On October 21st, Taylor Swift released her newly anticipated tenth studio album, Midnights. She described it as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life,” establishing it as her most personal album to date. Before the release, Swift went to TikTok to promote and reveal the tracklist using a bingo spinner, which generated massive amounts of publicity for the album. Swift dropped the initial 13 tracks at midnight, of course; However, she secretly released 7 more songs at 3 am, dubbing them “3 am tracks.” The album consisted of the following songs:
- Lavender Haze
- Maroon
- Anti-Hero
- Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Ray)
- You’re On Your Own, Kid
- Midnight Rain
- Question…?
- Vigilante Shit
- Bejeweled
- Labyrinth
- Karma
- Sweet Nothing
- Mastermind
- The Great War
- Bigger Than The Whole Sky
- Paris
- High Infidelity
- Glitch
- Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
- Dear Reader
I could review each song individually, but that would take ages. Instead, I will say that each song discusses an anecdotal experience or emotion of Swift’s, ranging from love, anxiety, revenge, and insecurity. The lead single of Midnights, “Anti-hero,” delves into Swift’s deepest self-loathing insecurities. She repeatedly describes herself as “the problem,” and portrays various forms of self-hatred, such as her eating disorder, narcissism, and depression.
Honestly, I was disappointed with the contents of this album. The publicity of Midnights was so intense and engaging so it gave me high hopes. I did not enjoy the production, sorry Jack Antonoff. It was too synthetic for me and lacked the depth needed to establish uniqueness. With many tracks on Midnights, I felt as if I had heard them before on her previous albums. There were barely any differentiating factors, which decreased my overall enjoyment of the project. However, I thoroughly adore tracks like “Lavender Haze” and “Mastermind” because they have nuance and the production does not fall flat. I am quite disappointed about not fawning over the entire work, but I did appreciate parts of Midnights and recommend that everyone give it a listen.