Pop icon Taylor Swift released her 10th album “Midnights” on Oct. 21. The concept was to release songs from 13 sleepless nights throughout Swift’s life. Many of the songs featured on the album reveal moments of insecurity, revenge and love Swift has felt during late hours of the night.
The album was first announced at the 2022 MTV’s VMA awards when Swift won her third VMA of the night. Many fans were expecting Swift to release another re-recording of one of her past albums before making any new music. Surprisingly, Swift announced in an Instagram post at midnight that this album will feature thirteen new songs.
Up until the release of “Midnights,” Swift would post TikTok videos on her account (@taylorswift) using a bingo machine to release the track titles of the upcoming album. Swift called the program “Midnights Mayhem with Me,” where fans would have to stay up until midnight to see if a new track title was announced.
Besides Swift, “Midnights” was heavily written and produced by Jack Antonoff. Other writers and producers include Zoë Kravitz, Mark Anthony Spears, Jahaan Akil Sweet, Sam Dew, Keanu Torres, William Bowery and Lana Del Rey, who features on track 4, “Snow on the Beach.” The album was released and distributed by Republic Records.
What makes Midnights stand out in the hundreds of songs Swift has released prior are the vulnerable lyrics that have never been written about before. In the song “Anti-Hero” Swift sings about the struggle of coming to terms with the qualities she does not like about herself. Swift reflects on how sometimes she doesn’t feel like a real person because of how popular she is.
“Midnights” wouldn’t be a true Taylor Swift album without her songwriting capability. In her only self-written song on the album, “Vigilant;e Shit,“ Swift conveys themes of revenge throughout the song with her lyrics. Lyrics like “Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man” and “They say looks can kill and I might try” demonstrate the imagery of anger of wanting vengeance.
My personal favorite of the album was track two, “Maroon.” Swift conveyed so much imagery which reminded me of “Red (Taylor’s Version),“ which is another one of my favorite albums of hers. The song was similar to other concepts of previous songs of describing a color as a relationship, but with a newer pop tone. The lyrics of splashing wine on her shirt, rubies she never gave up and dancing in New York brought a smile to my face in connecting it to my own personal relationships with others.
“Midnights” is not just an album about Swift staying up all night, but of how someone deals with the feelings that they are laying with.
The personal struggles everyone faces when going to bed and how to overcome them for the next day. “Midnights” is a deep look into Swift’s mind and how songwriting has helped her cope throughout her career.
Using her songwriting talents and collaboration with others, Swift has created the perfect album for all the people whose feelings keep them awake when the clock strikes twelve.
