It’s Midnight Somewhere: A Review of Taylor Swift’s Latest Album Midnights

“It’s me. Hi! I’m the problem, it’s me” Taylor Swift admittedly sings on her track “Anti-Hero,” giving us a witty taste of stark vulnerability in her newest work. Midnights is Swift’s tenth studio album to this date. Released on October 21st, Swift has led us along her trail since this past August, dropping hints and “easter eggs” for the internet to mull over and dissect. Her premise for the project revolved around the idea of “13 sleepless nights,” a place where “we’ll meet ourselves.” With this in mind, Swift practically gave us the keys to doors we didn’t know existed prior to Midnights. People have been drawn to describe her albums as “eras.” In an attempt to define what the “Midnights era” is, I would say it is a reflection in the mirror, cast in hues of purple and strange storms. 

Swift has established her power-pop presence with a majority of her projects, providing a highly recognizable sound exclusive to her craft. Midnights is an extension of her mastery, covering all bases of love, contemplation, and gallant expression. It has the glimmering spunk of Reputation, the pensive melodrama of Folklore and Evermore, and the euphoric touch of 1989. But regardless of comparison, it is an entirely new body of work, a fresh face to her everflowing gifts of consolable lyricism and contagious musicality. 

She first sets the scene with the first track “Lavender Haze,” already getting us up on our feet. This song washes over you entirely, drenching you in the mystic atmosphere that Swift harvests. The first lines of the album are “Meet me at midnight.” She says this with an amusing secricism, like a rendezvous point where we come face to face with an untold story, or as Swift implies, a more true type of chrysalis of ourselves. 

Reflection is a prevalent theme within the project, in which Swift is notorious for within her lyricism. In Midnights, she dives relentlessly into pieces of her past, reliving the “sleepless nights” that she mentions. This reigns true in “You’re On Your Own Kid,” a solemn nod towards the feelings of loneliness we experience in our youth. There is a divergence here from her stories of penthouses and joyrides in the benz, Swift dilutes young growing pains into fragments of nostalgic images. She sings wistfully that “I picked the petals, he loves me not / Something different bloomed / Writing in my room / I play my songs in the parking lot.” These scenes are all very mundane and universal at the same time. She reconciles simple remains of youth with a present day type of reverie. It’s like telling your younger self that you are proud of them in solemn sincerity. 

Some of my favorite tracks on Midnights are the sassy, “bad-bitch”-esque songs such as “Bejeweled,” “Vigilante Shit,” and “Karma.” Swift is so clever in these moments, toying with spiteful lyrics and sparkling, bold pop sounds. “Vigilante Shit” screams Reputation, reminding us that she is an unstoppable force. We are teleported to this dramatic world of hers, daunted by meetings with the FBI, case files, and revenge. Crying is out of the question here, Swift demands vengeance by saying “Don’t get sad, get even.” However, there is one standout message within these remarks – that you have to do it for yourself. Swift claims here that she does not dress for women, men, or friends. In a way, this idea of “revenge” feels like a reclamation of self, like solitude and belief in one’s own being. “Bejeweled” inherently follows a similar idea, except painted in different shades of shimmering lights and hues. This song has been on repeat for me, it has a memorable, fun beat that employs the pure pop sound of Swift. The music video is also adorable, featuring a Cinderella story line acted out by Swift and the HAIM sisters. Swift prevails in the video, swimming in cocktail glasses, donning an entirely crystalized outfit, and taking the castle for herself. 

Swift initially ends the album with the song “Mastermind.” Coinciding with the casual bliss in “Question…?” and even “Labyrinth,” she dives into an alternative tale of love, fate, and anticipation. I recall Swift’s description of the album as “13 sleepless nights.” With that, I came in expecting a myriad of different stories of heartbreak and betrayal. While these things are still prevalent in the project, Swift surprises us by introducing beautiful romance in a way that leaves us sleepless as well. She takes us into her mindset of being up all night, contemplating the excitement and rush of love – what gives us butterflies and fulfillment. “Mastermind” is a euphoric account of Swift falling in love, detailing how it feels when the one you desire reciprocates your admiration. Swift calls it a success, writing “The planets and the fates and all the stars aligned / You and I ended up in the same room at the same time.” Musically, the song is dreamy, matching the exhilarating excitement we feel when reflecting on how two people come to fall for one another. 

Now, it would not be a Taylor Swift album without a few, or perhaps even seven, surprises. At three AM, the night the album was released, Swift dropped seven more songs, establishing what is Midnights (3 am Edition). Swift wrote on her Instagram that “Lately I’ve been loving the feeling of sharing more of our creative process with you, like we do with From The Vault tracks.” In a way, the “3 am” tracks completed Midnights, giving us insight into the entire artistic vision Swift had entailed. This collection of songs almost feels the most vulnerable in a way, like final, unfiltered thoughts. Swift dives into loss with “Bigger Than The Whole Sky,” a song that feels like it could belong within the Folklore realm given its somber yearning. She also highlights regret in “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” a scathing track that longs for redemption of her younger self as she sings “give me back my girlhood / it was mine first.” She then greets us goodbye with “Dear Reader,” a soft, lofty song intertwined with personal messages and wistful rumination. 

My expectations entering Midnights were completely dissolved as it took listening to the album a few times for it to truly grow on me, making it into my subliminal radio. Midnights, marking Swift’s tenth studio album, is an irresistible addition to her discography. It combines elements of her past albums with entirely new innovations to her sound. Entirely memorable, Midnights has secured itself as an album to hit replay on.