Would someone kindly explain the impact of 1989?
It has literally none, just another very successful album campaign from Taylor.
Red was easily the bigger statement and much more impactful. It was her crossover record into pop, the crux of whether her new career path was going to work or not. WANEGBT was her first unashamedly PURE pop record and so a big risk for her, also experimental songs like IKYWT were released pre album but scattered with songs like Red/Begin Again to catch her old market. It was genius and also the whole releasing 1 song a week pre album was a huge success and many artists have copied that since.