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Her tunes are good, but I have always wondered why the person is a star. I’ve never understood that. Oh well…

Taylor Swift changes her tune on ‘1989’

In October, Taylor Swift’s transition to pop music will be complete.

The 24-year-old singer/songwriter has long had one foot in country and the other in pop, sometimes to the chagrin of country fans. But with her fifth studio album, the October 27 release “1989,” Swift has eliminated her twang altogether.

“At a certain point,” she told Rolling Stone in its new issue, “if you chase two rabbits, you lose them both.”
Instead, she’s taken inspiration from ’80s pop acts like Madonna, Phil Collins and Annie Lennox, and turned to producers and musicians like Max Martin and Fun.’s Jack Antonoff to help her shape what she calls her “blatant pop” sound.

Along with her change in tune has come other shifts in Swift’s life: She’s moved to New York, has focused more on her friendships and has backed off dating (at least for now). Where past Swift albums could fuel gossip for weeks over which song may be about which ex-boyfriend, “1989” has a different vibe. It’s not as “boy-centric” as past releases, Swift explained — basically because there haven’t been any boys.

“I feel like watching my dating life has become a bit of a national pastime, and I’m just not comfortable providing that kind of entertainment anymore,” Swift told Rolling Stone. “I don’t like seeing slide shows of guys I’ve apparently dated. I don’t like giving comedians the opportunity to make jokes about me at awards shows. I don’t like it when headlines read ‘Careful, Bro, She’ll Write a Song About You,’ because it trivializes my work. And most of all, I don’t like how all these factors add up to build the pressure so high in a new relationship that it gets snuffed out before it even has a chance to start. And so, I just don’t date.”

Don’t feel sorry for her, as Swift presumed readers might; there’s plenty that she “really like(s) about my life right now.”

“I have friends around me all the time. I’ve started painting more,” Swift said. “I’ve been working out a lot. I’ve started to really take pride in being strong.”

That strength was evident in her push to have “1989” made in the way she envisioned. When Swift turned the album in to the head of her record label, she was told that it was “extraordinary” and the best she’s ever done but also in need of a few country songs.

Swift held her ground.

“Love you,” she recalled responding. “But this is how it’s going to be.”