Rank: 3.5/5 
Alt-country singer Ryan Adams was relatively unknown to the pop world prior to his cover album of Taylor Swift’s “1989.”
Swift’s “1989” was a pop culture phenomenon, selling more than one million copies in its first week in the United States and spawning five radio hits.
Cover albums are an anomaly in today’s musical landscape, but “1989” was prime musical real estate for Adams, who has previously covered songs by Bob Dylan and Alice In Chains.
Adams’ take on Swift’s modern pop masterpiece is a refreshing and authentic spin on an album, heavy on synths and computer-oriented beats.
Although all the songs are familiar to a listeners of Top 40 or pop-music fan, Adams intertwines his own style with the album.
The album opens with a guitar-driven cover of Swift’s “Welcome to New York.” The cover sounds like it would be a campaign theme song for a New York gubernatorial candidate and that’s okay.
The second song, a rendition of Swift’s mega-hit “Blank Space,” showcases Adams’ raw voice on a familiar melody. It leaves listeners wanting more from Adams’ voice and the simple, beautiful acoustic instruments.
As much as Adams succeeds with his covers of “1989’s” first two songs, he misses the mark with “Style,” using too high of a tempo and too many beats for a song intended to pull listener’s heartstrings.
Adams returns to greatness with “All You Had to Do Was Stay,” incorporating the perfect instruments for the melody-driven track.
Perhaps the album’s best offering is “Wildest Dreams,” Swift’s current single. The mid-tempo song is reminiscent of Swift’s earlier work, and Adams’ cover highlights the instrumental parts of the song.
Even though Swift does not appear on the record with vocals, she’s present in the atmosphere of the album. One may even have a hard time                         believing Adams can relate to the lyrical content.
One of the album’s most personal offerings is “I Know Places,” a story about Swift’s struggle to keep her personal relationships away from the    media.  
Adams, relatively unknown to intense personal media scrutiny, sounds understandably detached from his cover of “I Know Places.”
Ultimately, Adams successfully completed a difficult task, covering, arguably, one of the most popular albums of our generation.