Taylor Swift’s latest album, Midnights, had the impossible task of living up to some of her most influential albums. Fans have been anticipating the 13-track album since Swift announced it at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards back in August. Midnights follows the 2020 releases of Folklore and Evermore, which marked Swift’s departure into the indie-folk genre. The sister albums showcased some of Swift’s most intricate and beautiful lyrics, and they brought in many new fans because of their different sound. Swift is also following up her most recent re-release, Red (Taylor’s Version), which brought loyal fans back to 2012 while solidifying her influence in the music industry and within pop culture.
Swift’s ability to seamlessly jump from genre to genre is one of my favorite of her artistic traits. Because of this, I truly had no idea what to expect from Midnights. As someone who enjoys innovative musical production, I was really hoping she would take a creative direction with how this album was produced and mixed (especially knowing she was teaming up with Jack Antonoff, lead singer of Bleachers and Grammy-Award-winning producer).
Upon first listen, I was immediately a fan of the album’s opening track, “Lavender Haze.” It set the tone for Midnights, starting with production similar to Lorde’s Melodrama (due to what I like to call the Jack Antonoff effect). The reverb vocals and punchy beat on top of her floaty vocals create a dreamlike song that matches its story about being in a “Lavender Haze” love.
Some of Swift’s best lyrics and concepts can be found on this album. My personal favorite song, “You’re On Your Own, Kid” revolves around the idea of searching for a feeling from other people that they cannot give you: “I hosted parties and starved my body like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss.” Swift reassures the listeners, saying that while we’re on our own, we always have been, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing because we’ve made it this far already. Her lyric, “So make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it / You’ve got no reason to be afraid” is exactly what emotionally lost listeners need to hear. Additionally, in “Labyrinth,” Swift revisits a topic she’s written about in the past — the fear of finding love after being hurt by love. While the lyrics, “Uh oh, I’m falling in love” are simple, their simplicity is exactly what makes her vulnerable pain so raw and understandable.
Swift returns to her well-known pop star era with “Bejeweled” and “Karma,” two upbeat songs with similar self-empowerment messages. “Bejeweled” is an extended metaphor about never letting another person dull your beauty and sparkle. Its 1989 and Reputation style production may deter newer fans of her indie-pop sound, but they’re missing out on Folklore level lyrics like “Familiarity breeds contempt / Don’t put me in the basement, when I want the penthouse of your heart.” “Karma” is, at its core, a fun song, with its twinkling sound effects and lyrics like “Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend.”
The album concludes with “Mastermind,” a cumulative track that ties together her consistent lyrical and production style on Midnights. Its intriguing concept of wanting someone so badly that you’ll think through every one of your actions in order to lead them toward falling in love with you is unbelievably creative and original. However, I do wish she ended the album with “Sweet Nothing,” a slowed-down ballad co-written with William Bowery (a pseudonym for her long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn) because of its contrast to the mainly upbeat album.
While I am a huge fan of the 1989, Reputation, and Lover love-child that is Midnights, I do have qualms with a few of Swift’s musical choices. I anticipated “Anti-Hero” to be one of my favorites since Swift marketed it as her most vulnerable track. Unfortunately, I felt as though her lyrical and musical choices fell flat. The lyric, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby,” had a symbolic message, referencing a bit from the show 30 Rock about wrongly over sexualizing yourself. While the message is important, its execution missed the mark, as the line quickly became an internet joke. I felt similarly about her lyrics in “Vigilante Shit,” like, “Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man.” I recognize that the song is about self-empowerment, but I find myself cringing at the lyrics.
The narrative behind Midnights makes it Swift’s most coherent album. Described as songs from 13 sleepless nights, the feeling it gives of walking through the city at midnight ties the songs together. The recurring motif of midnight itself in her songs makes it even more intimate, as if we were with her during the songwriting process (“Meet me at midnight” — “Lavender Haze”; “He was sunshine I was midnight rain” — “Midnight Rain”; “Let the only flashing lights be the tower at midnight” — “Paris”).
This album review would be incomplete without mentioning the release night’s 3 a.m. surprise of seven additional tracks. These seven tracks are included in the version of the album titled Midnights (3am Edition). While this album release is specific to Midnights, its 3am edition brought questions as to why these hard-hitting songs were cut from the original album. My personal favorite is “Paris,” — its loving lyrics and upbeat production make it feel like a continuation of “New Romantics” from 1989. I’m also shocked that “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” a song about a feeling deeper than heartbreak — regret and betrayal — and its Folklore level lyrics (and most hard-hitting bridge) got cut from the original album.
Midnights isn’t just another Taylor Swift album — it marks Swift’s ability to stay consistent. Since the start of her career, each of her albums has been a hit in the way it needed to be. While this album doesn’t have the sound or theme of albums like Folklore or Lover, it isn’t supposed to. Midnights is truly a cohesive album defined not by heartbreak or love, but by Swift’s desire to weave us a story about 13 sleepless nights, each resonating with different aspects of our own lives.
This album and era have quickly become one of my favorites, and it’s due to Swift’s incredible ability to tell a story — especially right when you need it the most.
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