A Review of 'Midnights' by Taylor Swift
A return to a more pop sound brings mostly good results
A new Taylor Swift album is out, so of course I’m here to talk about it.
Before I do that, though, I would like to plug the Locked on Hoosiers podcast that had me on to talk about the Indiana women’s basketball team, my Hoopla 40 and the Big Ten as a whole. Here is that video if you’re interested:
“Midnights” is Taylor Swift’s 12th album overall and 10th original, with the other two being the Taylor’s version re-releases of “Fearless” and “Red.” There is just one feature on the album — Lana Del Rey on “Snow On The Beach” — and the production is largely done by longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff of Bleachers and (pick your favorite he’s done so much good stuff) fame.
We are only talking about the 13 core tracks here, not the seven bonus tracks on the 3am Edition, and with these 13 tracks my response is mostly quite positive.
Coming off the back of “folklore” and “evermore,” I wasn’t sure what Taylor’s sound was going to be. I adore those albums, but they took a indie/folk turn that only seemed to enhance her vocals and lyricism to new levels. “Midnights” is not like those albums in sound: I’d put it more in between “reputation” and “Lover” and I know I’m not the first to say that.
I’d also say that the quality of this album falls somewhere between those two, but with some key differences. First off, “reputation” is a better album than it’s given credit for, even if it might be Swift’s weakest since some of her earliest efforts. “Lover” is more well-received, but I think is still generally underrated.
What “Midnights” has that those two didn’t is consistency: there is no “Look What You Made Me Do” or “ME!” on this thing, in my opinion. With just 13 songs, the quality mostly stays very good, but I also think that the highs are less high than a “Lover,” “Cruel Summer” or even “Getaway Car.”
But what are the highs? For me, it starts right away with “Lavender Haze,” a smooth, deeply catchy opener that has terrific production from Antonoff as well as Sounwave, who has done some excellent work with both Swift and Kendrick Lamar in the past. I also think there’s some simple, but excellent writing here by Taylor, talking about how people only want to see a woman as a “one-night or a wife,” referencing the constant rumors on if she is secretly married to longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
The next standout was “Anti-Hero,” a song that has not escaped my head since the album has been released. It is as catchy as it is dark, especially for a Taylor Swift song, as she talks about her worst qualities, her largest fears while owning up that she is the cause of her own problems. The line “I stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror” is one of my favorites, both on this album and in Swift’s entire discography, as it perfectly sums up the idea of being self-destructive without the self-reflection to learn from it.
Going with the every other track trend, “You’re On Your Own, Kid” is a simple, but sweet way to drive home the point of growing by yourself. It’s an infectious, building beat from Antonoff that works extremely well with Taylor’s vocal delivery. The song manages to reach quite a climax by the end, and it makes for one of my favorite listens on the whole album.
There are some good, not great songs scattered in the middle of this album, but the back section, starting with “Bejeweled,” is truly excellent. This is a banger, through and through, and is followed up by a more spacey, ethereal cut in “Labyrinth.” Much like I adore “epiphany” on “folklore,” I think Swift’s voice fits perfectly on songs like this. Pairing a sound like that with lyrics about being stuck in your own labyrinth of a headspace is just excellent.
After that comes “Karma,” my current favorite in the track list. It’s just so much fun, and I think the childish vibe around it works (I also loved “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” on “reputation” for this reason). This is one of my favorite beats on the album — this one was also worked on by Sounwave — and it’s the song that I am returning to the most.
To come down from “Karma” into “Sweet Nothing” and then back up to “Mastermind” makes for one hell of a finish. “Sweet Nothing” feels a lot like “New Year’s Day” off of “reputation” in both sound and the concept. And, just like it worked back then, it works here, with Taylor talking beautifully about how much she appreciate’s Alwyn’s calmness surrounding the chaos of the outside world.
Then finally we get to “Mastermind,” one of my favorites with excellent production from Antonoff to boot. It’s a simple story using how her and Alwyn met to display a larger picture of how they both are as individuals. It’s catchy as a song, it’s brilliantly told through the lyrics, and the combination leads to a tremendous close to the album.
There are songs that I like, but don’t quite stand out as key moments on the album. I think “Maroon” is a lyrical high point that doesn’t quite grab me past that, and that both “Midnight Rain” and “Question…?” are enjoyable, but not moments in the album I return to as often.
“Vigilante Shit” is a bit of an anomaly for me. I respect what Taylor went for here, and I think she pulled it off to varying levels of success. It is certainly not one of my favorites from her, on this album or overall, but I think there are far worse versions of this sound on “reputation.”
The song I like the least is, somehow, “Snow On The Beach” with Lana Del Rey. It feels like a Lana song, sure, but it mostly just bores me, not quite scratching the same itch of a “Labyrinth.” It’s not a bad song by any stretch, but it’s my least favorite on the record.
The only other low moments for me are with individual lines here and there that plenty of others have already made fun of. Yeah, the baby line on “Anti-Hero” is odd, the cat line in “Karma” isn’t my favorite and the “Weird, but fuckin’ beautiful” part of the chorus in “Snow On The Beach” irks me. But, I think these lines also are few and far between and are being overly used to criticize what is a legitimately good pop album.
Is this Taylor Swift’s best album? Definitely not, but very few artists ever make a “1989” so I’m not expecting that. For me, “Midnights” is another great pop effort from Swift, a return to a former sound that mostly goes over without issue. This feels like a more mature version of “reputation,” diving into personal issues mostly without coming off corny or preachy.
There are so many songs I thoroughly enjoy on “Midnights,” even if there isn’t an individual track standing out among her all-time classics quite yet. And the same can be said about this album: it’s very good, even if it’s not among Swift’s best efforts.
8/10
Top 25
I spent too much time on that review, but rules are rules around here and I will still deliver this college football Top 25. I’d like to see any other “Midnights” reviews with a seamless transition like this.
Anyway, no explanations this week, just the list. Here you go:
1.) Ohio State (-)
2.) Georgia (-)
3.) Tennessee (-)
4.) Clemson (-)
5.) Michigan (-)
6.) TCU (-)
7.) Alabama (+2)
8.) Oregon (+3)
9.) Oklahoma State (+3)
10.) Wake Forest (+3)
11.) USC (+3)
12.) Syracuse (-2)
13.) UCLA (-5)
14.) Penn State (+4)
15.) Illinois (+1)
16.) Utah (+1)
17.) Tulane (+2)
18.) Ole Miss (-11)
19.) Cincinnati (+1)
20.) Kansas State (-4)
21.) Kentucky (-)
22.) LSU (NEW)
23.) North Carolina (+1)
24.) Liberty (NEW)
25.) Oregon State (NEW)
If you are interested in me talking about random topics like this, or on my more focused posts with Big Ten women’s basketball, you can subscribe with the button above or share with the button below. Thanks!