This year, music’s sweetheart Taylor Swift took a big risk.

She shirked the genre that raised her – country music – in favour of another world fraught with cattiness, competition and heavy hitters worth their weight in gold: pop music.

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The backlash was almost immediate.

Swift’s spiritual home, the Country Music Association, tweeted a backhanded message of farewell the minute her pop-synth single Shake it Off dropped.

“Good luck on your new venture @taylorswift13! We’ve LOVED watching you grow!” the Association wrote on its Twitter account, before promptly deleting it.

Critics were quick to jump aboard the anti-Swift bandwagon, deeming the song “disappointing”.

“Taylor Swift is now a pop star. Ugh,” The Daily Beast wrote in August.

Swift was even accused of being a racist by rapper Earl Sweatshirt, who claimed the music video for Shake it Off perpetuated black stereotypes. He later admitted he hadn’t even bothered to watch the clip.

Two months on and Swift is having the last laugh.

Her debut pop album, titled 1989 after the year of her birth, was released on Monday to the sound of cash registers ringing worldwide.

Her reach is undeniable – even before the album officially launched she previewed the single Welcome to New York on iTunes and it shot right to the top spot.

The problem? Swift’s record company had uploaded the wrong file and the song was purely three minutes of static. People were effectively paying money for white noise because it had her golden-haired, long-legged stamp of approval on it.

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But with each new single released, her naysayers had a different tune, with The Daily Beast calling 1989 “the best pop record of the year”.

New York Times music critic Joe Caramanica said Swift had successfully made the transition from country to pop and, in doing so, quietly challenged the rest of the pop world, including superstars like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.

“Full of expertly constructed, slightly neutered songs about heartbreak, 1989, which is to be released on Monday, doesn’t announce itself as oppositional. But there is an implicit enemy on this breezily effective album: the rest of mainstream pop, which 1989 has almost nothing in common with,” Caramanica wrote.

In this battle, she is more than well-equipped.

Unlike her pin-up peers, such as Rihanna and Katy Perry, Swift is a songwriter. Her vocal chops might not always be up to scratch but her lyrics defy you not to sing along with her.

Her choice of collaborators on 1989 is also a nod to real talent. Swift chose to work with Imogen Heap, Fun.’s Jack Antonoff and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, who are anything but carbon copy mouthpieces, they’re veritable songwriters.

The confidence in Swift’s pop-writing makes it hard to believe she was the teen-queen of country.

Singles Blank Space and Bad Blood are both highly infectious, while I Know Places has a darker edge.

Album sales are also carried by Swift’s innovative methods of engaging with fans. To coincide with the release of 1989, she held “secret sessions” in capital cities around the world in which 89 fans were allowed into her living room for an exclusive preview listening session.

By coming up with an original and upfront way to relate to her loyal followers, Swift has set herself apart from the autograph-happy likes of Perry and Justin Timberlake. She’s revolutionising the artist-follower relationship and making others pale in comparison.

But despite her huge fan base, and a can-it-be-real clumsy-but-beautiful image, Swift has her detractors.

She haphazardly lumbers around, stumbling into strange red carpet outfits (hello, tiny blue jumpsuit at the MTV awards), meme-worthy awkward moments and ill-advised PR decisions. What her fans count as sincerity is often interpreted as fake and calculated.

Already, her new role as tourism ambassador for New York City has been deemed “embarrassing” by Gawker.

However, it’s her dorkiness that makes her charming, a beacon for the brace-faced pimply teens trapped in their awkward phase, relatable in a way the gleaming, flawless Beyonce never could be.

“Taylor is, like, so amazing,” said one young American fan after meeting her.

“And the album is, like, so good. I’m just so happy.”

‘1989’: a track-by-track breakdown

1. Welcome to New York: an ode to Swift’s adopted hometown, with synth-pop styling and the writing prowess of OneRepublic hit-maker Ryan Tedder.

Highlight: “Walking through a crowd, the village is aglow, kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats.”

2. Blank Space: a nod to the singer’s tumultuous romantic past and a classic infectious pop tune about the potential of new love.

Highlight: “Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane.”

3. Style: infused with retro references and Grease-esque imagery, this is essentially a song about a very stylish couple, but given the name, there has been speculation this is about former boyfriend One Direction star Harry Styles.

Highlight: “You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye and I got that red lip classic thing you like.”

4. Out of the Woods: focusing on that volatile period in the beginning of a new relationship, Out of the Woods is possibly the most uncharacteristic track on the album. Catchy, beat-heavy and powerful, it’s also rumoured to be about Swift’s relationship with Styles.

Highlight: “We decided to move the furniture so we could dance baby like we stood a chance, two paper aeroplanes flying.”

5. All You Had to Do Was Stay: a slap in the face to commitment-phobes, light and bouncy but with serious attitude.

Highlight: “Let me remind you this was what you wanted.”

6. Shake it Off: the most recognisable track off the album, a number one hit in Australia for weeks on end and an unabashed pop mega-hit. This is Swift’s sassy way of responding to the rumour mill and the haters.

Highlight: “I go on too many dates, but I can’t make ’em stay, at least that’s what people say.”

7. I Wish You Would: a tempo-twisting collaboration with Fun.’s Jack Antonoff (boyfriend of Swift’s good friend Lena Dunham) about missing past love.

Highlight: “We’re a crooked love in a straight line down.”

8. Bad Blood: an arena-friendly, Gwen Stefani-esque track about a nasty breakup.

Highlight: “‘Cos baby now we got bad blood, you know it used to be mad love.”

9. Wildest Dreams: channelling Lana Del Rey, Swift sings wistfully about wearing a nice dress and red lips while dating a bad boy.

Highlight: “He’s so tall and handsome as hell, he’s so bad but he does it so well.”

10. How You Get the Girl: upbeat and reminiscent of her earlier material, Swift sings about a hesitant lover.

Highlight: “I want you for worse or for better, I would wait for ever and ever.”

11. This Love: slow and melancholic tribute to the cyclical nature of romance.

Highlight: “Your kiss, my cheek, unwashed, you leave, your smile, my ghost, I fell to my knees.”

12. I Know Places: a moody, coy nod to the media circus surrounding Swift and all her relationships.

Highlight: “Cause they got the cages, they got the boxes and guns. They are the hunters, we are the foxes and we run.”

13. Clean: co-written with Imogen Heap, Swift laments the struggle of moving on from someone.

Highlight: “You’re still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore.”