泰勒斯威夫特向鄉村音樂告別

For almost a decade, Taylor Swift has been waging, and winning, a war, smiling all the while.

近十年來，泰勒·斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)一直都在一邊作戰一邊微笑，而且不斷取得勝利。

Country music has been — was — a natural enemy for her: hidebound, slow moving, lousy with machismo. She could break the rules and make people nervous simply by showing up. And yet country was also a hospitable host body. She faced almost no direct competition there, and it's a genre that embraces success, grudgingly if need be.

鄉村音樂一直是——曾經是——她的天敵：它守舊、動作慢、充滿大男子主義。她可以打破這些陳規，只憑她的出現就能讓人感到不安。然而鄉村樂也同樣是個好客的東道主。她在這個領域幾乎沒有直接競爭對手，而且這個音樂類型歡迎成功者，如果有必要的話也可以帶上一絲勉強。

Most important, country gave Ms. Swift context. It made her a transgressor, which means even her most benign songs could be read with mischievous intent. From the outside, she looked like a conquering titan. But from the inside looking out, even as the genre's biggest star, she was always something of an underdog, multiplatinum albums and accolades be damned.

最重要的是，鄉村樂給了斯威夫特一個語境，令她成爲叛逆者，也就是說，就連她最溫和的歌都可以被解讀爲帶有惡作劇的意圖。從外界看來，她像是一個征服的泰坦巨人。但從內部看來，作爲鄉村樂中最大的明星，她永遠都是某種失敗者，不管唱片拿多少白金銷量、獎項，都受到詛咒。

That she would one day abandon country has long been clear. It's a big box, and a porous one, but a box all the same. "1989" (Big Machine), though, her fifth album and the first that doesn't at all bother with country, manages to find a new foe.

很早以前，人們就知道她早晚有一天會拋棄鄉村樂。它是一個大盒子，雖然通風良好，但畢竟是個盒子。《1989》（大機器[Big Machine]公司出品）是她的第五張專輯，也是她第一張完全沒有鄉村樂的專輯，它爲她樹立了新的敵人。

Full of expertly constructed, slightly neutered songs about heartbreak, "1989," which is to be released on Monday, doesn't announce itself as oppositional. But there is an implicit enemy on this breezily effective album: the rest of mainstream pop, which "1989" has almost nothing in common with. Modern pop stars — white pop stars, that is — mainly get there by emulating black music. Think of Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber. In the current ecosystem, Katy Perry is probably the pop star least reliant on hip-hop and R&B to make her sound, but her biggest recent hit featured the rapper Juicy J; she's not immune.

《1989》將於週一（2014年10月27日——編注）發行，裏面有大量結構嫺熟、略帶中性色彩的傷心歌曲，它並沒有擺出對抗的姿態。但這張給人感覺很溫和的專輯有一個毫無疑問的敵人：那就是主流流行樂，《1989》與它格格不入。現代流行歌星——更確切地說，是白人流行歌星——大都是模仿黑人音樂起家的。想想麥莉·塞勒斯(Miley Cyrus)、賈斯汀·汀布萊克(Justin Timberlake)和賈斯汀·比伯(Justin Bieber)吧。在當前音樂的生態系統裏，凱蒂·佩裏(Katy Perry)或許是對嘻哈樂和R&B依賴最少的流行歌手，但她最近的大熱歌曲裏也有饒舌樂手傑西·J(Juicy J)獻聲，她也不能免疫。

Ms. Swift, though, is having none of that; what she doesn't do on this album is as important as what she does. There is no production by Diplo or Mike Will Made-It here, no guest verse by Drake or Pitbull. Her idea of pop music harks back to a period — the mid-1980s — when pop was less overtly hybrid. That choice allows her to stake out popular turf without having to keep up with the latest microtrends, and without being accused of cultural appropriation.

但斯威夫特卻完全不受影響；她在這張專輯裏沒有做什麼和她做了什麼一樣重要。它不是由迪普洛(Diplo)或者Mike Will Made-It製作，也沒有德雷克(Drake)或皮特布爾(Pitbull)客串。她對流行音樂的概念回溯到了20世紀80年代中期，那時候流行樂還沒雜交得這樣厲害。這個選擇令她可以縱觀流行樂的全局，而不必去追逐最新的小風尚，也不會被指責爲“文化盜用”。

That Ms. Swift wants to be left out of those debates was clear in the video for this album's first single, the spry "Shake It Off," in which she surrounds herself with all sorts of hip-hop dancers and bumbles all the moves. Later in the video, she surrounds herself with regular folks, and they all shimmy un-self-consciously, not trying to be cool.

斯威夫特希望置身這些爭端之外，這表現在專輯首發單曲《甩掉它》(Shake It Off)的音樂錄像裏。這是一首活潑的歌，錄像中她被各種嘻哈舞者所包圍，她自己笨手笨腳地做着每個動作，後來她身周換成了普通人，他們不自覺地搖擺身體，並不是想要擺酷。

See what Ms. Swift did there? The singer most likely to sell the most copies of any album this year has written herself a narrative in which she's still the outsider. She is the butterfingers in a group of experts, the approachable one in a sea of high post, the small-town girl learning to navigate the big city.

看出斯威夫特做了什麼嗎？這位有可能成爲今年唱片銷量最高的歌手爲自己寫下一個故事，在其中她仍然是個局外人。在一羣專家中間，她是個笨拙的人，是一羣高高在上的人當中可親的一個，是學着在大城市生活的小鎮女孩。

In that sense, the most important decision Taylor Swift made in the last couple of years had nothing to do with music: She bought a pad in New York, paying about $20 million for a TriBeCa penthouse.

在這種意義上，泰勒·斯威夫特在最近幾年間做的最重大的決定和音樂沒有關係：她在紐約的翠貝卡買了一處公寓，這個屋頂套房花了2000萬美元。

It was a molting, the culmination of several years of outgrowing Nashville combined with interest in Ms. Swift that placed her in tabloid cross-hairs just like any other global star.

這是一種蛻變，連續幾年，她都處在過度膨脹的納什維爾的頂點，再加上對她個人的興趣，這令她和所有全球明星一樣，無時無刻不處在小報的關注之下。

But it also afforded her the opportunity once again to be seen as a na?f. In Nashville, she'd learned all the rules, all the back roads. Now, with that place more or less in the rear view, she is free to make the John Hughes movie of her imagination. That's "1989," which opens with "Welcome to New York," a shimmery, if slightly dim celebration of the freedom of getting lost in Gotham: "Everybody here was someone else before/And you can want who you want." (As a gesture of tolerance, this is about 10 steps behind Kacey Musgraves's "Follow Your Arrow.")

但這也給了她機會，讓她可以再度被視爲一個天真無邪的人。在納什維爾，她學會了所有規則，所有背後的門路。現在，納什維爾已經多少被她拋在腦後了，她可以自由自在地拍出自己想象中的約翰·休斯(John Hughes)式電影。這就是《1989》，第一首歌是《紐約歡迎你》(Welcome to New York)，這是一首輕快的歌，對於沉迷在哥譚市的自由表示一絲模糊的慶祝之意：“這兒的所有人以前都是別的人/你可以渴望你想要的人。”（作爲一種寬容的姿態，這首歌比凱西·馬斯格雷福斯[Kacey Musgraves]的《跟隨你的箭》[Follow Your Arrow]後退了大概有十步那麼遠）。

Ms. Swift hasn't been the type to ask permission in her career, but she has long seen herself as a stranger to the grand-scale fame that New York signifies. "Someday I'll be living in a big ol' city" she taunted a critic on "Mean," from her 2010 album "Speak Now"; now here she is, making the New York spotlight her backlight.

斯威夫特並不是那種在事業發展中要問別人該做什麼的人，但她長久以來始終視自己爲紐約所代表的盛大名利場中的異類。“有一天我會住進一座巨大的老城市，”她在《賤》(Mean)這首歌裏嘲笑一個評論家，這首歌來自她2010年的專輯《現在就說》(Speak Now)；現在她來了，紐約的聚光燈正從背後照亮她。

On this new stage, Ms. Swift is thriving. And crucially, she is more or less alone, not part of any pop movement of the day. She has set herself apart and, implicitly, above.

置身這個嶄新的舞臺，斯威夫特充滿渴望。重要的是，她多少是孤單一人，並不依附當今的任何流行音樂運動。她讓自己置身事外，而且，毫無疑問地是置於各種運動之上。

The era of pop she channels here was a collision of sleaze and romanticism, of the human and the digital. But there's barely any loucheness in Ms. Swift's voice. Her take on that sound is sandpapered flat and polished to a sheen. The album, named for the year she was born, is executive produced by Ms. Swift and Max Martin, and most of the songs are written with Mr. Martin and his fellow Swede Shellback. Both men have helped shape the last decade of pop but what's notable here is their restraint. (Mr. Martin also did almost all the vocal production on the album.) Ms. Swift's old running buddy Nathan Chapman produced "This Love," a mournful ballad that would have been at home of the "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" soundtrack, and the only song here that could be mistaken for a concession to country.

她所置身的這個流行時代是一片污穢與浪漫主義的融合，是人類與數碼的融合。但斯威夫特的聲音裏卻沒有一絲頹廢。她把握住這個聲音，把它打磨平滑，令它熠熠生輝。這張專輯以她出生的年份命名，由她和馬克斯·馬丁(Max Martin)共同製作，大多數歌都是馬丁與合作伙伴斯維德·謝爾巴克(Swede Shellback)合寫。兩人對過去十年流行音樂的面貌都有貢獻，但這裏值得注意的是他們的剋制（馬丁幾乎擔任了專輯中所有人聲部分的製作）。斯威夫特的老夥伴內森·查普曼(Nathan Chapman)製作了《這份愛》(This Love)，這是一首悲傷的歌謠，假如作爲《飢餓遊戲2：星火燎原》(Hunger Games: Catching Fire)也挺合適，這也是專輯中唯一一首可能會被認爲帶有鄉村色彩的歌曲。

The best country-defying songs on her last album, "Red" — especially "I Knew You Were Trouble," another collaboration with Mr. Martin and Shellback — were also a move toward forward-sounding pop. Ms. Swift has many charms but stylistic envelope pushing has not always been among them. And yet those songs showed her to be more of a risk taker than she'd ever been, and savvy enough to know her fans would follow.

她的上一張專輯《紅》(Red)也是向流行樂前進的一步，其中有幾首向鄉村樂表示挑戰的歌，特別是《我知道你很棘手》(I Knew You Were Trouble)，也是馬丁和謝爾巴克合作創作的。斯威夫特有很多種魅力，但並不總是擅長打破音樂類型的界限。然而《紅》中的歌曲表明她比以往更樂於冒險，也清楚地知道歌迷會跟隨她。

That vanguard attitude, though, isn't to be found on "1989," which is largely filled with upbeat, tense songs on which the singer stomps out much of whatever was left of her youthful innocence. The Taylor Swift of this album is savage, wry, and pointed. The high mark is "Style," which recalls something from the original "Miami Vice" soundtrack, all warm synths and damp vocals. "Midnight/You come and pick me up/No headlights," she oozes at the beginning of the song. By the chorus, she's flirty, but back in the verses, she's skeptical and a little bedraggled.

《1989》中卻沒有這種先驅者的態度，裏面大都是歡快、緊張的歌曲，歌手大步走出了年輕時殘餘的大部分天真無邪。這張專輯裏的泰勒·斯威夫特是兇猛、嘲弄、尖銳的。專輯中的佳作是《風格》(Style)，令人回憶起最早的《邁阿密風雲》(Miami Vice)的原聲帶，全都是溫暖的合成器與低沉的人聲“午夜/你來帶上我/沒有照明燈”，她在歌曲一開頭慢慢唱着。在副歌部分，她顯得輕浮，但回到主歌，她又變得多疑，還有一絲凌亂。

Ms. Swift has often sung in a talky manner, emphasizing intimacy over power and nuance, but on "1989" she uses her voice — processed more than ever — in different ways than before: the coy confidence of how she shifts gears leading up to the bridge in "Shake It Off," slithering out the line, "But I keep cruising," immediately changing the song from gum-snapping glee to powerful release. Or the way she sweetly drags out the long e in "beat" on "Welcome to New York"; or the bratty background chorus chants on "All You Had to Do Was Stay."

斯威夫特經常以一種談話式的方式唱歌，強調親密而非力量和細微區別。但在《1989》中，她用了和之前不同的聲音方式，比以往更加精心處理：在《甩掉它》裏那種開車變速衝上大橋的靦腆自信在歌中蔓延着，“但我在繼續巡行”這句突然把這首歌從街頭混混的歡樂合唱變成了強有力的釋放。還有她在《紐約歡迎你》中用甜蜜的長音唱“beat”這個字，以及在《你只需要留下》(All You Had to Do Was Stay)裏不肯服從的背景合唱。

Her most pronounced vocal tweak is on "Wildest Dreams," a sweaty and dark tale of dangerous love. In the verses, Ms. Swift sings drowsily, as if seducing or just waking up: "I said ‘No one has to know what we do'/ His hands are in my hair/ His clothes are in my room." Then, at the bridge, she skips up an octave, sputtering out bleats of ecstasy, before retreating back under the covers.

《最瘋狂的夢》(Wildest Dreams)是一個性感黑暗的故事，唱的是危險的愛情，這首歌裏她的聲音有最顯著的改變。在主歌裏，她懶洋洋地唱着，彷彿在誘惑，要不就是剛睡醒：“我說，‘沒人知道我們在幹什麼'/他的手放在我的頭髮裏/她的衣服在我房間裏。”然後，在過渡段，她的聲音升高了八度，迸發出狂喜的訴說，之後又退回到隱蔽之中。

On this album, Ms. Swift's songwriting isn't as microdetailed as it has been, instead approaching heartbreak with a wider lens, as on "This Love":

在這張專輯裏，斯威夫特自己寫的歌不像以前那樣充滿細節，而是以更廣闊的視角看待傷心，比如《這份愛》：

Tossing, turning, struggled through the night with someone new

輾轉反側，勉強與新人讀過長夜

And I could go on and on, on and on

我可以一再這樣，一再這樣做

Lantern, burning, flickered in my mind for only you

燈罩，燃燒，閃爍在我心裏的只有你

But you were still gone, gone, gone

但你還是走了，走了，走了

And while there are certainly references to some of Ms. Swift's high-profile relationships, the album on the whole feels less diaristic than her previous work.

這肯定是和斯威夫特與某位名人的戀情有關，但專輯的整體感覺不像她以前的專輯那樣，好像寫日記了。

But don't be distracted by for whom the belle trolls; she trolls with glee, and that's what matters. Take the clever "Blank Space," a metanarrative about Ms. Swift's reputation as a dating disaster:

但是別分心去想這個美女唱的是誰；她唱得很歡樂，這纔是重要的。聽聽這首聰明的《空白空間》(Blank Space)吧，這是關於斯威夫特“約會災星”惡名的元敘事：

Saw you there and I thought

看見你在那兒我就想

Oh my God, look at that face

啊天哪，看這張臉

You look like my next mistake

你看上去就像我的下一個錯誤

Love's a game, want to plaaaaaay?

愛情就是遊戲，想玩嗎？

This is Ms. Swift at her peak. It's funny and knowing, and serves to assert both her power and her primness. By contrast, the songs where she sounds the least jaded — "How You Get the Girl," "Welcome to New York" — are among the least effective.

這是巔峯的斯威夫特。它既有趣又世故，強調她的力量，也強調她的一本正經。相比之下，那些聽上去最不倦怠的歌，比如《你怎樣得到那女孩》(How You Get the Girl)和《紐約歡迎你》是最不動人的幾首。

It's hard for Ms. Swift to still sell na?veté; she's too well-known and too good at her job. That's likely at least part of the reason that the bonus edition of this album includes three voice memos recorded by Ms. Swift on her telephone that showcase bits of songs in their early stages. They're there as gifts for obsessives, but also as boasts, flaunting her expertise and also her aw-shucks demeanor. "I Wish You Would" shows her singing without any vocal manipulation, and though the lyrics to "I Know Places" and "Blank Space" changed a bunch from this stage to the final version, it's clear that the melodies were intact, and sturdy, from the beginning.

斯威夫特很難再擺出天真無邪了，她太出名，太擅長自己的工作。至少可能部分是出於這個原因，專輯的附加歌曲部分收入了三首人聲小樣，是斯威夫特通過電話錄下來的，展示她在寫歌早期的片段。它們是送給迷戀者們的禮物，但也像是誇耀，炫耀自己的技能，以及她質樸的態度。《我希望你能》(I Wish You Would)展現出她怎樣不控制聲音地唱歌，儘管《我知道一些地方》(I Know Places)和《空白空間》(Blank Space)的歌詞最終版本比起這裏的版本改動了很多，但顯然旋律從一開始就沒怎麼改動，非常可靠。

There are a few songs in which production dominates: the two songs written and produced with Jack Antonoff (of fun and Bleachers). "Out of the Woods" and "I Wish You Would," which burst with erupting drums, moody synths and sizzling guitars; and "Bad Blood," which has booming drums reminiscent of the Billy Squier ones often sampled in hip-hop.

還有一些歌是製作佔了主導地位，比如傑克·安託諾夫（Jack Antonoff，“有趣”[Fun]樂隊和“漂白者”[Bleachers]樂隊）創作和製作的兩首歌：《樹林之外》(Out of the Woods)和《我希望你能》，它們爆發出激烈的鼓點、無常的合成器和嘶聲作響的吉他；《壞血》(Bad Blood)這首歌有轟鳴的鼓聲，令人想起比利·斯奎爾(Billy Squier)經常被嘻哈樂採樣的那些樂段。

But these are outliers. Ms. Swift has always been melody first, and if she wanted to give herself over to a producer and sound of the moment, she could have gone several different, more obvious routes, or even stayed in country, which is as hip-hop inflected as pop is these days. (For the record, there are a few sort-of-modern phrases sprinkled through the lyrics — "this sick beat," " mad love" and the chorus of "Shake It Off," where she squeaks "the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate" — though they are mostly there to underscore just how out of place Ms. Swift sounds singing them.)

但這些都是外圍的東西，斯威夫特一向最注重旋律，如果她希望把自己交給製作人和當下流行的聲音，那麼她可能會嘗試其他幾種不同的、更明顯的方式，甚至有可能留在鄉村樂裏，如今鄉村樂和流行樂一樣，都已經深受嘻哈樂影響了（在這張專輯裏，歌詞中分佈着幾個有點時尚的句子——‘噁心的節拍'、‘瘋狂的愛'以及《甩掉它》的副歌，她尖聲唱道“樂手要演奏，演奏，演奏，演奏/憎恨的人要去恨，恨，恨，恨，恨”——但是它們主要都是爲了強調斯威夫特唱這些句子的時候有多麼脫離時代）。

But by making pop with almost no contemporary references, Ms. Swift is aiming somewhere even higher, a mode of timelessness that few true pop stars — aside from, say, Adele, who has a vocal gift that demands such an approach — even bother aspiring to. Everyone else striving to sound like now will have to shift gears once the now sound changes. But not Ms. Swift, who's waging, and winning, a new war, one she'd never admit to fighting.

斯威夫特做的是幾乎不涉及當代的流行樂，目標更爲高遠，就連真正的流行巨星也很少有人會去渴望這種模式——或者阿黛爾(Adele)除外，她聲音的天賦就需要這樣的方式。其他人都在努力讓自己聽上去更有當下的感覺，當下流行的聲音變了，他們也得跟着變。但斯威夫特不是這樣，她要展開一場新的戰爭，她要贏，但她永遠不會承認自己在打這一仗。