Taylor Swift New Album Midnights

[Eliecer Brathwaite]

Whilemany are connected to her acoustic sound, I appreciate Swift trying to regularly change her sound; every album is an experiment. While "Midnights" reminds me of "Reputation" in many ways, I like to think of it as an emo "1989." It is pop-heavy, but also shows her growth in songwriting with lyrics that reflect "Folklore" and "Evermore."

With no further delay, here is the ranking of every song on this masterpiece. While it was hard to choose and every song is an absolute triumph of songwriting, I was able to choose my favorites on my first listen.

While this song is still beautiful, it was uncontested for the weakest on the album. This song is not as well-written as the others in general. The chorus felt more repetitive than others and I did not connect with the metaphor of falling in love to snow on the beach. While I am a way bigger fan of Swift than Rey, I thought Rey was underutilized in the song. It was a little too slow for my liking. I think Swift has done more with even slower songs, so this did not blow me away.

This song reminded me of "Dress" from "Reputation," which is one of my favorites off that album. I would say this song is the most overtly sexual on the album, which I always love because I think she writes about sexuality so beautifully. This song was poetic but it simply didn't stick with me as much as the others.

This is the "I deserve better" anthem on the album, telling how even when Swift's being treated poorly by a man, she's still "bejeweled." A heavy theme of this album is a reflection on her boyfriends who sucked, then showcasing her one true love: Joe Alwyn. I could see myself listening to this song whenever I'm angry, putting on a killer outfit to go out. While this isn't the jewel of the 'girlboss' genre of songs, it delivers the message of "I'm still hot without you."

"Broke his heart because he was nice" is one of my favorite lines in the album. Unfortunately, I couldn't get over the weird voice filter Swift used on the chorus, which knocked it down a couple ranks for me. This was the "Delicate" of "Midnights": really good, but faces stiff competition in the lineup. This song holds a great bridge and great songwriting.

This is a perfect example of how Swift can write a slow song beautifully, showing what "Snow on the Beach" was missing. Swift says falling love is like a maze: scary in the beginning, trying to sort through your feelings, being overwhelmed, yet getting to the other side and feeling like you've accomplished something. I really enjoyed her talking about her breathing in this song, taking us through the process of being scared of a good feeling and the possibility of it being fleeting. I have always been a proponent of her songs about anxiety in love, and this is no different.

This was one of the best stories on the album, having the same features as songs like "Last Great American Dynasty": It told me a whole story within minutes. The chorus almost made me cry, depicting what it's like to doubt yourself on decisions, especially in love. The questions were the perfect way to push the narrative forward. I think this was one of the most experimental and different songs on the album, moving it up the list for me.

This song made me want to slow dance. Not to be punny, but this is the sweetest song on the album, reminding me of "Invisible String" or "Lover." This song is love in its purest form. I love the concept of even when the world is ending, you still just crave the smallest and sweetest moments with the person you love. It made me cry. It made my boyfriend cry. It must be perfect.

This song knocked me over. I was not expecting this from this album, but it was exactly what was needed. This is going to be the revenge anthem of the year, just like "I Did Something Bad." It reminded me of Billie Eilish but 20 times better. It was powerful, but in the women supporting women, girl power way. I could see myself committing arson to this song, but not in a criminal way, just in a girlboss kind of way. Dressing for revenge is my new wardrobe.

I stand by this will be the most popular song off this album. Like many Swift fans, I have been waiting for this song for years since it was alluded to on "Reputation." This is Swift's full circle moment, waiting for revenge on all her foes. The chorus makes me want to dance and also send mean texts to my exes. It's just so catchy, you can't help but have fun to it.

Top three. This is getting serious. This reminded me of her older songwriting, as the densest storytelling of the album. It is the greatest description of the juxtaposition between insecurities and self-reliance. It follows her from her young moments of finding herself to how it reflects on her life now. It follows the idea of being on your own and the fear of that, yet always finding more comfort in yourself and the strength within. Every verse and bridge was a different layer of the story wrapped up masterfully with the chorus.

It does what only a couple of her songs have done: analyze her problems without romanticizing her own part in the story. 'Anti-Hero" is all about narcissism and the darkest parts of our brains, seeing ourselves as the problem for once. However, Swift decides she is still the hero even with her flaws, rooting for herself in the end. I loved the idea of looking at the sun, or positivity in our problems, rather than looking in the mirror. The lyrics were dense and descriptive over a simple beat, further depicting the complexity behind a conflict. While she's the monster on the hill, her altruism always wins, normalizing destructive decisions and needing to beg for forgiveness after an impulsive action.

Somehow the album closer was better than the opener. Swift paints herself as the deciding factor of her own fate and the mastermind behind her storyline. In this song, she tries to convince herself that she's the calculated villain in her story, yet still finds support and love from her partner, who knows that she's not evil, but someone to love easily. She explains her childhood led to her cryptic future, yet she was still able to find love within this complex life she's made for herself. She ends the album with this story of her growth after all her sleepless midnights, knowing that she can rest in the love she has found not only with someone else, but in herself.

Midnights is the highly anticipated tenth album from Taylor Swift, which she called "the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life" when she announced its release. She also said alongside the announcement, "This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching - hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve...we'll meet ourselves."

Midnights in its entirety feels like a retrospective of every album Taylor has released prior. All of her strengths as an artist are explored on this album with every single song having at least one moment, melody, or lyric that directly connects to something from her past work. In many cases, I think she ended up making better versions of those songs she was referencing too. In the midst of her Taylor's Version journey where she is revisiting her first six albums at a macro level, that aspect feels like it was a very intentional in that regard.

Midnights is the first album she made fully with Jack Antonoff, who is the producer and co-writer of every song on the standard edition of the album. The two of them can really do no wrong for me musically, their collaborations over the past almost 10 years have equated to so much of my favorite music - to have a whole album made by them for the first time is everything!

Aspects of this album very much feel like Taylor having her own Melodrama moment with some of the darker production and lyricism. With songs like "Labyrinth", "Maroon", and "Midnight Rain" in particular, those influences feel very prominent. Other parts of the album remind me of Haim's Women In Music Pt. III or St. Vincent's Masseduction as well. A few tracks are very reminiscent of Red Hearse, which is a group made up of Jack Antonoff, Sam Dew and Mark Spears, also known as Sounwave. Their 2019 EP is incredible and so underrated, so I love to see that they collaborated with Taylor on this album too.

"Maroon" is the second track and also my favorite from the album, there is so much warmth and beauty to it. The symbolism in the lyrics when she relates very specific memories and feelings to color feels very reminiscent of all the meaning that Red holds in her music. While that love was "burning red", the love she is singing about is now "so scarlet it was maroon". I also love the lyrical imagery of New York, which sets the tone beautifully - paired with all of the small details of "the burgundy on my t-shirt" and the "rust that grew between telephones". The chorus is incredible and truly one of the best she has ever written, I haven't been able to get it out of my head since I first heard it.

The chorus has one of my favorite lyrics, "I'll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror", to which she follows by repeatedly saying "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me". Some of the lyrics are kind of weird and confusing when you first hear them (one specifically comes to mind lol), but it has overall really grown on me so much. I also love the Bleachers remix that was released a few weeks later, there are elements of that version that I actually wish were a part of the original, like the "Taylor, you'll be fine" lyric. I have been wanting an official Taylor and Bleachers song for years, so that was definitely very exciting too!

It has all of the elements that make songs like "August", "Mirrorball", or "Gold Rush" so special - there is such a gleaming, twinkling, dreamy sound to it. The vocals and production have such a beautiful ambiance too - it's truly such a gorgeous song. Lana is primarily the background vocals, and I do wish she had a bigger part of the song in that regard, but the presence of her voice at all elevated it to a new level.

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