Midnights, Taylor Swift’s latest release, takes a deep dive into the darker side of her mind. 

While receiving an award for her song “All Too Well (The 10-minute version)” at the VMAs, Taylor stunned her fans with a release date announcement for her 10th album titled Midnights late last month. 

The album was only expected to have thirteen tracks—but everyone knows how much Taylor loves surprising her fans, so she dropped an extra seven, and called it the 3 am edition. 

If you’re someone who enjoys the albums Lover, reputation, or 1989, Midnights will be a good listen for you. It’s a mix of Indie, R&B, and mostly pop. 

Taylor has mentioned that “Anti-Hero” was one of the hardest but favorite songs to write for her since when talking about the anti-hero, she’s describing herself. 

The song represents her insecurities and struggles. She speaks of the things she dislikes about herself. I think it’s important when artists open that side of themselves, because many young audiences might be able to relate to it when listening.

This is Taylor’s first autobiographical album since she has recently only been releasing the “Taylor’s Version” re-records. Midnights speaks a lot about her life, whereas some of her other most recent albums like Folklore are about made-up characters.

I was looking forward to “Snow on the Beach,” featuring Lana Del Rey, and though I enjoyed hearing the song and its fun and airy vibe, it was disappointing not to hear Lana sing because the vocals are difficult to hear. 

Taylor and Lana are some of the most beloved female artists, so it would’ve been interesting to hear how they could’ve combined both of their styles into one song. 

The song “Mastermind” has become popular on TikTok, due to a trend where people describe the times when they were the mastermind and laid the groundwork, causing something they wanted to happen. Though the album was already very anticipated, it would not have gotten as much popularity without TikTok. 

Taylor is one of the only Millennial artists whose music is also relatable to Gen Z. I remember being in elementary school and singing along to “Shake It Off”, whereas now songs like “All too well” might be more relevant, but either way, we grew up with her music being constantly present. 

The album mentions things many people might feel but not necessarily talk about. Some of the important topics which were touched upon are eating disorders, power dynamics in relationships, experiencing loss, and tough parts of growing up. 

Taylor emphasized revenge in this album, which is where the reference to her older album reputation comes in. She discusses female artists being done wrong in the industry and drops hints at her old manager.

I don’t think this album was Taylor’s best work, but I also think it isn’t fair to expect it to be her best. Taylor has released many songs throughout her career, discussing almost every topic possible and hitting the top of the charts a countless amount of times. It would be almost impossible for Midnights to beat any of her past releases. 

As always with Taylor, it’s still an extremely thought through album and it’s exciting to see how she will do on her upcoming 2023 “Eras” tour. Originally there were just supposed to be twenty-seven shows, but eight more were added a couple of days later. 

The tickets will go on sale on November 18, and it’s safe to say that my friends and I have already started saving up, hoping to get a good view for the August 3 show, with Gracie Abrams and HAIM.