A word of advice: don’t judge an album based on its iTunes samples. Folk rock artist Ryan Adams released his cover of Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ album on September 21st, with the pop music queen’s blessing and full support, and it’s currently fourth on the iTunes charts. When I first clicked on the sample for Adams’ cover of “Welcome to New York,” I couldn’t really get into his style of music and honestly thought it sounded like one of those delirious midnight karaoke performances seen in cliché movies. Despite these first impressions, I gave it a second chance.

Now I can say that Ryan Adams’ cover of ‘1989’ is heartbreakingly beautiful. At first I wasn’t sure if I would purchase the album, but now I would definitely would consider it. There was raw and powerful vocals full of depth and emotion in chart toppers like “Blank Space” and “Style,” creating a moody atmosphere. In “Shake It Off,” his voice builds and builds as the song progresses, as if Adams is truly freeing and rebuilding himself from the players, haters, heartbreakers, and fakers Swift sings so happily about. In “This Love,” Adams is utterly vulnerable, and his voice is full of heartache and pain. This emphasizes Swift’s songwriting prowess in an even bigger, better, and brighter light. Swift recognized this, tweeting that, “Ryan’s music helped shape my songwriting. This is surreal and dreamlike.”

Throughout the album, Adams’ vocals showed similarities to Bruce Springsteen, and his guitar chords seemed like Tom Petty himself was playing the guitar. Ryan Adams’ take on the pop album brought a whole new facet of the 80s vibe Swift put out, making the album full of heartbreaking ballads and powerful anthems to jam out to. After finding out about it in August, Swift herself soon began counting down the days to its release on Twitter. Comedian Lena Dunham even praised Adams for his work on Twitter, saying that “It’s a masterwork. @taylorswift13 as you never imagined.” Many of Taylor Swift’s fans also showed love for Adams’ covers on Twitter.

Although many have praised the album, some people have harshly criticized Adam’s work. When freshman Sarah Jane Mee listened to Adams’ cover of “Style,” she physically cringed throughout the whole duration of the song. “This is horrible. It’s like John Krueger Mellencamp trying to sing Taylor Swift.” Mee simply couldn’t get into the “folk rock” genre that Adams is a part of and favors the original pop versions over these covers. Freshman Zehra Mahmud agreed with Mee as well, saying that his cover of “Blank Space” had “No progress or beat. it’s just one continuous chord. I think the guy just needs to stop sounding like he has stuffy nasal passages. It would honestly be better if Troy Bolton was singing it.”

Unlike Mahmud and Mee, who were thrown off by Adams’ indie and folk-styled vocals, freshman Genevieve Oberholzer paid attention to the melodies of the song. Upon listening to Adams’ take on “Shake It Off,” she says that she “Didn’t really like the trumpet in her song, but it [Adams’ cover] isn’t upbeat like it’s supposed to be. She made it so that you could hear the lyrics, but this just bunches all of it together and you can’t really get the message.” Oberholzer also listened to Adams’ interpretation of “All You had To Do Was Stay” and liked it much better than “Shake It Off.” Mahmud also listened to “Wildest Dreams” and agreed with Oberholzer, saying that the “The lesser known songs were so much better compared to ‘Style’ and ‘Blank Space.’ I still don’t think I’d buy the album though.”

Even though everyone has their own music taste and opinion, I think that this stripped-back, acoustic rendition of one of pop music’s most successful albums, proves that Taylor Swift, one of the most accomplished music artists of our time, really does seem to “never go out of style.”