The moment that we’ve all been waiting for: Taylor Swift’s 10th album, Midnights, is finally here. After the record-breaking success of folklore and evermore, pivoting back to a pop album might seem like an unlikely move for Swift. However, Midnights is an aesthetic as much as it is an album; it ushers in images of cool ambient lighting, empty champagne bottles, crying in the bathroom of a club, and most of all, glitter. Join me in my fangirl era as I overthink absolutely everything and go through Midnights track-by-track.
Starting the album off with a bang, “Lavender Haze” sets the moody, sultry tone for the rest of the album and ensures listeners of Taylor’s triumphant return to her past eras of pop. “Lavender Haze” starts off by asking listeners to “meet [Taylor] at midnight” and fall together into the “all-encompassing love glow” that comes along with any new relationship. This track utilizes her gorgeous breathy falsetto throughout the majority of the chorus, calling to mind standout songs from past albums such as Reputation’s “Dress” or Lover’s “False God” and “I Think He Knows”. While the bridge’s lyrics fall a little flat for me, the driving beat, layers of harmonies, and alluring title (I mean, come on) make for a memorable introduction to this new era.
As the second track of the album, “Maroon” expands on the dark club-like atmosphere of the album (and it includes the first f-bomb of the album—YAY!). “Maroon” is the song that celebrates the love that is subtly present in all the small simple moments of a relationship: enjoying “your roommate’s cheap-a** screw-top rosé”, hickeys left on your lover’s neck, being unable to contain the blush spreading across your face when they’re around. However, it also reminisces on the loss that is present in these small moments: a partner not knowing your favourite kind of flower, no longer having someone to dance slowly with, a city that constantly reminds you of them. With musical production by frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, “Maroon” uses the same moody, brooding synths as Lorde’s 2017 album Melodrama (which also happens to be produced by Antonoff—all the pop girlies love him).
Perhaps one of the most highly anticipated songs on Midnights is “Anti-Hero”, which reveals some of Taylor’s deepest insecurities and introduces a theme that is central to the rest of the album: self-hatred. She’s transparent from the start: in her mind, she is the problem. Even more than that, she causes problems, simply by existing as one of the most famous people on the planet (“I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money / she thinks I left them in the will”). Yet, as a person, she’s tired of dealing with it all: with trying to keep up with her always-racing mind, with not having the “right” body type, with her depressive thoughts constantly berating her. She’s also dealing with a vain fast-moving industry that praises youth, wealth and beauty above most other things. Although the internet might still be trying to figure out what Swift meant by “everybody is a sexy baby”, her clever use of in-line rhyme schemes and a catchy chorus make “Anti-Hero” one of the most memorable songs on the album.
I’m just gonna say it: we needed a Lana verse. Twitter exploded when “Snow On The Beach (ft. Lana Del Rey)” was announced—finally, the collab we’ve all been waiting for! However, instead of a solo verse or chorus, many were disappointed to find Lana Del Rey’s sweeping vocals only echoing Taylor’s. However, just because we’re a little upset doesn’t mean the song isn’t still gorgeous. Full of nature imagery, the women compare the realization that you’ve fallen in love with someone to seeing phenomena like snow on a beach: “weird, but f***ing beautiful”. So true, guys, so true.
[Content Warning: mentions of eating disorders]
Track Five—get ready to have your heart broken. Anyone who watched the 2020 Netflix documentary “Miss Americana” will see the similarities between “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and some of the personal struggles Taylor outlined in the film. Accompanied by a gorgeous pulsating backing track that sounds like a grown-up version of “The Archer”, this song touches on the unsettling feeling that you don’t quite deserve the wonderful love that you’re receiving and that you are not enough just as you are (let me be clear—you are deserving of all the love and happiness that the world has to offer, and the person you are is more than enough). It is clear that these feelings are jarring and anxiety-inducing for Swift (“I hosted parties and starved my body / like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss”); the bridge of the song swells and swells until she makes the observation that she has never had anyone but herself. However, the final note that “you’re on your own, kid / yeah, you can face this” could also be hopeful: she might be realizing that she has the ability to heal her relationship with herself.
I am a firm believer that “Midnight Rain” is the song for anyone whose favourite way to spend an afternoon is curling up with an Emily Henry “sunshine-and-storm-trope” book. Starting off with a distorting voice filter, the song questions why self-sabotage can be so hard to avoid sometimes: “I broke his heart ‘cause he was nice / He was sunshine, I was midnight rain”. Like in “Anti-Hero”, Taylor thinks of herself as the problem again; like in “You’re On Your Own, Kid”, she still doesn’t feel deserving of a love that is peaceful and easy.
However, on one of the highlights of the album, Taylor is back on her feet and ready to DANCE. With a killer backing track that builds with each chorus, the atmosphere of “Question…?” takes us back to the dark, moody club atmosphere we saw at the beginning of the album and transforms it into a sparkly pink backdrop where love and lust are possible again. A song that is so fun, it must’ve been written with a glittery gel pen!
Someone is back in her Reputation era! “Vigilante Sh*t” is so delightfully sinister, and with a killer (literally) opening line (“Draw a cat eye sharp enough to kill a man / you did some bad things but I’m the worst of them”), we are right back there with her. In this maybe-fictional account of an elaborate revenge game, there are some notable lyrics that are just too good to go unmentioned: “While he was doing lines / and crossing all of mine / someone told his white-collar crimes to the FBI” and “picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife”. Might there be some subtle digs at people who have wronged Taylor in the past? Absolutely! Do we care? Absolutely not!
Another glittery gel pen song! If I had to summarize “Bejeweled” in three words, they would be “fun”, “shiny” and “bop”. With dreamy synths and layers upon layers of harmonies, Taylor transports us back into the glittery pink club scene—she breaks up with her boyfriend! She flirts with the band! She’s wearing a cute outfit! Accompanied by a whimsical Cinderella-with-a-twist music video that features the HAIM sisters and Laura Dern, this song is every bit as radiant and lustrous as its name suggests. As a university student, I feel as though I have to mention her lament about the rocky relationship she experiences in the song: “did all the extra credit then got graded on a curve”. If that isn’t the story of our lives!
With a beautiful array of dreamy yet striking synths and the return of that breathy falsetto, “Labyrinth” reminds us all to stop and take a breath. The choruses depict scenes about finding that love is possible again after a breakup, while the verses show the messy aftermath of having your heart broken (“It only feels this rough right now / Lost in the labyrinth of my mind / Break up, break free, break through, break down”). Although the slow build of the song doesn’t come to a definitive peak, “Labyrinth” is an example of some of the finer songwriting on the album.
In “Karma”, Taylor plays the part of a deadly sweet anti-heroine, and in this cinematic universe, she is perfectly fine letting karma run its course with those who have wronged her. While her rivals are anxiously waiting for a taste of their own medicine, Taylor is sweetly letting them know that she won’t be doing the same. In the form of a happy relationship, success on the charts, and a bunch of adorable cats, Swift acknowledges and cements her place at the top of the music industry hierarchy—and maybe even gives us a glimpse into part of her supposed 2016 album, “Karma”, which is thought to have been scrapped.
A sweet little song about those sweet little moments, and my favourite song on the album, “Sweet Nothing” tells the story of a relationship that is peaceful, of a lover who understands you exactly for who you are and never expects you to be anything else. The simple piano tune comes across as absent-minded—it shows that, in order to be true, loving someone doesn’t have to be full of grand gestures or elaborate schemes or passionate, hateful fights. Love can be quieter, while being just as beautiful.
The album’s closer is titled “Mastermind”, and after listening to the album in its entirety, there is no doubt that this label applies to Swift as well (for real, a shout out is needed for anyone who can successfully use the word ‘Machaivellian’ in a pop song and make it sound seamless). As one of the album’s most compelling and complex songs, “Mastermind” expands on the recurring theme of finding a partner who truly understands you, even if you might not understand—or accept—certain aspects of yourself. Returning once again to Lorde’s 2017 album Melodrama, Jack Antonoff’s driving production is unmistakably reminiscent of “Supercut”—and is absolutely stunning. When combined with Taylor’s lyrics, the bridge of the song builds suspense and conveys the all-encompassing urgency that Taylor feels to “make them love me and make it seem effortless”. When her voice breaks on “love me”, it seems like a cry for help, an unattainable dream that her people-pleasing side just can’t let go of no matter how hard she tries.
The “Midnights” album is now available to stream wherever you listen to your music. Now go enjoy!!