“MEET ME at midnight.”
The moment that line rings out at the start of Midnights (2022), we can’t help but fall helplessly into the rabbit hole of Taylor Swift’s deep dark mind.
The woman clearly doesn’t sleep, now having released her 10th studio album after putting out two other albums, two re-recorded albums, a short film, and more all within the span of two years. Going into the new concept record, we are brought back to Swift’s colorful pop sound through an autobiographical catalog encapsulating “the story of 13 sleepless nights” in her life.
In simpler words, the album is a trip through her insomnia. That idea in itself seems like it would be quite a mess.
Honestly, it kind of is.
From the strutting opening of “Lavender Haze” to the silently anxious “Labyrinth,” each song doesn’t really seem to thread in and out of each other, as an album typically aims to do.
Listeners who prefer records that follow a singular theme may think it’s incohesive—but I say that Midnights sticks to its titular concept. Who expects “13 sleepless nights” to be a breezy meadow of cotton cloud dreams?
Midnights has enough variety to serve listeners with a menu of both ethereal and smoky hits, all of which were elegantly whipped together by music producer Jack Antonoff. The tracklist ranges from sparkly catwalk jams like “Bejeweled” and “Karma,” yearning couples’ wars like “Maroon” and “Question…?” to I’m-the-boss bangers like “Vigilante Shit” and “Mastermind.” Despite the contrasting themes of the songs, Antonoff and Swift both managed to string all the tracks together with a glittery, stadium-esque glow.
Amid the emotional turmoil, Swift’s storytelling remains one of her strongest assets. Each of the songs’ narratives hold their own and collectively serve as the backbone for the album’s chaotic imagery. For instance, “Anti-Hero” and “You’re On Your Own, Kid” take their own youthful spin on existential crisis and self-doubt. On the former, she hooks listeners with a painfully relatable refrain: “It’s me, hi / I’m the problem, it’s me.” On the contrary, “Sweet Nothing” and “Snow on the Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey) transport you to the quiet gentleness of falling—and being—in love, with warm lullaby-like arrangements that are certain to have you melt in your seat.
However, some tracks like “Midnight Rain” needed more than one listen to stick. The intro’s tenor-like reverb initially came off as an unexpected and almost unwelcome start. However, a few more plays are enough to make the song grow on a listener and have them resonate with her internal battle of choosing career over relationship: “He was sunshine, I was midnight rain.”
Midnights’ 3am Edition also featured softer tracks that failed to leave a powerful impact. Songs such as “The Great War,” “High Infidelity,” and “Dear Reader” fell short in comparison to the thumping alternative bop “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.” The latter’s refrain cries for reclamation: “God rest my soul / I miss who I used to be”—that lyric alone should have secured the song’s slot on the initial 13-piece tracklist.
With 20 tracks in total, the album is admittedly a lot to absorb in one go. Swift covers a lot of area given the broad concept at hand, but her storytelling allows for easy digestion with their relatable and poignant lyrics.
It’s sonic mayhem, sure, and whether or not Midnights is Swift’s best album is still up for discussion. But given her cozy return to the pop genre after the stringy Folklore (2020) and Evermore (2020), it looks like the 32-year-old is just comfortably riding the waves of her success.
At the rate her career is going, it’s safe to say that she deserves that luxury.