The new Taylor Swift collection Midnights is a concept album about “after-hour agonies” and thoughts. Swift’s previous albums utilize Midnight as a recurring lyrical motif in different contexts and viewpoints. Still, Midnights expands the artistic motif “into a full-blown album,” according to the A.V. Club. After exploring fictitious storylines and characters in Folklore and Evermore, Swift returns to mostly autobiographical lyricism on the album. The New Yorker said Midnights is a collage of various emotions during “the spontaneous, restless headspace of nighttime thought.” The major themes are self-assurance, self-criticism, insecurity, anxiety, public image, insomnia, and feminism, with a characteristic confessional but “cryptic” tone.
Some critics believe Midnights is Swift’s most candid, confident, and frank writing. Others see it as a consolidating work of Swift’s career, as Billboard states it contains “bits and pieces from all of Swift’s eras,” and a blend of “Reputation’s attitude, 1989’s unimpeachable hooks, Lover’s heart-on-its-sleeve vulnerability.”
One thing is for sure: Ms. Swift has reached a point in her storied career where she’s graded more harshly for her endeavors. Each album seems to shift gears, giving some critics a form of musical whiplash.
Midnight is a collection of 13 tracks that showcase her versatility as a singer and songwriter. The album features a mix of pop and folk-inspired songs, with lyrics that touch on themes like love, loss, and self-discovery. Various critics have called the album’s songs dream pop, synth-pop, bedroom pop, electropop, and chill-out music with heavy R&B, electronica, and ambient elements. Whew! That’s a big lift!
‘Lavender Haze‘ opens the album. The song’s title means to be deeply in love with someone in the honeymoon stages of a relationship. Before the album’s release, Taylor spilled the tea on the song’s meaning. “I happened upon the phrase when I was watching Mad Men, and I looked it up ’cause I thought it sounded cool.”
“And it turns out that is a common phrase used in the ’50s where they would just describe being in love, like if you were in the lavender haze that meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow – and I thought that was very beautiful,” she explained.
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She permeates it with a thick bass synth that returns some of the Reputation gloss. It has a perfect disco-inflected, rhythmic pop sound driven by a murky groove and backing vocals from Zoë Kravitz. Lyrically, she’s fighting back against the perceived notions of a single woman’s dating life, “The only kinda girl they see (Only kinda girl they see)/ Is a one-night or a wife/ I find it dizzying (Yeah, oh yeah)/They’re bringing up my history (Yeah, oh yeah)/ But you weren’t even listening (Yeah, oh yeah).” Swift is still shooting at the many rumors surrounding her dating life. It’s one of the stronger songs on the album.
‘Maroon’ is similar to tracks off Reputation, specifically ‘King of My Heart.’ It has a nearly identical chord progression from its chorus. The heavy bass and synths bring in a late-night vibe but have minimal variation to its sound. Here, we’re looking back at how we met our partner and how we’ve reached this crossroads in our relationship. The title nods to various moments in their relationship, “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 they saw on my collarbone/ The rust that grew between telephones/ The lips I used to call home/ So scarlet, it was maroon.”
‘Anti-Hero’ has a very indie-pop sound. The layers of synths give off that 80s haze. The song is an introspective take on being your worst enemy in many scenarios, but the lyrics don’t always rise to the level of the song’s theme. One great line, though, is, “I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror,” which could be a nod to the British tabloids and their takes on the pop star. It may also be a clever look at everything but yourself in this scenario.
‘Snow on the Beach’ features Lana Del Rey, whose voice is understated and hardly noticeable. For those keeping score, a couple of points are lost here for downplaying a marquee duet opportunity. The song is a look at two people who are falling for each other at the same time. The bright vibe feels at odds with Lana’s aesthetic.
‘You’re On Your Own, Kid’ is probably the best-written song on the album. Here, Taylor takes a more autobiographical look at her life from childhood to her place now. She makes some very striking points on how this affected her mentality, “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/ The jokes weren’t funny, I took the money/ My friends from home don’t know what to say.” The song deserves more than the four-chord pattern she uses. That said, the lonely stance of the lines, “You’re on your own kid, You always have been,” takes quite a strong perspective on how she’s felt through the building of her career.
‘Midnight Rain’ again plays to the same 4 chord spacey vibe accompanied by a lowered processed vocal effect. Back on the themes of lost love, Swift seems to look back on a love she threw away and deeply regrets. Her career was more important than he was, “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.” The sentiment of not looking a gift horse in the mouth is good.
‘Question… ?’ has Jack Antonoff’s watermark all over the sound. That said, it’s very one note until the beat comes in at the second chorus. Again, it’s about a love connection that was never acted on. She seems to want to get to the bottom of if this spark was as strong for him as it was for her, “Does it feel like everything’s just like second best after that meteor strike?/ And what’s that that I heard, that you’re still with her?/That’s nice, I’m sure that’s what’s suitable/ And right/ But tonight/ Can I ask you a question?.” It’s nice, but it’s little more than filler.
‘Vigilante Shit’ feels the most in line with tracks from Reputation. It has ‘Look What You Made Me Do‘ flavors steeped deep into it. It was an edge that should feel like a dagger, but with Swift’s cadence, it feels more like hiss of a kitten. Here Taylor plays someone ready to enact revenge on this woman who has been wronged, “I don’t start shit, but I can tell you how it ends/Don’t get sad, get even/ So on the weekends/ I don’t dress for friends/ Lately I’ve been dressing for revenge.” It doesn’t feel threatening.
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‘Bejeweled’ uses the same synth bass on all other tracks up to this point. They add some shimmer but only a little to the song’s texture. This is Taylor’s take on breaking free of a controlling partner to polish her shine. “Baby boy, I think I’ve been too good of a girl/ Too good of a girl/ Did all the extra credit then got graded on a curve/ I think it’s time to teach some lessons.” The chorus also has little distinction from the verses sonically.
‘Labyrinth’ reminds me of ‘Gorgeous’ in her vocal delivery of the song’s opening. She takes on a more ethereal sound with backing organs and bells. The opening studio sounds should have been cut. The claps and uh-uhs are very distracting and work against the song’s tone. Swift seems to sing about her trepidation about falling back in love after a harsh heartbreak. She wants to push him away and not get hurt, “You would break your back to make me break a smile/ You know how much I hate/ That everybody just expects me to bounce back/ Just like that.”
‘Karma’ is the best-sounding track on the album. I love the vaporwave inspiration that the song pulls from. The lyrics are clever, though not too pretentious. With lines like “Karma is a cat/ Purring in my lap ’cause it loves me” and “Karma takes all my friends to the summit/ Karma is the guy on the screen coming straight home to me,” it’s obvious Ms. Swift knows her audience. It’s yet another “what comes around goes around” song that Taylor has a bevy of at this point.
‘Sweet Nothing’ is a welcomed change in sound. It’s a Rhodes piano-driven track where Swift sings about the safe place that her lover has provided for her in a world that can be too much for her, “They said the end is coming (They said the end is coming)/Everyone’s up to something (Everyone’s up to something)/ I find myself running home to your/ Sweet nothings.” The little swells of horns and saxophones add a nice warmth to the song. Its unique sound is a breath of fresh air in a sea of stagnant instrumentation.
‘Mastermind’ finishes the album with the same spacey synth that runs through the album from front to back. As the song’s title suggests, Taylor sings about how she crafted all the scenarios that brought her and her partner together. This gets spun around at the end as Swift realizes her partner knew the whole time and let it happen, “So I told you none of it was accidental/ And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me/ I laid the groundwork and then saw a wide smirk/ On your face, you knew the entire time/ You knew that I’m a mastermind.“
Overall, Midnights is a solid addition to Taylor Swift’s discography, showcasing her artistic growth and ability to experiment with different genres. Fans of her previous work will surely appreciate the album’s mix of catchy pop anthems and reflective ballads.
That said, Taylor’s career has taken a Beatlesque turn, producing artistic music that some may not understand. All comparisons to any supposed psychedelic enhancements aside, Midnights is nonetheless a testament to Swift’s talent and dedication to her craft.
