1989 - Taylor Swift

Recording information: Conway Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Jungle City Studios, New York, NY; Lamby's House Studios, Brooklyn, NY; MXM Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; Pain In The Art Studio, Nashville, TN; Studio Elevator Nobody, G?teborg, Sweden; The Hideaway Studio. Photographers: Sarah Barlow; Stephen Schofield. When she announced 1989 a few months prior to its October 2014 release, Taylor Swift called her sixth record her first "documented, official" pop album, explicitly severing herself from her country roots. Truth be told, Swift already made the leap from country to pop with 2012's Red, a nominally country LP distinguished by three songs co-written and produced by Max Martin and Shellback, a team that returns for twice that number on 1989 (Martin has one additional non-Shellback co-write with Swift). Taylor is rarely without co-writers here: only "This Love" belongs to her alone, with the other major collaborators being OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, fun.'s Jack Antonoff, and Imogen Heap.