Some things just get better with age. This applies to cheese, wine, and Taylor Swift. Swift’s new album is kicking ass and taking names. I absolutely love it and think she’s a genius but what’s new? Here are my top 10 tracks from Midnights (3am version).
1.) “Maroon”
Number one, by far. “Maroon” to me feels like taking the darkness of Reputation, the heartbreak of Red, the beats of 1989 and sprinkling on the new sound Swift has brought to Midnight to create an absolute bop. If you’ve read any of my articles about her music in the past, you know I am all about emo Taylor and I just feel like this song takes all of her strengths in that darker area and amplifies them.
Favorite Lyric: “The mark they saw on my collar bone/The rust that grew between telephones/The lips I used to call home/So scarlet, it was maroon”
2.)“Sweet Nothing”
This is such a sweet song to me because I have followed Swift throughout the years and have listened to her sing about having her heart completely obliterated time and time again. On top of all the heartbreak, she’s dealt with being constantly ridiculed and canceled, falling in and out of favor with the general public. In this song, she talks about the safe haven she has found in her boyfriend, Joe Awlyn. He is her peace and according to Swift she can admit that she is “too soft” for the weight of everything she’s been through.
Favorite Lyric: “Outside they’re push and shoving/You’re in the kitchen humming/All that you ever wanted from me was/Sweet Nothing”
3.)“You’re on Your Own Kid”
I like a good ole fashion storyline song. “You’re on Your Own Kid” joins the countless others including “Love Story”,”Cornelia Street”,“Betty”, and “Getaway Car”. It tells the story of a girl who wants to leave her hometown but is in love with someone that she would potentially stay for. Learning this person does not care, she gets the hell out of there.
Favorite Lyric: “From sprinkler splashes/To fireplace ashes/I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this/I hosted parties/And starved my body/Like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss”
4.) “Lavender Haze”
Starting off the album with this song got me very excited to hear the rest. It is another one of those songs that I feel combines elements that I appreciate from other albums. For this one I hear the escapism from Lover, the mysticism from Folklore, and the song structure and attitude of Reputation. I like the phrase “lavender haze” which Swift described as an “all-encompassing love glow” and explains “This song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”
Favorite Lyric: “I find it dizzying/They’re bringing up mt history/But you weren’t even listening.”
5.) “Would’ve, Should’ve, Could’ve”
If John Mayer thought he was safe until the rerecording of Speak Now, he was sorely mistaken. “Dear John” is arguably the most gut wrenching song in her entire discography and she has not forgotten the way he made “the girl in the dress cry the whole way home”. In this song she reflects on what would’ve happened if she never “danced with the devil.” The song is very powerful and no doubt resonates with many of Swift’s fans as older men taking advantage of younger women is by no means a concept unique to Swift. At one point Swift asks “If I was some paint did it splatter/On a promising grown man/And if I was a child did it matter/If you got to wash your hands.” Yikes Johnny boy.
Favorite Lyric: “I can’t let this go/I fight with you in my sleep/The wound won’t close/I keep on waiting for a sign/I regret you all the time”
6.) “Midnight Rain”
At first I wasn’t a huge fan of this song because of the autotune chorus. To be honest, I’m still not into that aspect of the song but I have found that it has plenty of redeeming qualities. A big one being the overall topic of the song. It can be hard to differentiate which of Swift’s songs are about her personal life and which are about a character. However, Swift did say that Midnights is about “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.” So, it seems as if during her rise to fame Swift might have left behind a high school sweetheart. One who she claims to have “broke his heart cause he was nice.” I will say I’m not convinced this is about an individual at all. I think the boy she’s talking about is a personification of a normal life. I think on this “sleepless night” she is wondering what her life would have been like if she was never famous.
Favorite Lyric: “So I peered through a window/A deep portal, time travel/All the love we unravel/And the life I gave away”
7.) “Labyrinth”
This song is about falling in love again after having your heart broken. I feel like you can hear the hesitation in her voice but also the acceptance of the fact that “oh no” she is, indeed, “falling in love again”.
Favorite Lyric: “It only hurts this much right now/Is what I was saying/The whole time/Breathe in, breathe through,breathe out/I’ll be getting over you, my whole life”
8.) “Mastermind”
I love the energy of this song and just the general acceptance of being a little bit crazy.
Favorite Lyric: “And the touch of a hand lit the fuse/Of a chainreaction of countermoves/To assess the equation of you/Checkmate, I couldn’t lose”
9.) “Bigger Than the Whole Sky”
This song is very sad and also leads me to believe that Swift may have suffered a miscarriage at some point in her life. Many fans who have miscarried have connected with this song. One fan tweeted “If you’ve ever had a loved one suffer a miscarriage and want to understand how they feel, listen to Taylor Swift’s “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” Cannot speak to whether this was her intention, but her lyrics crystallize what I and many others have experienced so eloquently.”
Favorite Lyric: “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye/You were bigger than the whole sky/You were more than just a short time”
10.) “Vigilante Shit”
The same vibe as the entire Reputation album, of course I love it.
Favorite Lyric: “While he was doing lines/And crossing all of mine/Someone told his white collar crimes/To the FBI/And I don’t dress for villains/or for innocents/I’m on my vigilante shit again/I don’t start shit but I can tell you how it ends”