Pop has been good to country. In 1980 country/rock band Pure Prairie League released the single “Let Me Love You Tonight” and it charted top ten. A familiar name was the band’s lead vocalist. Fast-forward nine years, Vince Gill, by then a country artist, was again at the top of the charts. His fourth solo album, “When I Call Your Name“, climbed up Billboard’s Top Country and Top 200 charts.
Country has been good to pop. Taylor Swift’s 1989 was inspired by music from the year she was born.
“I have a few artists in the late eighties who I think made the most incredible, bold, risky decisions as far as pop music goes. They were really ahead of their time, like Annie Lennox and what Madonna was doing in the late eighties. Like a Prayer is legitimately one of the greatest pop songs of all time.”
Her new album is about fresh starts, abet ones that acknowledge the past. The first single, the hit Shake It Off, was followed by Blank Space –
“Got a long list of ex-lovers
They’ll tell you I’m insane
But I got a blank space baby
And I’ll write your name.”
The lyrics are all Taylor – they’ll continue to cross genres and generations. The album takes the 80’s pop, dance, and new wave sound and makes it sound fresh.
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