In 2014, Taylor Swift fans proved they will listen to anything she puts out when they sent eight seconds of static to the top of the charts. It all started when Swift was in the process of releasing 1989. Canadian iTunes dropped something called “Track 3”, and Swifties shelled out the $1.29 immediately.
Because of a glitch on iTunes, the song was just eight seconds of static. Still, so many fans bought and listened to it that it was catapulted up the charts. It even beat out the previous three singles from the album, including “Welcome To New York”, “Shake It Off”, and “Out Of The Woods”.
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After that brief chart success, the glitch was rectified, and the song was pulled from iTunes. Still, the damage was done. A track of white noise by Taylor Swift was the most popular song in Canada for a short, confusing moment in 2014.
The album 1989 was released in full a week later, with “Track 3” revealed as “Style”. Swift had teased the track earlier on social media. She posted the lyrics “I say ‘I heard that you’ve been out and about with some other girl‘” on Instagram.
Taylor Swift Proves She’s Queen of the Charts With White Noise Track
While we now know that this incident was due to a glitch, it sparked some debate at the time. People wondered whether or not this was a power move on Taylor Swift’s part. As in, was she employing some sort of social experiment on her fans to see how far they would go to support her?
At the end of the day, it was just a weird glitch. Some Swifties were left confused and irritated that they spent money on eight seconds of static. Others had a good laugh with it.
Time magazine put out a review of “Track 3” after it dropped. The piece was titled “A Totally Serious Analysis Of Taylor Swift’s Genre-Defying 8 Seconds Of Static, ‘Track 3’”. Clearly, this glitch brought out the best in some people.
“‘Track 3’ is perhaps her most ambitious track yet,” wrote Nolan Feeney for Time in 2014. “Drawing inspiration from Trent Reznor and that new television she still hasn’t quite figured out how to work since she moved to New York, ‘Track 3’ demonstrates Swift’s willingness to shed her squeaky-clean pop image and move her sound to a darker, industrial and more experimental direction.”
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