If you have not been living under a rock for the last week, you will know that Taylor Swift released her twelfth studio album, ‘Midnights’. Her long-anticipated return has been welcomed warmly: within one day of sales, it became the top selling album of the year, it has broken Spotify’s record for most streams in a day, with 184.6 million streams and ‘Midnights’ also broke the record for the biggest pop album of all time on Apple Music, by first-day streams.
The pop album explores Swift’s deepest and darkest thoughts experienced in those midnight hours, with themes of regret, pain and anger pitted against liberation, happiness, and humanity. It is argued to be Swift’s best album yet. We have all spent an evening critically examining what we could have done or said differently in different moments in our life, and Swift embodies that by sampling her older music, re-iterating stories she has already told us, however repositioning them in a self-reflective manner. ‘Midnight’ is truly the older and wiser sister album to Swift’s previous work.
While all twenty-one songs deserve time in the spotlight, it is clear there are some stand-out pieces on her album:
1. Anti-Hero
Returning to her story-teller roots, Swift explores her character arc as an anti-hero both in the media and within her own life, exploring her self-hatred through lyrics about all the people she has ghosted, her body dysmorphia as a woman in the music industry, but also exploring how the media once positioned her as someone NOT to root for, due to her dating history, alongside the Kanye West and Scooter Braun drama.
By consistently repeating ‘It’s me, Hi! I’m the problem it’s me’, Taylor highlights how she internalises these actions and thoughts which make her feel unlovable. It is a powerful and poignant first single from the new album.
2. Midnight Rain
The distorted audio throughout this song follows the same rhythmic pattern of ‘Folklore’s’ ‘My Tears Ricochet’, providing further narrative to this previous Swift storyline. ‘My Tears Ricochet’ follows a break-up in which one person did not ‘have it in (themselves) to go with grace’, and now that the relationship has ended, they can go anywhere they want, ‘just not home’. In a similar fashion, ‘Midnight Rain’ refers to a home being a ‘wasteland’, and a ‘cage’, and this person leaving because they wanted to make a name for themselves. It seems these sister songs explore two sides of the same coin: wanting to leave your hometown but having to leave someone behind to chase something as ugly as fame. Rumours have speculated that this song could be about Taylor’s first boyfriend from her hometown in Pennsylvania, with whom she had to end things with when she began gaining status in the music industry. We will never know for sure, but we know these songs are laced with remorse and regret.
3. Question…?
Her seventh song opens with the sample, ‘I remember…’, from ‘1989’s’ fan-favourite song, ‘Out of The Woods’, heavily speculated to be about Harry Styles. The lyrics to this song include a cumulation of questions that the narrator wanted to ask a previous lover, ‘Did you leave her house in the middle of the night? Did you wish you put up more of a fight? When she said it was too much, do you wish you could still touch her? It’s just a question.’ However, the time to ask these questions has passed, so our narrator can now only wonder in silence.
4. Bejewelled
One of my favourite songs from Taylor Swift’s discography is ‘Mirrorball’, in which the lyrics refer to someone who is burnt out, and an overachiever. The protagonist consistently tries to reflect other people’s unrealistic standards, but that leads them to lose themselves in the process. Bejewelled on the other hand exuberates positivity and self-confidence. The Mirrorball character is still a Mirrorball, but instead of shining for other people, in Bejewelled she is reclaiming her shimmering energy, and highlights self-acceptance from the main character in these storylines. In short, the Mirrorball is now the iconic disco ball.
Taylor Swift proves once again that she IS the music industry. With her consistent shifts in genre, she remains relevant, prominent, and number one on the charts. Honourable mentions that I have not discussed above include, You’re on Your Own Kid, Maroon, Mastermind and Sweet Nothing.
A truly autumnal, twilight, November album; perfect for those dark-night walks back from work or university where it’s just starting to get dark, perfect to listen and cry in your room, and, as the Bejewelled dance trend on TikTok has taught us, perfect to strut to, to make us feel good.
Written by: Anna Duffell
Edited by: Tamikka Reid