It’s been a long time coming, but Taylor Swift has finally released her tenth studio album ‘Midnights.’ The highly anticipated record was announced on October 21st and contained 13 tracks, and she announced another seven songs- which she called 3 am tracks. So there are 20 in total. The same morning of the announcement, the singer dropped the official music video for the lead single ‘Anti-Hero!’ featuring Taylor Swift herself. We’ll take a closer look at everything you need to know about ‘Midnights’ – from the full tracklist and collaborations to what fans say about it.
About the album
The singer first announced this in a video acceptance speech for Video of the Year at 2022 VMAs, where she also said they’d give more information about it soon at midnight that night, which is when everything changed!
It’s no secret that Taylor Swift has had her share of “sleepless nights” in the past. This album is filled with confessional yet secretive lyrics reflecting on themes such as insecurity, anxiety, and self-criticism, among other things like insomnia or confidence issues. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through because this record will make your worries feel far away when they say Midnight Rain- a song perfect for midnight driving when you can’t fall asleep through overthinking.
Midnight’s album is a truly cathartic experience for someone who can relate to the writing and has melancholia spent their life to self-scrutiny.
Genre
The album’s sound is characterised by synth-pop grooves, rhythms, and drum machines. It also has a hip hop and R&B feel to it with some vintage sounds that give off a nostalgic vibe for those who remember 80s music videos on VH1 Top 20 Hits or between programs such as CBS Sunday Night Football commercials when they played songs like “We Are Family” by Inner Circle.
She experiments only a little here since this style seems more consistent than we’ve heard; however, there are still hints of other genres in certain tracks. The album is more synth-heavy than previous releases, with grooves that are subtle yet danceable.
Producers and collaborators
Swift’s latest work is a concept album about nocturnal contemplation, written and produced with her years-long collaborator Jack Antonoff. This duo is one of the most successful writing teams in music history, with 11 out of 13 songs they collaborated on this album. They’ve worked together in New York City.
While Swift chronicled one of the remaining two songs, the track called “Vigilante Shit”, which she wrote alone, and co-wrote “Sweet Nothing” with long-time boyfriend Joe Alwyn, credited with the pseudonym William Bowery. Speaking of goals!
Bonus tracks of the new album were co-written and produced by a fantastic artist Aaron Dessner, who had also helped produce some songs for the 2020 albums “Folklore” and “Evermore”. What is the result of this collaboration? An uneven but engaging collection that’s different from what we’ve seen before–and still absolutely brilliant!
Lyrics
In a short video series, Swift revealed five things that kept her up at night and helped inspire the Midnights album. These include self-loathing in regards to how society feels about someone who isn’t perfect or happy; fantasies of revenge against those you feel deserve it most (like your ex); wondering what could’ve been if only life had gone differently for this particular person but also understanding fully now why events happened as they did because everything happens for a reason–even bad breakups! Finally, there’s falling hard for someone who doesn’t reciprocate those feelings and the soul-crushing loneliness that follows, and that’s what we call falling apart.
These are all incredibly relatable topics, likely a large part of why Swift’s songs about them have resonated so much with her fans over the years. “All Too Well” from Red, for example.
The lyrics also focus on relationship troubles and all of those things you think are keeping you up at night and how they help inspire new music to keep going even when life feels like it’s falling apart around us while still maintaining Swift’s pop sound typically found in her other work such as stadium hit “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
Songs, Ranked
“Midnight, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life”, Taylor Swift posted on Twitter. From there on, we’re screaming with excitement! It’s a great album with some fantastic tracks. But which one is the best? We’ve ranked them all – (3 additional songs included) from absolute best to our favourite best. Find out where your favourite song falls on the list!
1) Anti-Hero
2) Lavender Haze
3) Maroon
4) Question…?
5) Midnight Rain
6) Karma
7) Vigilante Shit
8) Glitch
9) Bejewelled
10) Sweet Nothing
11) Mastermind
12) Great War
13) High Infidelity
14) Snow On The Beach
15) You’re On Your Own Kid
16) Paris
17) Bigger Than The Whole Sky
18) Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
19) Dear Reader
20) Labyrinth
“Swifties”, as we call fan clubs, have been swift to go to Twitter and make noise about the album. Swifties can’t get enough of three songs: Anti-Hero, Lavender Haze and Snow on the Beach. These make up the Top 3 most Tweeted-about tracks since Midnights was released!
Conclusion
We’ve all eagerly awaited this release now that it’s finally here! According to Taylor Swift, the album is “A collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.”
It feels like Swift has been writing about these issues for decades. Her words are candid and authentic with hidden messages that speak to the listener on behalf of their own experiences in life-long insomnia or self-doubt just because they’re sometimes too harsh!
Did you know that Taylor Swift had her first guitar lesson when she was 12? The 1998 song Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer was the first of many songs she learned on guitar.
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