Taylor Swift, an American singer-songwriter, released her 10th studio album, Midnights, on Friday, October 21st of 2022. Having sold over 200 million records globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Her awards include 11 Grammy Awards, including three Album of the Year wins; an Emmy Award; 34 American Music Awards; 29 Billboard Music Awards; and 84 Guinness World Records. She was also named Artist of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. To sum things up, Taylor is a living legend.
She is well known for succeeding in her journey through various genres throughout her discography, having begun in 2006 as a country artist. Over time, she transitioned to country-pop, pop, indie-folk, and alternative music, and has experimented with rock and electronic styles. Despite changes in genre and musical influence, one thing remained the same: her narrative songwriting.
The release of the Midnights album was highly anticipated after both longtime fans and new fans longed to hear more music after the success of her sister albums, Folklore and Evermore, which were surprise releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. With every album comes a new era, meaning a shift in musical style, visuals, fashion taste, and overall aesthetics. Leading up to its release, many fans speculated details on the album based on what they thought to be easter eggs, which Swift is known for strategically placing for fans to figure out clues. During this time, she started a Tik Tok series called “Midnights Mayhem with Me”, where she’d release the track titles based on which number resulted from a bingo cage.
Upon its release, Taylor broke several records. She became the first artist in history to occupy all 10 songs in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, surpassed 1 billion global streams in under a week, became the first artist to ever get 11 albums debut at one, became the first to occupy the top five on the Billboard Global Hits 200, and more.
Midnights is a concept album surrounding the theme of sleepless nights, with songs covering topics such as anxiety, self-confidence, and self-criticism, to name a few. This album was written and produced by Taylor alongside Jack Antonoff, who has worked with Taylor since her album 1989, released in 2014. Musically, she experimented with dream pop, bedroom pop, electronica, and synth-pop which was a major shift from the alternative/indie-folk songs of Folklore and Evermore.
Now, let’s move on to my personal song ranking of Midnights, which I am choosing to rank in order of personal enjoyment and which I gravitate towards as a longtime swiftie, rather than any technical reasoning. Why did I choose this? I encourage you to find out for yourself!
- Karma
- Anti-hero
- Bejeweled
- Lavender Haze
- You’re On Your Own, Kid
- Midnight Rain
- Sweet Nothing
- Mastermind
- Vigilante Sh*t
- Maroon
- Labyrinth
- Question…?
- Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey)
Despite having listened to the album various times, I feel like this list will still be subject to change and won’t be concrete. Overall, I really enjoyed this release and would give this album somewhere between a 7.5/8 out of 10. If I were to add her Midnights (3am Edition), I’m sure my ranking would be different. When it comes to ranking this album, I feel it depends on the perspective you’re choosing to look at, whether its sound or lyricism. After all, music does have its objective and subjective points.
Taylor Swift has recently announced her latest tour, The Eras Tour, after not having toured since 2018. The Eras Tour will be a journey through her musical eras of the past and present and is set to embark on March 18th, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. The first leg of the tour will span across several US stadiums, with international dates coming soon. Presale ticket sales begin on Tuesday, November 15th, with the general public onsale starting Friday, November 18th.