Is Taylor Swift’s Midnights, MID-nights?
**CONTENT WARNING: use of profanity
On August 28, the day of the 2022 VMAs, Taylor Swift announced her 10th studio album, Midnights. In the months leading up to the album’s release, she teased track names and the soft, indie cover art of the album. Her team marketed the album similar to folklore and evermore, which were intimate and vulnerable projects. In this album, Swift hoped to recount 13 sleepless nights from her life, with songs resembling some of her popular eras, like Reputation.
Prior to the album's release, Swift teased the tracks through Tiktok on a series called “Midnights Mayhem with Me.” There, she also revealed that she would collaborate with Lana Del Rey on Track 4: Snow on the Beach. On Midnights, Swift also worked with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, who produced and/or wrote a majority of the songs on the album, along with other songwriters, including “William Bowery” AKA Joe Alwyn, her longtime partner.
Fast forward to October 21st: it’s 12:00 am. We rushed to Spotify, hoping to start listening to Midnights at midnight sharp. It seemed that all the other swifties were thinking the same thing, resulting in the website crashing. After a few minutes of technical issues, we began playing the opening track, Lavender Haze. “Meet me at Midnight,” Taylor sang, as the song began.
Track 1: Lavender Haze
Midnights start out strong with this album opener. Swift explains her longtime relationship with Joe Alwyn, and the outside media attention their relationship receives. Swift’s breathy and upbeat delivery reminds us of “I Think He Knows” from her 2019 album, Lover.
Track 2: Maroon
The song is really strong lyrically (The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me/And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was/The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones) but the delivery of the bridge is what makes the song for us, since it sounds like something out of her 2017 album, Reputation. We do think that Swift’s swearing does sound awkward because of her delivery (not only in this song, but throughout the album), however, this is still one of the strongest tracks from Midnights.
Track 3: Anti-Hero
Anti-Hero is Swift’s lead single from Midnights, and “a real guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself.” Swift laments her struggles with her body and depression and her relatable lyrics (I’m the problem, it’s me) sets this track up to be an instant radio hit, despite some strange choices in her lyricism (Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby).
Track 4: Snow on the Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey)
While it’s widely agreed that Lana Del Rey’s feature on the track was underwhelming, we think that the actual chorus was done really well because both artists’ voices are able to blend together. We think Lana should’ve had at least a verse of her own, but it’s not as much of a disappointment as listeners are making it out to be.
Track 5: You’re On Your Own, Kid
Taylor Swift has a purposeful habit of making the most emotional song on her albums track five (like “All Too Well,” “my tears ricochet,” “The Archer,” etc.) and this is certainly true on Midnights. The highlight of the track is the bridge, where Swift recounts her entire rise to fame and how it affected her, from her eating disorder (I hosted parties and starved my body) to being the target of many sexist jokes (the jokes weren’t funny).
Track 6: Midnight Rain
This track starts out with Swift’s distorted voice, which admittedly sounds like James Charles. However, after replaying this song a few times, the catchy hook (He was sunshine, I was midnight rain/ He wanted it comfortable/ I wanted that pain/ He wanted a bride/I was making my own name/ Chasing that fame/ He stayed the same/ All of me changed like midnight) quickly made it one of our favorites from the album.
Track 7: Question…?
The high point of this track is the chorus (Can I ask you a question?/ Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room?) and the storytelling on the track is done well. However, the rest of the lyrics and production are forgettable. We would recommend playing this song in the background while you’re studying and you can jump in during the chorus.
Track 8: Vigilante Shit
The stripped back production and dark lyrics sound like a mature version of Reputation. Throughout the song, Swift describes how she seeks revenge against someone who wronged her and the trouble they’re going through with their ex-wife, possibly alluding to Kanye and Kim or Scooter Braun, the owner of the masters and rights to her first albums. Either way, the creative vocal delivery makes this one of our favorite tracks on the album.
Track 9: Bejeweled
“Bejeweled” is one of Taylor Swift’s self-described “glitter gel pen songs,” or songs that make you want to dance or toss glitter around the room. This is an enjoyable song, but not anything special lyrically or vocally, due to its repetitive beat and juvenile tone. Considering that Midnights was marketed as a darker album, this track was somewhat unexpected.
Track 10: Labyrinth
Swift’s breathy delivery on this track and the production is god tier (good job, Jack). The simple lyrics of Uh no, I’m falling in love is beautiful and this song as a whole is severely underrated. The vocal modulation works better at the end of this song than on “Midnight Rain.”
Track 11: Karma
Between bizarre but simple lyrics (Karma is a cat/ Purring in my lap cuz it loves me) is a really catchy, but thematically jarring, song. While it doesn’t fit with the rest of the album, it definitely has anyone getting up and dancing.
Track 12: Sweet Nothing
Taylor wrote this sweet song with “William Bowery” (Joe Alwyn), her longtime partner. Throughout this love song, Swift and Alwyn describe simple ways of how love can be shared (I wrote a poem/You said what a mind/This happens all the time). As a result, the entire track feels warm and delicate, and the beautiful production with soft bells and chimes add to this as well. However, compared to the other songs on the album, which overall have better lyricism or production, this track is forgettable, although we do think that this track does accomplish what it sets out to do.
Track 13: Mastermind
The standard edition of this album closes with “Mastermind,” which is a clever nod to how she “schemed” to ensure how she and Joe Alwyn would end up together and also gain the love of her fans. Swift is also known for how she carefully plans easter eggs and releases years in advance, another example of her “mastermind” behaviors.
Prior to the album’s release, Swift also teased a surprise at 3:00 am on her Instagram account. Fans awaited a tour announcement while others anticipated new merch dropping on her website. Instead, we were met with the seven new tracks. Were they worth the three hours of excitement? Let’s see:
Track 14: The Great War
As the first track to greet us at 3:00 am, “The Great War” set the tone for the bonus tracks. This song has one of the strongest bridges in the album as Taylor skillfully experiments with different speeds throughout the song, alternating from a fast paced bridge to a slower tune.
Track 15: Bigger Than The Whole Sky
This song takes the award for slowest song in the album—and that’s not a bad thing. Swift shows listeners the depth of her voice through soft vocals that steadily get higher as she sings. From the echoes at the chorus to the whispered words in the verses, there is a sense of intimacy with this song unlike the others in the album.
Track 16: Paris
Most like “Bejeweled” with its fast pace and pop-like feeling, “Paris” deviates from the overall slow and somber nature the album was marketed as. The song itself is repetitive, but slowly crescendos as more harmonizing voices join in.
Track 17: High Infidelity
“High Infidelity” is one of the strongest songs from the 3:00 a.m. tracks and the album in general. Beginning at the slow pace of the other songs, it slowly ramps up in pace. From the lyrics, we enjoyed the questions that ended the chorus each time, notably the one about the main way to hurt someone: not loving them enough. Swift repeats herself, asking audiences if they want to know where she was on April 29th, creating a tense mood. This was a beautifully written song.
Track 18: Glitch
“Glitch” reminded us of a slower version of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Nonsense” due to the somewhat fast tempo and its “look into her mind” concept. The song fails because of its repetition with little vocal variation. At one point, she goes an octave higher (I had to jump the octave…) but it feels random because of its lack of buildup.
Track 19: Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve
“Would’ve Should’ve Could’ve” is a powerful song about Taylor Swift’s high profile relationship with John Meyer. When Swift was 19, Meyer was 32, which is Swift’s current age. The song reaches its emotional peak when she sings Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first. Although this lyric sounds childish, this emphasizes the meaning behind the lyrics, and this track does the best at making us feel Swift’s pain out of all 20 songs in the extended version of the album. Outside of the song’s raw lyrics, however, “Would’ve Should’ve Could’ve” resembles other songs in the album too much and can be repetitive at some points. While she explores a higher range in the second half of the song, the pace changes only subtly.
Track 20: Dear Reader
“Dear Reader” leaves listeners with a sense of closure as Swift’s voice bounces from ear to ear. We could imagine ourselves in an empty stadium, and as the lights dim, the song bounces off the walls, echoing as we sway along. There are some short parts where Swift’s voice is raw and isolated from the background rhythm, creating a similar vibe to the Live From Paris videos. We hear James Charles again at the end of the song when Taylor reintroduces the distorted voices we hear in “Midnight Rain,” one of the most popular songs from the album.
While we think that the album overall couldn’t live up to its original hype, there are still some strong songs in Midnights. Personally, we were hoping for Midnights to be similar to folklore and evermore, her indie albums, and her return to synth-based pop was an unexpected turn, especially since the aesthetic and way she marked the album didn’t make it seem like a typical pop album with upbeat songs like Bejewelled and Karma.
The album broke records upon its release, occupying the first ten slots in the Billboard Hot 100. But despite the album’s commercial success, we still think there are still some mistakes Swift made in the album. Some of our favorite aspects of her music is her top tier lyricism and strong bridges, but these aspects are few and far between in Midnights, especially compared to her earlier albums. While the concept of the album is clever, the nature of it being 13 nights scattered around her life means that the album lacks cohesiveness, showing aspects of each of Swift’s past albums rather than having a clear voice of its own.
Midnights is nowhere near as strong lyrically as folklore or evermore, but it’s also muted and not as catchy as any of her other bubblegum pop albums. Although we love tracks like “Vigilante Shit,” the revenge song sounds like something from Reputation and out of place on the album. As a result, the extra 3:00 a.m. tracks Swift added are some of our favorites, since they don’t feel as confined to the concept she set for herself. While we understand that she wanted the album to have 13 tracks since it’s her favorite number, the album would’ve been stronger if the bonus tracks were included in the standard edition. Nevertheless, some individual tracks delivered on what we expected, and we’ll certainly be streaming this album for years to come. Stay tuned as we wait to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s “Eras” Tour!
by ANIKA BASU & RIA VASISHTHA