It always takes me some time to really deep dive into a Taylor Swift’s album after its release and get to really like it, so with Midnights wasn’t different. When I first listened to it, I remember thinking that it looked like a bunch of “Vault” songs of 1989 and Lover, with the refined lyricism touch seen in “folklore” and “evermore”. During my post-sessions of listening it, because I’m an obssessive Taylor’s listener, I got to start admiring more this work, and here’s an ultimate review of this piece - one more “pair-collaboration” between Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff, mostly.
Lavender HazeI checked the talents¹ involved in the production and it made a lot of sense the “groove” feeling I felt in here. Really good and pleasant production, don’t know why she didn’t keep it ‘till the rest of the disco. I don’t think it’s an enigma what Taylor sang about here, because she’s clearly taking notes on how public gaze (specially the media) is making the hell out of her relationship and how they expect her to act by the social conducts, like getting a marriage soon.
“I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say”,
she says, disappearing into this “lavender” “haze” (God knows what kind of haze she’s talking here) where she can’t see or listen to what they’re saying about them.
“Talk your talk and go viral”.
Maroon
Oh, this is an interesting one. I didn’t paid much attention at this song in the first times I listened, but now I see how insanely good this lyrics are, my God. Once again we have Taylor relating sensations with colors (well, she has an entire album called 'Red', and another verses where she does that) but I take the risk to assume that this is the best of all she has ever made.
"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"
It's clearly an "end-of-relationship" song, but you get driven by this fascinating lyrics and when you observe, it's full of nostalgia and breaking-down moments. The production is awesome.
Anti-Hero
Personally, I'd risk to put this one as the best song in the album but the fifth track always comes to my mind and I feel it's unfair, but honestly, Anti-Hero is one of the best things she has ever made, and even herself told this². Although is a well-relatably song for general listeners (including me), it gets so interesting if you analyses by the perspective of a global popstar: well, she's Taylor Swift, but she still feels like us, mere mortals, just like that? C'mon! That's what I like the most about the song, no one is free of self-depreciation.
"I should not be left to my own devices/ They come with prices and vices"
That's so deep. Like I said, no one, even a north american billionaire, is safe from the inevitable life consequence of staring directly at the sun, but never in the mirror.
Snow At The Beach (ft. Lana Del Rey)
I affectively called them (Lana, Jack and Taylor) "The Golden Trio", because they really look like good and talented friends doing stuff together. And this instrumental just reminded me of Harry Potter's soundtrack, as if they were throwing snow on each other, with the bit difference Hogsmeade is not a beach. I feel like I have to credit Lana's work on the lyrics here since she's mentioned in the credits, but it is still a very Taylor-alike style of composing. The fun part is that she (Del Rey) doesn't look to take form in the lyrics neither the vocals, but I know there is an alternative version released in some "plus edition" of the album where Lana sings more. I wonder why they make this kind of choices. Very beautiful song.
You're On Your Own, Kid
I have so much to say here, but I don't know if I can. First of all, if we go to the techniques observations, Taylor's voice here sounds more angelical than never, and the whole thing - the production, the melody, the storytelling - is wonderful. I don't really see an selfportrait of her solo trajectory, I feel more like a ficcional narrative, but it still has this bits of real-life, where anyone who hears it can feel delighted with the mirroring the verses brings in association with our own linear paths. So intense, beautiful, reflective. Also,
"From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes"
is such a good antithesis game. And she says
"[...] Just to learn that my dreams aren't rare",
I had never stop to put this in words but this is exactly a thing I realized at some point in life and I think that most us of did too, or will, later.
Midnight Rain
We got to the first of the (non so small) list of "weak ones" and that I didn't like and still not like it that much. A skip track. Anyways, is full of "Lavender Haze" subject here, at least for me, because she turns back on talking about her public life and how it affects her relationships, although she's mostly telling us of some failed affair where she seems to be the "villain", or the faultful one.
"My town was a wasteland/ Full of cages, full of fences/ Pageant queens and big pretenders/ But for some, it was paradise"
The voice changer has its most appellant moment here in the album. I don't really like it.
Question...?
This is one that keeps growing for me at each listening. The melody (specially the melody, with its speaking-style) and the production are all amazing. Also, the theme of the song is very interesting to follow, she seems to talk about an affair that in fact didn't happen, but could've, so both of them starts wondering what the other must be doing with its romantic life while they're living their own.
Vigilante Shit
This song cringes me sooooo hard. I can't believe she really did record this, so awful. It sounds like Billie Eilish, but it's Taylor Swift, so it's even more weird.
"Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man"
it's, sincerely, one of the worst lines I've ever read and at the same time it's very Swifty, which is ironic because she can write brilliant things while tends to do this crappy stuff. It seems like "no body, no crime" had a spin-off, or brother from another universe. Well, she didn't make it.
Bejeweled
When I first listened, I remember hating it, or something close to that feeling. Today, I almost adore the song. The lyric is so incisive, sharpy, "cruel", but in a good way, realistic, you know. It's about she "getting out of the cave" and realizing she needs to be noticed, a shower of self-esteem. It's quite like that moment in your life that you revolt against everybody that treats you mean or non-enoughly-well as you deserve, and you start to act confidently until it fades and you get back to that deep-end status again, accepting all of those people back. Haha, I don't think this is the route she was taking, but the fact is:
"Didn't notice you walking all over my peace of mind/ In the shoes I gave you as a present",
SO GOOD. And also:
"Familiarity breeds contempt, don't put me in the basement/ When I want the penthouse of your heart"
it brought me really deep reflections, wow. The production is funny, but in a good way, the synthesizer is so cool in here.
Labyrinth
The production reminds me of Lorde's Melodrama tracks, which were produced by... Antonoff. Okay, I don't want to bring the recycling allegations, but from this point of the album you'll see that Jack is getting a little exhausted, because songs will get too similar. I have nothing left to say about this song, it didn't catch me, but I find it good.
Karma
I swear, I got so angry with this song for so much time. I though that after "ME!" and "I Forgot That You Existed" she couldn't record any more worse songs, but I was wrong, wasn't I? You can say that this is a funny pop song, and the way the theme is explored by the lyrics is also creative, but I don't really buy into that. I could vibe with it in a party, or even in her show, but please, skip this out of my audio streaming.
Sweet Nothing
Good news, I love that one! The piano line seems so "naive" and by that I mean beautifully pure, as the whole song: melancholic and pretty. Again, I relate it to the Lavender Haze type of sadness and blow off steam.
"Industry disruptors and soul deconstructors/ And smooth-talking hucksters out-glad-handing each other/ And the voices that implore, you should be doing more/ To you I can admit that I'm just too soft for all of it"
Mastermind
Track 13, where she's clearly talking about herself and how she's a very good strategy player in life. Personally, I do believe in that. Okay, she's talking about romantic relationships, so let's take a look on that:
"You see, all the wisest women had to do it this way/ 'Cause we were born to be the pawn in every lover's game"
I see Taylor as a genuinely spokesperson of womanhood so I trust every single line of the woman experience spectrum she brings up. Also,
"Strategy sets the scene for the tale/ I'm the wind in our free-flowing sails/ And the liquor in our cocktails"
the way she talks here about how she's the lead conductor of the relationship is very interesting. I think the bridge is kinda cringe, but the whole song is very good, can't deny it. It caught my attention.
From here, it's the songs included on the "3am Edition", released three hours later of the official release of the album. Don't ask me why, because I don't understand these marketing things and even less Taylor's mind. The reason it's the "3am Edition" and not the "'Til Dawn Edition" in this review is because the second one doesn't have new songs, only alternative versions (including more Lana Del Rey) which doesn't interest me.
3am Edition Additional Tracks
The Great War
It doesn't really touches me. The lyrics are very good, however. The bridge is my favorite part. I find the production not very neat, and it's the first time Aaron Dessner (who collaborated in the two previous albuns) appears as producer here.
Bigger Than The Whole Sky
She seems to talk about a very profound and sorrowful lost here.
"Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness"
is not an usual verse for someone to write, so I guess she had been through some bad experience that leaded her to transport such hurtful thoughts into this composing.
"Did some force take you because I didn't pray?" is so destroying.
Paris
Whoah! Did someone miss Love Story's Taylor? Because she's alive! Her romantic idealizations are all here lying down over this song, and if it wouldn't so Swift-classical I would be depressed of such embarassment. Sometimes, even I doubt how I listen to her so much.
"I wanna brainwash you into loving me forever", okay, okay...
"[...] Confess my truth in swooping sloping cursive letters",
she looks so like her teenage-self who wrote that Romeo and Juliet anthem back in 2000's.
High Infidelity
I said that my first impressions of Midnights was that it seemed like a "Vault" songs sequence of 1989 and Lover, but here we got one took out right of "folklore" or "evermore". Just kidding, but I don't know why, of all the others, this reminds me a lot of the "folklevermore" style of composing. Maybe is the storytelling, the fictional narrative, it's all there.
"You know there's many different ways that you can kill the one you love/ The slowest way is never loving them enough"
wow, it hits hard right where it should. However, it's VERY SIMILAR to "Question...?", but it was produced by Dessner (too), so I guess I'll have to blame Taylor.
Glitch
Really like this one! The melody is very nice and catchy, and the whole production is good too. Nothing more to say.
Would've, Could've, Should've
Well, I don't see how we can explore many interpretations of this song, it's so clear what've been said. I find interesting how Taylor puts religious references (in a discreet way) considering the theme (an age-gap relationship), you can see it in how she claims "God" various times or when she mentions "faith", the "devil" (as the one she loved) and how she used to pray, and not less important, how she would've "stayed on her knees". The bridge hits so hard when she sings:
"Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts",
showing her wish to see the other part realizes its mistakes, and then
"Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first",
that is so powerful. But, I can't left without saying how this one is so creepy similar to "The Great War", it makes me mess both of the songs in my head although I only use to listen to one of them. This really piss me off.
Dear Reader
I see a clearly "RnB" influence in the production, which surprised me with being divided only by Swift and Antonoff. It reminds me of Maroon, and I don't have to explain again how this triggers me. Not really interested in this song, and I think I heard it like two or three times since its release.
In general, it's a really good album (taking as a parameter her whole discography), as she has been maturing not only as a musician but as a name of the Industry. Despite the exaggerated "voice changer" use, it has great lyrics throughout the album, not all the time, but in the majority of it. Elegant and consistent production, but it's, of course, not the highest point and some tracks are way too similar.
You can see Taylor works like a machine when it comes to songwriting, but I personally don't support her recording everything she writes. She's filling her discography with "filler songs" in my view, and Midnights is a proof of this, a great album, that could had some four or five songs less.
'Til soon, bye-eye.
Technical file
Year:21th October, 2022
Label: Republic Records
Genre: pop
Production: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Sounwave, Jahaan Sweet, Keanu Beats, Aaron Dessner
Sources
1. All information about production was taken from here: https://genius.com/albums/Taylor-swift/Midnights-3am-edition
2. "She also gushed over the single by saying, “It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,”". https://www.elitedaily.com/entertainment/taylor-swift-midnights-anti-hero-lyrics-meaning