Taylor Swift released her fifth album, 1989,  on Monday, October 27. Unlike Speak Now, Swift’s third album, 1989 features many more upbeat songs that portray Swift as less dependent on men. Of course most songs are still about her relationships, but the album gives the impression of power.

By Monday night, seven of Swift’s new songs hit top ten charts on iTunes, with “Shake It Off” at number one. “Shake It Off” probably best captures the theme of her album: being unbeatable and independent.

Another popular song—number four on iTunes—is “Style,” which definitely implies it is about her relationship with Harry Styles, but it does not really matter who it is about. The song is about a boy who isn’t the most faithful boyfriend, but apparently she likes him anyway because they are a classy couple.

Swift’s ability to move so far away from country music in just two albums is also impressive. Fearless seemed to be more a transition: a bit of country, but trying to be pop. Red was a repetitive album, in which many songs either sounded the same or were the same story. It was also downbeat, with songs like “All Too Well,” dwelling on memories of lost love, and “Sad Beautiful Tragic.” This artist has come a long way from “Teardrops on My Guitar.”

1989 consists of successful and popular pop songs with a variety of music and themes. The only really sad, old-Swift style songs would be “This Love,” which is more similar to “Treacherous” from Red.  “Out of the Woods” is also more downbeat, but its mysterious vibe makes up for it.

Unlike songs from Red and other albums, 1989 is more creative. Unlike all being about one boy, it feels as if Swift made up situations to write about, not just songs about her own experience. She did this in “Speak Now,” which was about an experience her friend had when an ex-boyfriend was getting married.

“Welcome to New York” is a less popular song, however, popular enough to rank number eight on iTunes. The song is fairly generic and repetitive. It is similar to “The Lucky One” from Red, but with less personal connection or human feel. But if she wanted it to feel distant because New York City is distant and lacking in real-life connection, then bravo, Taylor.

Taylor Swift is one of the few stable role models in pop music, although she does still have her love of bad boys, as seen in lyrics such as “Look at that face, you look like my next mistake” and “Cause you know I love the players/And you love the game.” This experience is relatable for many people, though, and this song is definitely more relatable than, though similar to, “I Knew You Were Trouble” from Red.

Swift always has a song or two on her albums that don’t relate directly to relationships. On Speak Now, it would be “Long Live”, “22” on Red, “Fifteen” on Fearless, and “Shake It Off” on 1989. Out of all these, “Shake It Off” is probably the most-loved song because of its encouragement to disown social requirements and be yourself, a theme Swift has always stood by, but finally portrayed in 1989.