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Dennis Wang
Dr. De Piero
Commented [1]: Wow! What a cool title, Dennis. It
gets me wondering: hmmmm, what could this be
about?

Writing 2, Winter
January 16, 2016
Breaking 1989 Out in Style
An album, in music context, is a long musical recording, CD, etc, that usually includes a
setlist of songs. Displaying various kinds of strong suits, from emotional, to vocal, and perhaps a
recollection of memories or growing out of a phase, different recordings have very distinct tastes
and charm to them. In this paper, Taylor Swifts recent album 1989 will be used to identify what
makes album analysis a genre, by comparing among The New York Times, The Rolling Stone,
and The Guardians analysis. While these publications can discuss about the topic at hand, the
way they approach it is drastically different. By analysing the convention among the three, we
can determine that their similarities and differences do not diminish the texts ability to relay its
message to their audience, the success of 1989.
Like what Dirk mentioned in Navigating Genres, everything depends on the context. In
the article, Dirk asked the readers to consider this when it comes to writing country music,
assuming I want to write lyrics to a country song, how would I figure out what lyrics are
acceptable in terms of country songs? (Dirk 249). In response to that question, Dirk quickly
points out certain stereotypes associated with country songs such as telling a story, and carrying
on pride. Based on this concept, the same thing can be applied to 1989s review as well. Among
the numerous rhetorical functions employed by the three companies, we must first find some
common functions that makes up an album review such as target audience, exigence-a
circumstance or condition that invites a response, and the time frame of this review. The target

Commented [2]: This phrase was a bit "clunky" for me,

Dennis. That 1st sentence is so crucial because -- of
all sentences, maybe even right up there with the
thesis -- it needs to be super-clear and direct.
Also, this one wasn't very attention-getting for me.
Commented [3]: I'm not familiar with the genre "album
analysis." Do you mean album reviews? Or just the
setlist/songs of an album?
Commented [4]: Dennis, this thesis statement is
ALMOST there -- what I'm wondering is what
conventions will you be analyzing, and for which
audience(s)?
The more direction and detail you can give me early
on, the easier my job will be (as a reader) as I follow
you throughout your paper.
Commented [5]: I'm not seeing this connection,
Dennis. What "thing" can be applied to 1989?
(Also, "thing" is suuuuuper vague. I encourage you to
be as precise and direct as possible.)
Commented [6]: Good idea.
Commented [7]: Ah ha, so you ARE basing this paper
on album reviews. I'd think about being consistent
about what you're referring to here, just so your reader
doesn't get confused.
Commented [8]: This dash isn't working here, Dennis,
but I'm glad you gave it a shot. :) Let's talk later on
about why and finding out some ways you could use it.
Commented [9]: This comment is in reference to the
whole paragraph:
When I see thiseven before I start readingI think,
Ahhhhhhh! Attack of the page-long paragraph!
See if you like this metaphor:
Pretend your whole paper is a big, juicy steak. Do you
want your reader to enjoy that steak in easy-to-chew,
digestable bites? Or do you want them to start
gnawing away at whole thing in one piece (think:
zombie).
Paragraphs are like those bites. Give your reader
your argument in little, digestable, one-idea-at-a-time
bits. By doing so, theyll be able to following along the
trail of your argument much easier. To relate it back to
the steak metaphor, readers need to be able to see the
different parts/pieces/bites of the argument that theyre
chewing on.

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audience will most likely be geared towards people who are considering to buy her album, since
Swift's style of music has changed dramatically from her previous works. The exigence in this
case, would be what makes 1989 different from previous albums of Taylor Swift and why her
album is not comparable to all other releases released within that year. To back up this claim, all
three referred back to the skill that Swift excels at: transgression. In terms of skills, Taylor Swift
has been shattering new records with each album she released and 1989 is no different. In The

Commented [10]: I think you could really make an

interesting examination of how "exigence" functions
here, but I'm not seeing it quite yet.
What recurring situation (that artists face?) was 1989
responding to?
Commented [11]: What do you mean here?

New York Times for example, writer Joe Caramanica noted even as the genres biggest star, she
was always something of an underdog, multi platinum albums and accolades be damned

Commented [12]: Textual evidence! Yes!

(Caramanica). Other publications such The Guardian also noticed her talent of breaking from the
norm by noting her unique set of talents that sets her apart, and used logos, persuading with
logic, to back it up. Its more that Swifts music attracts the kind of serious critical attention
afforded almost none of her peers. You dont get many learned articles in the New Yorker about
the songcraft of Swifts mortal enemy Katy Perry (Petridis). However, as Navigating Genres
mentioned, two texts might fit into the same genre might also look extremely different, and
that is where each of the publications started branching off from each other (Dirk 255).

Commented [13]: Id advise you to refrain from using

free-floating quotes (ie, sentences that start and end
with a quote). The reader is probably going to be left
wondering, Who is saying/citing this, and how/why is it
relevant? Wheres it coming from? Try to introduce
the quote and give it context.

Starting off with The Rolling Stone, compared to the two other publishing companies, the
analysis for 1989 is perhaps the shortest one among the three. However, despite its rather short
length, it is packed full of content digging deep into the roots and inspiration of 1989. As

Commented [14]: Awesome. Now: how does this

relate directly back to your thesis statement?

mentioned in the paragraph above, first glance at this article includes the standard bold title, with
a witty caption pertaining to the success and progress made by Swift with this album. Looking at
the style of writing for this critique, the language, despite being casually formal, is simplistic and
compacted, which perhaps alludes to what type of audience it is targeting: casual readers who
want to catch up on the latest trend. Content wise, the Rolling Stone focused on Swifts curveball

Commented [15]: You're making a claim about the

style of the language in the RS piece, which is great -now you've got to help me SEE this and use textual
evidence/support to back it up.

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of this album, 80s pop style. Compared to Swifts previous works, 1989 is a drastic departure
only a couple of tracks feature her trademark tear-stained guitar (Sheffield). To back up this
claim, Rolling Stone further provided evidence by comparing it to her 2012 album, Red, that is
synthesized with various style of music ranging from disco banjos and piano ballads and
dubstep drops (Sheffield). Following up on the synopsis of this article, it then moves on to the
standard procedure of album analysis by highlighting particular songs that compliments well
with Swift's progression into the industry. Among them, the highlights includes Welcome to
New York, a song about discovery, Blank Space, a parody on how media portrays Swift, and
Shake it Off, telling haters to backoff. The article ends the climax in a conclusion praising
Swift for her ability to go to extremes, which is also a common rhetoric feature in album analysis
summarizing the superb quality of this album.
Compare to Rolling Stone, whose analysis is more straightforward and easy to identify,
The Guardians tone is a bit more on the dark side and its purpose is rather confusing. While the
overall article does indeed praise the album by using many conventions such as comparison
against other artists and the overall style quality of music Swift produced, in a way it is skeptical
of Swifts new album. Several incidents that showcase this by questioning her audience on
whether they like Swift for her album or as a status of a female idol. Examples of this include
What do the vast majority of Taylor Swift fans the tweenage Instagrammers ... care whether
their tastes have been anointed by the New Yorker? (Petridis). In addition, with other quotes
such as doesnt offer any obvious answers, but that isnt saying much, it seems like The
Guardian was not very impressed with the new album judging by its tone and has a confusing
purpose, which is further reinforced by the critique saying even its least interesting tracks sound
like hits, which is what one pays Max Martin for: at its best (Petridis). However, despite its

Commented [16]: Great! Examples are huge. Remind

me, though, how does this relate back to the bigger
picture? What are you hoping to say or convince me of
here? And how is this evidence for that?

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rather weird tone for praising the album, and giving backhanded compliments such as twisting
cliches until they sound original, nonetheless, the usage of ethos-credibility, and logos to back
up its claim did help reinforce the overall quality of this analysis and the genre of album review
(Petridis).
In terms of using many rhetorical function, New York Times is perhaps the best among
the three. Compare to the other two publications, the review of 1989 is double in length. Not
only does this review break the surface level analysis into the overall success and sophisticated

Commented [17]: I'd like a bit more of a specific topic

sentence here, Dennis -- something that keys me into
*what*, beyond the NYT, this paragraph will focus on.

composition of this album, New York Times enhanced its quality of its review by marking it as a
big break for Swift. The title, A Farewell to Twang, for example, already deployed a purpose
of this piece, by indicating why 1989 is different from the rest of Swifts works and the synopsis

Commented [18]: Is this 'big break" something you

could include in your central/main argument? Do these
3 sources position 1989 in different ways?

helped reinforce that idea more, indicating how starting out as a country singer made her a
transgressor, and an underdog that is a force to be reckon with. Moreover, New York Times also
made heavy usage of ethos to establish credibility for the success of 1989 by analyzing the
collaborators that worked with Swift such as Max Martin and his fellow Swede Shellback,
(who) have helped shape the last decade of pop (Caramanica). It also persuaded with logic,
logos, by mentioning the fact that Swift so far has not relied on the standard cliche contained for
a pop album by comparing her work to others such as Katy Perry, and Justin Timberlake, for her
least reliance on hip-hop and R&B influence (Caramanica). Combining the sophisticated style of
writing, tone and high level vocabulary, such as vanguard attitude, New York Times analysis
reached above what we would expect to be a typical album analysis, projecting it more as the
pinnacle period of time for Taylor Swift (Caramanica). In addition, by micro zooming on many
aspects of Swift's voice, style of lyrics, as well as each component, aspect and inspiration of the
songs included in the album, the review itself already transcended the expectation of a review

Commented [19]: This is super-interesting and

important, but is this logos? If so, how/why?

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and went far well beyond by comparing the sophisticated work of Swift for this album in an era
where pop is heavily influenced by contemporary and hybrid works, marking her achievement as
something timeless.
When it comes to analysis and categorizing genres, certain aspects of genre are very easy
to spot, such as structure, format and common critiques in an album. Others however, are harder
to identify such as style of writing, the denotation and connotation of each word. In album
analysis for example, it is very common to see critics draw comparison to an artists previous
works and the songs that stood out the most but others conventions such as connection with the
audience and progression as an artist are harder to spot. By understanding how rhetoric analysis
works, and taking it to a deeper level of understanding through the context it is surrounded by,
one can distinguish the level of sophistication between a standard analysis review versus a
intelligent one and judge which review to believe in more. In conclusion, even though writing
pieces can contain similar and different writing conventions, the three all agree that it is Swift's
best work to date.

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Works Cited
Caramanica, Jon. "A Farewell to Twang." New York Times. New York Times, 23 Oct. 2014.
Web. 15 Jan. 2016.
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces. Writing Spaces. Web. 15 Jan. 2016.
Petridis, Alexis. "Taylor Swift: 1989 Review Leagues Ahead of the Teen-pop Competition."
The Guardian. The Guardian, 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Jan. 2016.
Sheffield, Rob. "1989." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Jan. 2016.

Did Not Meet

Expectations

Met
Expectations

Thesis Statement

X/X-

Use of Textual Evidence

from Genres

Use of Course Readings

X/X-

Analysis

X-

Organization/Structure

Exceeded
Expectations

Attention to
Genre/Conventions and
Rhetorical Factors

X/X-

Sentence-level Clarity,
Mechanics, Flow

X/X-

Dennis,
Other Comments
Im glad you chose a topic which, Im guessing, you seem to
like -- ie, Swift and 1989. I like album reviews a lot, so the
focus of this paper was a win/win for us.
Please read through my comments in your paper; Id like

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them to serve as guide as you find ways to improve this for
your final portfolio. On top of my other comments, here are
some suggestions:

- I need more of a specific argument here -- the conventions

(which ones?) are similar but different isnt enough for me.
After youve described and evaluated the conventions (which
Id like to see more of), try to pinpoint the so what? of this
assignment as much as possible. These pieces
might/probably have significantly different audiences -- OK,
so why is that worth knowing? From a writers perspective?
A readers? Someone in the sports industry?
-Id like to see you make more purposeful use of the course
readings and weave them throughout your paper. It looks like
you kinda just tacked them onto the beginning, and I was
hoping that the highlighting activity that we did in class would
help you to see that more clearly.
--Think about what kind of structure/organization would be
best suited for your argument. I couldnt really anticipate
where you were going within paragraphs, and Id like to be
able to do that. Try to think if theres a best way of
structuring your paper so that your argument unfolds in a way
thats reader-friendly -- that builds.

Also, please dont hate me, but Ive got to knock off half a
point because you didnt include this feedback table.

Z, 8/10