Pop that’s as brash and brilliant as the lights of Times Square

Taylor Swift's '80s-inspired fifth studio effort is her first “official pop album”, with heavyweights like Max Martin, Shellback, Ryan Tedder and Jack Antonoff helping construct a sleeker, glitzier sound. “Shake It Off” mimics “Hey Ya”, Outkast's own pledge of allegiance to populism, and echoes of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Belinda Carlisle can be heard throughout, notably on the smouldering mid-tempo jams “Out of the Woods” and the second single, “Blank Space”. “I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream”, Swift insists on the latter. 1989 is a juggernaut, as brash and brilliant as the lights of Times Square.