Someone as skilled and respected as Taylor shouldn't have an excuse for making a single this bland.
Nothing about Shake It Off is that interesting. The horn line sounds too close to All of the Lights, a comparison and battle that Swift was bound to lose. The inspirational message that directly pertains to Taylor is cute, but pales to other inspirational anthems Firework or Born This Way. Even the spoken bridge comes far too short of matching Swift's last (phenomenal) lead single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Shake It Off explores a different sound for Taylor with its use of wind instruments, but it comes off as following the trend set forth by Jason DeRulo and Ariana Grande earlier this year. In short, Shake It Off just doesn't bring anything new to the table.
Now, don't despair Swifties. Swift loves having diverse albums that push genre boundaries extensively - maybe this is just one of the outliers. Maybe there's an I Knew You Were Trouble or You Belong With Me lurking on 1989. If there isn't, we might have some problems, because this sure better not be it.
Grade: 33/100
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