Taylor Swift recently released her new album “Midnights” which quickly became a huge success as the most played album ever during a day on Spotify! While you might have expected a theme similar to the one of her latest albums “Folklore”, “Evermore” or the re-recordings of her old ones, this album turned out as more of a pop “1989” and “Reputation” kind of album. We follow her through 13 sleepless nights with songs that fit her adult voice but still resembles the feeling of her older songs.
LAVENDER HAZE
Taylor Swift gave the opening song of the album a description already after its title was revealed. “Lavender Haze” was said to be a common phrase from the 50s describing the feeling of being in love and wanting to stay there no matter who tries to bring you down. This she related to social media and explained how it allows for people to easily weigh in on it like she has experienced herself.
The intro has a resembling start to the one of “False God”, an earlier song of hers, and continues with catchy music along with well thought lyrics. The fact that it starts with “meet me at midnight” is iconic and sets the right tone for the album from the beginning. It is widely believed to sound similar to I Think He Knows which I can definitely hear as well. Taylor Swift feels more confident in this album compared to the previous ones which I love. Additionally, the background vocals are worth mentioning as well because they were so good. It makes me “just wanna stay in that lavender haze.”
3AM EDITION
A few hours after the release at midnight, there was a surprise of an extended “Midnights (3am edition)” containing more songs. Some great ones you should check out are: Paris, Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, and High Infidelity.
Personally, I appreciated the lyrics of these songs more than the original 13 songs but overall, all of them were great. A couple of these songs are more alike the newer albums in terms of set atmosphere, which means she incorporated almost all her different styles for ”Midnights” to come together - I love it! Nostalgia, happiness, sadness, insecurities, and love all in one album. Moreover, as a huge bookworm I was really intrigued to notice a song called “Dear Reader”. However, it did not quite live up to my expectations and was unfortunately not one of my favorites.
HITS DIFFERENT
Furthermore, there is one extra song which is a Target exclusive and has not been published on Spotify. While hoping for the song by the name “Hits Different” to be shared on the streaming platform there has been a 15 second clip of it spreading on the app TikTok giving it the hype it seems to deserve! I want to listen to it relentlessly.
EASTER EGGS
Taylor Swift, along with being a great musician does this cool thing where she leaves Easter eggs ... everywhere! For this album, the long awaited and rumored song Karma that was hinted at way back in Taylor Swift’s “Reputation-era”, was finally released. Also her NYU graduation speech contained an Easter egg of the lyrics “Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out” found in the song Labyrinth. There’s so many more allowing for fun discussions especially when rumored songs such as Karma wind up released. You should definitely give this album a listen and perhaps find some more easter eggs yourself!
By Annika