream event to announce the details about her upcoming fifth album titled 1989, she declared it the “favorite album I’ve ever made” and her “very first documented, official pop album.”

    She also revealed the inspiration behind the album during that event, saying, “I was listening to a lot of late-’80s pop, because I really love the chances [those artists] were taking. I loved how bold it was. I loved how ahead of its time it was. So, being inspired by that, I started delving into the late ’80s and what that period of time actually meant…

    “It was, apparently, a time of just limitless potential. The idea that you can do what you want, be who you want, wear what you want, love who you want, and you get to decide where your life is going. Bright colors, bold chances, rebellion. And the idea of that was so inspiring to me. The idea of endless possibility was kind of a theme in the last year of my life. Basically, in thinking about that and how this new album is about a rebirth for me… having been born on Dec. 13, 1989, this album is called 1989.”

    Now, she has another reason she’s undergone the change from country artist to pop artist, telling the British edition of Vogue, “With this album I’ve completely changed the sound of everything I’ve done until now. So it’s interesting to not be afraid of that. You know, I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, I don’t want to betray Nashville — but essentially it comes down to challenging yourself as an artist.”

    What is Nashville saying about her comments?

    Kenny Chesney said to Entertainment Tonight he’d always been one of her biggest fans and added, “She’s such a global act.” He also noted how good her songwriting has become and said, “And I think that’s the foundation of everything we do—songwriting.”

    Shania Twain said Swift has the right to follow her creative urges. “I think that everybody should just follow their heart and do their artistic best, and just enjoy their creativity,” Twain told ET Canada. “[Taylor]’s a singer-songwriter-performer, she does it all … the world is her oyster. She’s young and she needs to just do whatever she’s having fun at, and I think everybody’s loving it.”

  • 1989 NYC Murder Conviction Overturned Tuesday

    After 25 years in prison, Jonathan Fleming walked free after being wrongfully convicted of murder in 1989, reports the Associated Press via Yahoo!.

    Fleming was convicted in 1989 of Darryl “Black” Rush’s murder. Rush was shot in Brooklyn during an argument about money, meanwhile Fleming vacationed at Disney World in Florida with his family. According to the Inquistr, Fleming provided abundant evidence to prove his alibi, such as plane tickets, postcards, and even video.

    Unfortunately, prosecutors claimed he had sufficient time to conceivably fly back to New York, kill Rush, and return to Florida. Though an unlikely story on its own, one woman’s testimony that she had personally seen Fleming shoot Rush convinced prosecutors at the time.

    The woman recanted soon after the initial trial, admitting she lied in order to escape a grand larceny charge.

    The key to Fleming’s exoneration lay in this fact and a hotel receipt proving Fleming was indeed in Florida five hours before the murder. Hotel workers even told investigators that they remembered Fleming for the large phone bill he racked up.

    Investigators may even have a new suspect, though details have not yet been released.

    Essential to allowing these details out into the light of day was new district attorney Kenneth Thompson. Thompson recently ran on a platform promoting the review questionable convictions made during former district attorney Charles Hynes’ career. Fleming’s was one of those convictions.

    Judge Matthew D’Emic handed down the final decision, freeing Fleming into the welcoming embraces of waiting friends and family.

    Fleming’s jail time has left him with “no job, no career, no prospects” according to his attorney Taylor Koss. However, Fleming was nothing but hopeful when he spoke to reporters after his exoneration. He said “I feel wonderful. I’m going to go eat dinner with my mother and my family, and I’m going to live the rest of my life.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Simpson’s Creator Matt Groening Helps Sell Macs to College Kids in the 80’s

    As Holy Kaw and Comics Alliance points out, Matt Groening once did a promotional pamphlet for Apple in 1989. It was first posted Reddit, whose users never skip a beat when it comes to pop culture curation.

    The brochure is titled “Who needs a computer anyway?” and in 1989, that question was justified. The brochure itself alternates between Groening’s one panel comics and an extended sales pitch as to why you need an Apple personal compter. Here, some of the more boring parts of the sales pitch are left out, but you can see the brochure in its entirety here.

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    This is probably the most telling panel of all. In 1989, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) was a big deal. Apple touts something that we now all take for granted with “instead of having to type out a long string of computerese, you can tell Macintosh to do anything-even the most complex procedures – merely by using a mouse to pull down a menu of commands and point to the one you want.”

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    Macintosh actually financed their own computers in 1989. It makes a big difference when you are a fresh company trying to get new people to jump in on this whole new “computer” thing, verses people lining up around the block and following rumors months in advance to get their hands on new Apple products.

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    What is clear is that Apple tried to market itself to young people and the artistic community from the very beginning. A trend that has paid off well for the company in recent years. Groening didn’t do too bad himself. This was published in the same year that the Simpsons made its network debut. Groening made a little money off that project.