Midnights by Taylor Swift | Album Review
Taylor’s latest record is a return to the pop oriented sound of reputation and Lovers.
Swift’s musical output has been more focused around her folk/country roots with the releases of Folklore and its companion Evermore. Both records were a breathe of fresh air after two very middle of the road releases prior (reputation and Lovers respectively). I was very surprised and pleased by her more adult approach to the songwriting on her last two projects. It was all a mystery as to what her next project would sound like. With little in the way of hints of what would come off this album, and no singles released prior to the album’s drop, we had no clue what Midnights had to offer. Sonically, she has returned wholeheartedly to the sounds of pop music. There are nods to 60s music in the addition of Rhodes piano and strings in some songs, but it’s more or less a sound we know all too well from Taylor.
“Lavender Haze” is what opens off the album. The song’s title is taken from a 50’s slang term for being taken by the feelings of love (a notion she wanted to dive further into after hearing it from an episode of Mad Men). She permeates it with a thick bass synth that brings back some of the reputation gloss. Although a bit “Top 40 Radio” in tone, the nocturnal vibe works well. Lyrically, she’s fighting back against the perceived notions of a single woman’s dating life, “The only kinda girl they see (Only kinda girl they see)/ Is a one-night or a wife/ I find it dizzying (Yeah, oh yeah)/ They’re bringing up my history (Yeah, oh yeah)/ But you weren’t even listening (Yeah, oh yeah).” Swift clearly still shooting at the many rumors surrounding her dating life. It’s one of the stronger songs on the album.
“Maroon” is very similar to tracks of reputation, specifically “King of My Heart”. It has a nearly identical chord progression from its chorus. The heavy bass and synths bring in a late night vibe, but has very little in the way of variation to its sound. Here, we’re looking back at how we met our partner and just how we’ve got to this crossroads in our relationship. The title nods to various moments in their relationship, “The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine into me/ And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was/ The mark they saw on my collarbone/ The rust that grew between telephones/ The lips I used to call home/ So scarlet, it was maroon.” I still find it a bit jarring to hear Taylor sing “a real fucking legacy” as the swear sounds a bit forced in her delivery. It still feels a bit juvenile lyrically (like you’re still in your late teens/early 20s), which I get is her audience, but after Folklore I expect a little more.
“Anti-Hero” has a very indie pop sound. The layers of synths give off that 80s haze. There are some lines that I can’t stand, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby/ And I’m a monster on the hill,” which totally kills the song for me. Also the rhyming scheme (devices, prices, vices, crisis) is tiring and a bit lazy. Clearly, the song is a introspective take on being your own worst enemy in many scenarios, but the lyrics just feel too immature. One of the few good lines in the song is, “I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror,” could be a nod to the British tabloids and their takes on the pop star. It may also be a clever take at looking at everything but yourself in this scenarios.
“Snow on the Beach” features Lana Del Rey, who you could have left off as a feature and I would have never even known she was on the track. The song is a look two people who are falling for each other at the same time. The thin plucky strings (that give off Christmas play vibes) don’t mesh well with the song. I also don’t love the bright vibe that feels at odds with the last few tracks and Lana’s aesthetic. One again the lyrics really fall flat for me. The lines, “My smile is like I won a contest/ And to hide that would be so dishonest” and “Now it’s like snow at the beach/ Weird, but fuckin’ beautiful”, are just bad. “You’re On Your Own, Kid” is probably the best written song on the album. Here, Taylor takes a more autobiographical look at her life from childhood to her place now. She tells some very striking points on how this affected her mentality, “From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes/ I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this/ I hosted parties and starved my body/ Like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss/ The jokes weren’t funny, I took the money/ My friends from home don’t know what to say.” I wish the sound was a bit more dynamic than the similar 4 chord pattern she seems to love. That said, the lonely stance of the lines, “You’re on your own kid, You always have been,” takes quite a strong stance on how she’s felt through the building of her career. “Midnight Rain” again plays to the same 4 chord spacey vibe accompanied by a lowered shaky vocal effect in the song’s chorus that reminds me of the autotuned vocals from reputation. Back on the themes of lost loves, here Swift seems to look back on a love she threw away and deeply regrets. You can see that her career was more important than he was, “He wanted it comfortable/ I wanted that pain/ He wanted a bride/ I was making my own name/ Chasing that fame/ He stayed the same/ All of me changed.” I think the sentiment of not looking a gift horse in the mouth is a good one. “Question… ?” has Jack Antonoff’s watermark all over the sound. That said, it’s very one note until the beat comes in at the second chorus. Again, it’s about a love connection that was never acted on. She seems to want to get to the bottom of if this spark was as strong for him as it was for her, “Does it feel like everything’s just like second best after that meteor strike?/ And what’s that that I heard, that you’re still with her?/ That’s nice, I’m sure that’s what’s suitable/ And right/ But tonight/ Can I ask you a question?.” It’s overall a very middle of the road song.
“Vigilante Shit” feels the most in line with tracks from reputation. It has “Look What You Made Me Do” flavors steeped deep into it. It was a edge that should feel like a dagger, but with Swift’s cadence feels more like hiss of a kitten. Here Taylor plays off as someone who is ready to act revenge with this woman who has been wronged, “I don’t start shit, but I can tell you how it ends/ Don’t get sad, get even/ So on the weekends/ I don’t dress for friends/ Lately I’ve been dressing for revenge”. This empty beat and synth really doesn’t give me the threatening vibe I want. As is, it feels more like a light push than loaded gun it should come off as. It’s a shame since I don’t think her writing is bad here, but the music just really kills it. “Bejeweled” still uses the same tired synth bass all other tracks have up to this point. They add some shimmer, but they don’t add much to the texture of the song. This is Taylor’s take on breaking free of a controlling partner to polish her shine. There are lines that bother me, “Baby boy, I think I’ve been too good of a girl/ Too good of a girl/ Did all the extra credit then got graded on a curve/ I think it’s time to teach some lessons,” that really feel high school to me. The chorus also doesn’t really have much distinction from the verses sonically. “Labyrinth” reminds me a lot of “Gorgeous” in her vocal delivery on the song’s opening. She takes on a more etherial sound with backing organ and bells. The opening studio sounds should have been cut, the claps and uh-uhs are very distracting and work against the tone of the song. Swift seems to sing about her trepidation on falling back in love after a harsh heartbreak. She’s fighting her mind of wanting to push him away and not get hurt, “You would break your back to make me break a smile/ You know how much I hate/ That everybody just expects me to bounce back/ Just like that.” The song loses this ethereal sound for me in the end as the vocal is dropped down and a beat comes in. It kills the feeling for me. “Karma” is the best sounding track on the album. I love the vaporwave inspiration that song clearly pulls from. The lyrics kill it with it’s immaturity. Lines like “Karma is a cat/ Purring in my lap ’cause it loves me” and “Karma takes all my friends to the summit/ Karma is the guy on the screen coming straight home to me” are just not good at all. It’s yet another “what comes around goes around” song that Taylor has a bevy of at this point. Love the sound, but don’t like the lyrics. “Sweet Nothing” is a welcomed change in sound. It’s a Rhodes piano driven track that gives some of the textures shown the promo pictures. Swift sings about the about the safe place that her lover has provided for her in a world that can be too much for her, “They said the end is coming (They said the end is coming)/ Everyone’s up to something (Everyone’s up to something)/ I find myself running home to your/ Sweet nothings.” The little swells of horns and saxophones add a nice warm to the song. Its unique sound is a breathe of fresh air in a sea of stagnant instrumentation. “Mastermind” finishes out the album with a spacey synth that more or less run through the album front to back. As the song’s title suggests, Taylor sings about she crafted all the scenarios that brought her and her partner together. This gets spun around at the end as Swift realizes her partner knew the whole time and let it happen, “So I told you none of it was accidental/ And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me/ I laid the groundwork and then saw a wide smirk/ On your face, you knew the entire time/ You knew that I’m a mastermind.”
I came into the album with no expectations and got really nothing much in return. She has commented that this album is supposed to be a concept record. If the concept is love lost and found then I guess, though its a shallow take at it. It doesn’t really run cleanly from front to back either. Coming off of more critically acclaimed projects like Folklore and the releases of well written hidden gems from Red and Fearless, this just feels like a ploy to make radio ready hit tracks. Seeing that Jack Antonoff worked on nearly all the songs on the album, I am fairly disappointed with his contributions. Compared to Carly Rae Jepsen’s work with him, this is flat. It’s a shame as I know both are capable of much better. As is, Midnights will just have to be left in the dark. My favorites:
- “Lavender Haze”
- “You’re On Your Own, Kid”
- “Karma”
- “Sweet Nothings”
My overall rating: 3.0 out of 10.
