Rock singer Ryan Adams is releasing an album of Taylor Swift cover songs. Specifically, he's reworked Swift's 1989 into his own style. The first single off the album is an acoustic version of "Bad Blood." It basically confirms what I've thought about Swift's latest album. The songs are really well-written.
I think it's pretty safe to say that Swift's strength as an artist is songwriting. To create hit after hit while transitioning from country, to country pop, to straight up bubblegum is no small feat. To do it as a singer/songwriter is all the more impressive.
Ryan Adams has a distinctive, emotive performance style that matches "Bad Blood" well. It's a transformation of the song, shifting it from a not-so-covered exploration of a sour relationship with another pop singer (Katy Perry, if you hadn't heard) to a melancholy song about the end of a romance. Adams has managed to turn an aggressive pop song into something resembling Swift's earlier success with breakup songs.
Adams' 1989 is available today on iTunes.