Ryan Adams brings his 1989 covers to The Daily Show

“I’m Taylor, there’s absolutely no more attractive sight than 50,000 of you in this sold out stadium on a Friday night!”

The record breaking album is more than a synth-heavy, fabricated soundtrack; it’s a movement that even Grammy-winner Ryan Adams wasn’t immune to. You have to, basically, play in real time, and we don’t do anything in computers.

Adams performed “Blank Space” last and dedicated the song to a Sandra Bullock movie character.

Following sustained cheers and applause, and the second song, New Romantics, she elaborated only more slightly. “Blank Space“, “Out of the Woods”, and “How You Get the Girl” all have the smooth, folky undertones reminiscent of Bon Iver’s work. In fact, the whole album does.

Adams has said his 1989 is heavily influenced by Nebraska and The Smiths, but that could be applied to most parts of his career. There were still plenty of family-friendly, fairy tale-esque numbers, though, with early-career numbers “You Belong with Me” and “Love Story” working their way into the setlist, as well as a late mash-up of “Enchanted” and “Wildest Dreams”.

The result is spot on. “There’s this handsome aching sadness in this album that doesn’t exist on the original”.

However, the success of the album speaks largely to Swift’s skill as a songwriter. Only a few of the songs sound like they could be uniquely Adams’. It takes a special talent to appeal a group of fans as wide-ranging and fickle as Swift’s; but everyone from the stylish, Budweiser-fuelled millennials to the angsty tweens, pre-schoolers and their obliging parental chaperones seemed enthralled with the show. His emotional register sometimes sounds mismatched when juxtaposed with Swift’s more optimistic millennial worldview. He was inspired to record the cover having seen Swift past year in concert and being, “completely blown away”.

I’m sure there will be plenty of people who prefer the cleaner, clearer notes of Swift’s version.

In other news, Ryan Adams needs a haircut.