For her “1989” album, Swift changed up her sound and switched from country to pop music. The change in direction worked for Swift and the album was a huge success.

It was during this particular era that Swift held surprise listening parties for fans at her various houses. While most stars would be terrified to let fans into their homes, Swift had a special screening process beforehand.

Taylor Swift Made The Move From Country To Pop With Her ‘1989’ Album

Prior to her album “1989,” Swift had already been delving into pop territory. Even though her brand of country music always incorporated pop elements, she was starting to stray away from country with her album “Red” in 2012. She scored big hits with the singles “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “22,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

Among her collaborators on “Red” was pop songwriting genius Max Martin. Swift enlisted him again for “1989,” as she told Billboard in 2014.

“Max Martin and [Karl Johan] Shellback [Schuster] were the last people I collaborated with on ‘Red,’ and I wished we could have done more and explored more,” Swift said. “So going into this album, I knew that I wanted to start with them again.”

While Swift was happy with the album, not everyone on her team was as enthusiastic.

“When I knew the album had hit its stride, I went to Scott Borchetta and said, ‘I have to be honest with you: I did not make a country album. I did not make any semblance of a country album,’” she said. “And of course he went into a state of semi-panic and went through all the stages of grief — the pleading, the denial.”

Taylor Invited Fans To Her Houses For Secret Listening Parties Of ‘1989’

In order to get fans excited for her upcoming album release, Swift held surprise listening parties for her fans. She called these parties “The ‘1989’ Secret Sessions” and they took place at Swift’s various homes. These included Los Angeles, New York, Rhode Island, Nashville, and her London hotel room. The fans got to hear the album months before the release.

Swift fan Sammie Carter was at Swift’s Los Angeles home for one of the listening parties. She would detail her experience on her Tumblr blog.

“I received a private message via Twitter from Taylor Nation,” Carter wrote.

The estimated 30 fans were shuttled by bus to Swift’s home where there was a big lunch spread. After the meal, the guests were led inside where they sat in the living room for the listening party.

“That’s when Taylor herself walked into the room and we all lost it,” Carter wrote. “There were a ton of tears, laughter and hugging. Tissues were passed around. Taylor was so happy to see us and so excited that we were so excited. She told us that she had been planning this for months and had been looking at all her fan’s social media accounts to find the ones she wanted to invite. She thought it was so weird to see our photos on the internet and then to see us in real life. Yeah, ditto, Taylor.”

For most celebrities, inviting a group of fans to their home doesn’t seem like a good idea. It could be a safety issue and cause a security risk. When asked about this, Swift didn’t seem too concerned.

Swift explained her “screening process” to David Letterman when she was a guest on his show.

“The screening process was like, a girl taking a selfie and I could see she’s got my poster in the background and she writes me a cute comment on Instagram,” Swift said. “Or somebody saying, ‘I’ve been to five shows, I’ve never met you before.’ None of these people who came to ‘The Secret Sessions’ had ever met me. So I wanted to meet them in a situation where they never felt rushed, they weren’t waiting outside…”

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When Letterman pressed further about security and whether Swift’s young fans were with their parents, Swift said the parents were present if a fan was under the age of 18.

Swift was very clear that she wanted real fans to be invited to the event. She further discussed her preparation for the listening parties to Graham Norton.

“I would go online and I would look at their Instagram pages, or their Twitter or their Tumblr or whatever and I just kind of watched them for months and months,” she said.

The listening parties would become a tradition for Swift and her fans. She held other “Secret Sessions” when her albums “Reputation” and “Lover” were about to be released.