Does Taylor Swiftâ€™s â€˜1989â€™ live up to the hype?

After months of hype and rumor, Taylor Swift's fifth album "1989" is finally here. The 13 songs were finally released on iTunes at 12am on Monday. But was it worth the wait?

Here's our track-by-track guide.

'Welcome to New York'

★★★½

"Everybody here was someone else before," sings Swift on the buoyant opener. Ain't that the truth; country's little girl ain't a girl no more and it's obvious that Tennessean is taking to her new life in New York with wide-eyed zeal. A great start to the album.

'Blank Space'

★★½

There's a touch of Timbaland to the R&B bounce of "Blank Space" and Swift shows a surprisingly self-aware and witty side as she pokes fun of her public perception as a serial break-up artist looking for the next emotional drama.

'Style'

★★★

"Style" couldn't have been named anything else, because it has it in spades. Slick new-wave production, funky Hall and Oates guitars and Swift's breathy chorus helps to make this one of the most sophisticated sounding works she has yet produced.

'Out of the Woods'

★★★½

Jack Antonoff's John Hughes-inspired side-project Bleachers bleeds all over "Out of the Woods" in the best possible way.

The drama of Swift's failed relationship with Harry Styles simmers in the details of the verses before the bombast of the chorus brings the pay-off. A brilliantly crafted track on every level.

'All You Had to Do Was Stay'

★★

The remnants of another relationship are picked over by Swift and while the chorus is solid, the rest of the "All You Had to Do Was Stay" feels generic and uninspired. The first trace of filler, but definitely not the last.

'Shake It Off'

★½

When the album's lead single was revealed in August, most of us were willing to play along with its playful, anti-hater spirit but the breakdown in which Swift tries her hand at schoolyard rapping gets more cringe-worthy on every listen.

In a few years, she's going to be thoroughly embarrassed by it…if she isn't already.

'I Wish You Would'

★★

Another Antonoff collaboration which sounds directly influenced by the circling beats and spearing guitars of New Order's sublime 1987 single "True Faith." But Swift's regretful lyrics aren't especially engaging and the song passes largely without incident or interest.

'Bad Blood'

★

The pre-release buzz for "1989" had this pegged as a potential Katy Perry smack down and while there's definitely beef here, it's delivered in plastic jerky form instead of prime sirloin.

The lyrics are clunky ("now we got bad blood, you know we used to be mad love") and the electro hip-hop beats are weak. Disappointing stuff for someone like Swift who usually produces her best stuff when singing (or scowling) from the heart.

'Wildest Dreams'

★★

Memories of relationship are recalled on wistfully on "Wildest Dreams" with a heartbeat rhythm, some wispy production and echoing vocals.

Eroticism is not usually a part of Swift's vocabulary but she gets tantalizingly close here when she sings "no one has to know what we do, his hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room." It's perfect fodder for those Harry Styles fan-fiction writers.

'How You Get The Girl'

★½

Swift has stated that she's not dating currently but the hopeless romantic lives on in this track that's written almost as an advice column on keeping the flame of love alive. It's lyrically sweet but musically uninspired.

'This Love'

★★

The idea of Taylor turning her back on her down-home roots isn't completely true. The album's first ballad starts with a lone acoustic guitar and even though it's soon overtaken by electronic production, the long-distance yearning of "This Love" is pure country. Not a bad thing at all.

'I Know Places'

★½

The paparazzi have been a constant in Swift's life recently and this is her answer. On the pedestrian "I Know Places," she envisions a future courtship held away from prying eyes and long lenses but it's a sentiment that doesn't quite ring true.

The gossip machine has undoubtedly propelled Swift's career further than it would ever have gone on merely music alone. At this point, Swift can't have her cake and eat it too.

'Clean'

★★½

Water metaphors flood the final track as Swift again examines the remnants of love gone awry. But the melodic power and incandescent instrumentation of "Clean" (co-written by Imogen Heap) stops the rot in the album's underwhelming final third and ends "1989" serenely.

FINAL VERDICT

★★½

Reinvention is strong word for "1989."

Her decision to collaborate with producer de jours such as Max Martin, Shellback and Ryan Tedder to create a more pop-orientated sound works well when the songs are solid (see "Welcome To New York" and "Out Of The Woods") but frequently takes her into generic Top 40 territory.

Swift's lyrical evolution meanwhile is much slower – and it's partly by design. As a young pop star, she wants us all to talk about her and "1989" is an album that will encourage fans and non-fans alike to comb the lyrics and throw around opinions.

There are nuggets of personal information about her life, knowingly coy lyrical references to her detractors and many contradictory attitudes to love that will inspire sympathy and annoyance in equal measures.

The music's good, at times great, but the overall intrigue is what makes Taylor Swift such a phenomenon. Wisely, she's left that alone. They might be coated differently to her 2012 album "Red" but once again, Swift has thrown her Scooby Snacks at us and we're all going to bite, one way or another.