Deep Dive: Taylor Swift Part Ten (Midnights)

    So I was gathering photos for this article, and I said to myself "leave it to Taylor Swift to make paneling a thing again" because most of the pics from this photoshoot feature it. AND it looks good. I used to think that even people in the 70s surely didn't think paneling looked good. Like it instantly darkens a room. Though everything above is kinda a metaphor for Midnights, Swift's tenth studio album where she shows vulnerability and sensibility through an 80s chill-pop sound. Swift makes her bad situations look good and the room is dark even if the sound is bright. Let's Deep Dive... at night!

    Midnights is a super long album. With all of its different versions, we're sitting at around 24 original tracks plus 4 remixes. The vibe is very much the same throughout though it switches up a hair on the 3am tracks due to Aaron Dessner giving it the old college try to impressive results. Swift's tenth studio album is greatly the collaborative effort of her and her partner-in-crime, Jack Antonoff. And this album is very Antonoffian. Album opener, "Lavender Haze," sets the town with a dance bop about facing scrutiny in a relationship. It's the perfect opener here, folks. It even opens with the "meet me at midnight" line which Swift had set up in roll out promotions. No other song could do the job. That opening beat will get stuck in my head during random times. 

    

    "Maroon" is the only song that could follow up "Lavender Haze," to be honest. It keeps the vibe going and is very engaging with its desolate soundscape. It really sells the sleepless night concept both sonically and lyrically. Beautifully written. Swiftspeare at work. Swift seems very grown up and mature during this set and this song shows it off the best.

    I think my confession is that "Anti-Hero" never gets old to me. It really was my song during a time in my life that I needed it the most. I felt like it was just for me. Lyrically the most relatable song on the album, and it is in every definition a hit. The beat feels like a beatbox. The lyrics are so much FUN. The bridge is one of the most memorable in history. Everything about this song is good. Like God created this song and saw that it was good. I love it.

    Honestly, I searched all over for Lana Del Rey the first time I listened to "Snow On the Beach." It took me awhile to hear her. I was dying for her to have her own verse because Swift and Del Rey feel like such heavyweight equals both in terms of artistry and musical presence. Del Rey is an absolute genius. She will be covered here one day. So it was a headscratcher that she was delegated to a backing vocalist. Del Rey's gorgeous voice does, in fact, liven up the backing vocals on this introspective number. This song is kind of a grower, but once it's there it doesn't want to leave. It's a lot of fun to sing along to, but the instrumentation is so pretty. Del Rey gets her revenge on a Midnights re-release and gets her own verse and is more present. It's also wonderful. 

    I get why Swift rarely does a duet where both singers are equally present. It can seem like she's trying to draw in the other artist's fans. Like she's using them to gain interest. And she proves time and time again she doesn't need to and can stand by herself. Her landmark, 1989, has no features on its 2014 track list.

    During Midnights' release last year fans were making so much awesome fan art about the songs because they're stories that you can vivid see play out in your imagination like a movie. Someone made a great comic about "You're On Your Own, Kid" that destroyed my feelings. I think we all feel like we've been alone and different from everyone else at times. This is a theme that reoccurs on Midnights we also see it on "Mastermind" and "Dear Reader." The hooks here are homeruns. The guitars on the song are the best part. 

    I admit that I get curious about who artists' songs are about at times. "Midnight Rain" had me running to find out because I thought I knew who was it was about, and it turned out that I was completely and utterly wrong. I know I should separate the art and the artist, but I still get curious! "Midnight Rain" is a fantastic song. The vocal effects during the first two choruses set up that last chorus without it so perfectly. The beat is also kind of like ASMR with that drum. It's so satisfying. It really does sound like a night time song. The lyrics of the second verse are my favorite on the album.

    Midnights as an album was a bit of a grower, but after it does there's so much to discover and love here. Like it almost seems too chill at first listen. Then you listen to it during the third or fourth time and you're like "oh I can dance to some of these songs." "Question...?" is kind of a song that sneaks up on you in this aspect. The "Out of the Woods" reference is cool as heck. There's a lot going on here with vocal harmonies and stuff going on in the background. Really cool. It's like a grown up version of a song from 1989.

    "Vigilante Shit" is possibly this album's one misfire for me. It's not bad. It's catty, but a little too much for my taste. The concept itself is cool. The bass is banging. But I feel like Swift has done this song before and better like with "Better Than Revenge" from Speak Now and "I Did Something Bad," "Look What You Made Me Do," and "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" from reputation. The bridge is a nice moment though. I kinda just wanted this song to hit hard and then it kind of flatlined. Like if that last chorus was just opening up and  going all out, I probably would feel very different. 

    "Bejeweled" is a gem of a song. It has such cute little quirks throughout it like the "nice!" exclamation and turning a phrase into one word with "intheshoesIgaveyouasapresent" part. It's great fun in a sea of melancholy. It's clever, brilliant, and stunning.

    "Labyrinth" is an interesting piece, and it continues the trends of Midnights. Sonically, lyrically, and thematically. Then we come into the banger that is "Karma." The original is better than the remix by far. Not that the remix is terrible. Ice Spice adds a little cinnamon to the song though I feel like she needed one more punch as I feel like she was setting herself up for one after "karma is a beauty/winning that pageant." I think it should have been like "karma is a beauty/winning that pageant/stealing the whole scene GRAH!" The second verse of the original "Karma" gives us that shady "spider boy/king of thieves..." lyric that is just so precocious and intelligent. "Karma" adds a high kick to Midnights at this point in the tracklist that it really needed. It keeps it from being too chill. It breathes life into it and makes it more of a well-rounded album. 

    "Sweet Nothing" is cute. It shakes up Midnights signature sound and gives us a cavity-inducing ballad with how sweet it is. Co-written with her then-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, I think this song is one of the various reasons that their breakup came as such a shock. As this song just oozes two people in love. 

    We come to standard track list ender, "Mastermind," which is Swift at her most Swift-est. It's a good ender because musically it shakes up the formula yet doesn't stray too far. Its synths are eccentric. And it also kind of encapsules all of the previous themes into one song that feels like an ending to this chapter. It also gives character that fans have always assumed to Swift's brand of easter eggs, references, and overall smartness. 

    Then we come to the first Dessner collab on "The Great War" and with this song brings a shift in style and presence. It's like folklore and evermore as seen through the Midnights lens. 

    "Bigger Than The Whole Sky" is a mystery to me because I also felt like it was about miscarriage which is such a touching and human song for Swift if that's what it's really about. This song sees Swift cover new ground both stylistically, lyrically, and thematically. Which is one of the cool things about Midnights because it's Swift's experiences, but they're relatable and we all feel like we've been there, done that, and got the heartbreak t-shirt from it. 

    "Paris" is a entertaining moment about playing pretend during the pandemic. I think this is a good song about that time period because it doesn't come right out and say "this is about the pandemic." The 3am edition tracks definitely cover new ground for Swift and help give Midnights its own identity. 

    "High Infidelity" is a classic Swift track that covers a moment in her life that was speculated on. The chorus is so singable. "Glitch" is the album's shortest song. Clocking in at 2 minutes and 29 seconds though it doesn't feel like a short song as it is well-fleshed out. 

    We all live for musical moments like "Would've, Could've, Should've." Everything about the song is perfect, and only Swift and Dessner could make a song like this. It is an absolute mountain high that hits you so hard it takes the air out of you. This instantly became one of my favorite songs ever. It's a Swift song of its own unique color. Fans would give it the "Cruel Summer" treatment in a heartbeat if they could get it off the ground. It's one of many reasons Midnights has become an unstoppable force.

    "Dear Reader" is the second album ender. And it also does great at wrapping up thoughts and themes. It's not as exciting as "Mastermind," but it's chill and reminds us what Midnights is all about. The 3am edition tracks and the regular ones all blend well together and help this album play up to its total strengths like a team. Yet there is such a distinction between the sets, and I don't think it's only because of different producers. The original 13 tracks help sell the initial "13 sleepless nights" concept, and they feel like a more commercial project. The 3 am tracks, however, expand on the sleepless nights concept just a teeny tiny bit as they all have their own ghosts and conflicts. What they do best is make this album feel like an artistic statement that had foundations built in her previous two efforts. 

    So Swift really achieved it all with this record critically and commercially, and she also set a good foundation that she can go in any direction she wants with her eleventh album and not alienate a single listener. In fact, she already has people anticipating it and curious as to the direction of it. 

    Now we have the bonus tracks. That last paragraph really felt like me wrapping this article up, didn't it? But we ain't done yet! We still have 2 bonus tracks. The first is "Hits Different" which is breezy and a breath of fresh air overall. Lyrically, it's unconventional and that's what is what makes us love it. It's such a unique perspective. 

    Then we have the track that had people running to check it out due to current Swift events at the time, "You're Losing Me." I only got to listen to this song one time due to it not being available for streaming forever. Thanks, Taylor Swift. The one listen I got I thought it was a fine ballad. If it was cut from the original tracks, I could kind of see why as it didn't have the same feel. Maybe we all will get to listen to it legally again some day along with a vinyl LP that has all these songs on it. And on streaming you won't have to have 4 different albums in your library, you can just have a single Midnights compilation. But I'm just a normal dude. IDK. What do I know?

    Anyways, Midnights is just what Swift needed and it launched her back into a third career peak which is just nuts to think about. The stars really aligned with this rollout. Even over a year later, Midnights is still high on charts.

    To end the Taylor Swift Deep Dive series, I'd just like to say that Swift's entire catalog has dizzying highs and very few lows. I can't wait to see where she goes next, and what she will do. Now that it's over, I have no idea who I dive into next. There's so many possibilities. Even during writing this article I was thinking "ooh. Lana Del Rey." I think we will see. I need to finish Utada Hikaru and Ayumi Hamasaki first, I think. Then I'd like to cover some male artists. I'm thinking The Weeknd. 

    Anyways again, I think I will try to rank Swift's albums now. And this is going to be so hard because I think I have pretty much given every one of them S Rank. 

    1. reputation

    2. 1989

    3. evermore

    4. Lover

    5. Midnights

    6. folklore

    7. Red

    8. Speak Now

    9. Taylor Swift

    10. Fearless

    Well, that was hard as hell. After I was thinking about it I was like "you know, reputation, 1989, evermore, Lover, Midnights, folklore, Red, and Speak Now really are all tied for first place." It really just depends on my mood! And I can't say that about many artists. 

    Here's the regular ending for the Midnights article because I got lost in the plot:

Rating: S Rank. We want to stay in the Lavender Haze of Midnights!

Recommendation: I listened to this album while I work a lot. I think it would be good for that too.

Standouts:

    Lavender Haze

    Maroon 💖

    Anti-Hero 💣

    Midnight Rain

    Bejeweled

    Karma

    Mastermind

    Would've, Could've, Should've