After the commercial success of her fourth album, Red, American singer/songwriter Taylor Swift  released her fifth studio album, titled 1989, on Oct. 27. The album is the “first documented official pop album,” as Swift said herself, representing a departure from the country pop style music of her early career. The album experiments with the synthpop style of music as a result of this departure.

However, music style perhaps isn’t the only thing Taylor Swift should have departed from. But first, the positive parts. The change of musical style certainly sets Swift apart in a market saturated with country pop. The new synthetic and techno beat adds a nice touch to songs such as “Welcome to New York” and “Shake It Off.” The album falls in the category of music referred to as “car-music,” meaning the type of music one would listen in a car to keep up a smooth groove while driving.

However, lyrics count too, and even if Swift’s style is nice, the topics discussed not so much. Music and songs are about expressing the human condition through sounds and notes. A very important emotion is love, of course, and Swift does a pretty decent job of expressing the basics of love.

The only problem is that is all she ever sings about. The album ends up being 50 minutes of songs that sound like what a 5-year-old girl would think love is. It is made worse by the fact that the musical market is filled to the brim with music of this kind.

While the album makes some welcome choices, has a lively sense and exciting music, ultimately it is driven down by the non-stop love songs. If only that was to be different, this album would be near perfect. It even earns some extra points because in one of its songs, titled “How You Get the Girl,” she makes fun of the romance between Justin Bieber and Selena Goméz.

While some might enjoy this album, my personal opinion comes down to one word: mediocre.