I beg to differ. 1989 is one of the greatest pop albums of all time, deserved of a place next to Thriller, Joshua Tree, Purple Rain, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Pet Sounds, Like a Virgin and the rest.
It is Taylor Swift's crowning musical achievement. There is not a bad note on the album and even the throwaways which only made the extended cut are dynamite.
Prefer Lana Del Rey..,
The 1989 Tour was Unforgettable when she came to Kansas City
To each his own. I would never listen to the 1989 songs or anything else by her again.
I am a classically-trained musician with catholic (small-c) tastes: The Beach Boys to Jean-Michel Jarre to Suzy Bogguss to The Alan Parsons Project to Antonio Vivaldi.
I have two Taylor Swift albums: her first (Country/Pop), and 1989. I do consider 1989 consistently very well-done Pop - although I would not put it in the same class as Pet Sounds (easily my favorite all-time).
Safe & Sound, Taylor Swift’s contribution to The Hunger Games soundtrack - in collaboration with The Civil Wars, before she went full Pop - was quite good. T-Bone Burnett did an exceptional job on that whole album.
As for Madonna - cited liberally in this thread - I consider Ray of Light her peak production, all aspects considered.
I do not believe in guilty pleasures: I like what I like, and I choose not to care what others think. Camille Paglia is intelligent; so am I: IQ 150-170 (depending upon the test). Paglia is also quite flawed in her personal philosophy. She is entitled to think whatever she likes, and so am I.
P.S.
The distaff member of The Civil Wars, Joy Williams, was yet another one who left CCM [Christian Contemporary Music] to enter Indie Pop, just as Taylor Swift left Country Pop to go mainstream Pop.
P.P.S.
AcclaimedMusic.net is a website devoted to correlating critical reviews worldwide to rank both albums and songs through the decades. Henrik Franzon, of Stockholm, Sweden, wrote a sophisticated program that takes into account where an entry places in each critic’s list, not just if it places.
His site lists top albums and songs by year and decade, but also all-time: Top 3,000 Albums; Top 10,000 Songs. Consistently, year to year, the album that ranks Number One All Time is: Pet Sounds [1966], by The Beach Boys. (It is not a personal favorite of his; he lets his algorithm do the choosing.)