Taylor Swift Fans Are ‘Out Of The Woods’: She Won’t Be A Generic Pop Star

Adele, who is working on the follow up to her 2011 hit “21,” will not be releasing a new album this year, her label reported. Whenever she gives the reins of songwriting over to Svengalis like Max Martin, she trades narrative individuality for universal appeal. She has a songwriting credit on “Shake it Off,” naturally, along with Martin and Shellback, but you’d never know it; the song sounds like it was penned by a Martian who doesn’t know anything about Swift or her public persona. As I noted when the video debuted, the opening line in particular is a hilariously jarring one, as no one has ever accused noted homebody/Law and Order watcher Taylor Swift of staying out too late or having nothing in her brain. “Shake it Off” is a snappy little earworm that could just as easily have been a hit for Miley Cyrus (framed as a middle-finger to her critics) or Katy Perry (in the mode of her usual platitude-as-empowerment-anthem thing) or Ariana Grande (no discernable onstage personality so what difference would it make).

Taylor Swift tweeted about it for days. She Instagrammed in anticipation all evening. She went on “Good Morning America” to talk about it, whipping up a complicit entertainment news media. And then at midnight on Monday, as promised, Taylor Swift’s latest single, “Out of the Woods,” was released and quickly shot to No. 1 on the iTunes’ chart. The song, co-written with Jack Antonoff of the band Fun, is the second single for Ms. Swift’s next album, “1989,” which comes out Oct. 27. Laden with synthesizers, “Out of the Woods” is clearly in the pop realm, demonstrating Ms. Swift’s transition from crossover country phenomenon to unqualified pop star. The album’s first single, “Shake It Off,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s pop charts even though it was largely ignored by country radio stations, once her biggest promoters. In a season of experimental album-release stunts — U2 offering its new album free to 500 million iTunes users, Thom Yorke using BitTorrent, a file-sharing technology usually favored for piracy — Ms. Swift and her label, Big Machine, are using tried-and-true marketing techniques to push hard for big opening-week sales for “1989.” Those include advance singles serviced to pop radio stations, frequent media appearances and a constant drumbeat of social-media notifications.

In August, Ms. Swift announced the release of “Shake It Off” through a talk-show presentation in the Empire State Building streamed live by Yahoo. The video quickly became a smash hit online and within a few days she performed the song at MTV’s Video Music Awards.

Other big album releases this fall include Florida Georgia Line’s “Anything Goes” and the commercial release of U2’s “Songs of Innocence,” both out this week; Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter V,” scheduled for Oct. 28; the soundtrack to the next “Hunger Games” film, programmed by Lorde, on Nov. 18; Nicki Minaj’s “The Pinkprint,” scheduled for Nov. 24; AC/DC’s “Rock or Bust,” on Dec. 2; and possibly others by Kanye West and One Direction.