“Midnights” by Taylor Swift Album Review

By: Aiden Nelson

The Red Era has come to a close and us Swifties have fully embraced the Midnights era with its release. The album’s original 13 tracks were released at midnight on October 21, and at 3:00am seven more songs followed suit. The original album has a run time of 44 minutes but with the addition of the“3am Edition,” it rounds out to about one hour and nine minutes. 

Midnights is Swift’s most mature sounding album to date. Overall, it feels like a blend of both Reputation and Lover, sonically as well as thematically. Swift gracefully weaves between myriad topics and emotions, covering love in its many forms, heartbreak, and being an absolute bad bitch. 

The record opens with “Lavender Haze,” a vibey track, almost reminiscent of musicians like Steve Lacy and TV Girl—which sets the tone for the rest of the album. The track discusses being in love (aka the ‘Lavender Haze’) and trying to ignore the outside world—as Taylor says in an Instagram reel —to “protect the real stuff.” 

The album is full of tender love in tracks such as “Labrinth” and “Sweet Nothing”; there are songs about anxieties such as “Anti-Hero,” “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” and “Question…?” -- covering the themes that “Lavender Haze” has already brought in.

Sonically, the rich sounds of “Lavender Haze” demonstrate the shift from Swift’s previous eras to the one of Midnights. Her growth reflects the full, polished tracks that I feel I can only describe as ‘jewel-toned’.

The album calls back to her past by bringing back motifs with a renewed sense of life. My personal favorite track off the album is “Bejeweled,” which feels to me like a party version of “mirrorball” (folklore) as it recalls the concept of making a room light up as you walk in, although “mirrorball” comes at the theme with nostalgia and “Bejeweled” comes at it with a sense of giddiness and a lust for life.  With its mentions of red wine and the physical manifestation of memories, “Maroon” is almost an extension of reputation’s “Dress”. 

Several other songs on Midnights also tackle issues of reputation and being wronged, but come at the themes from the angle of someone who has healed. The track “Karma” perfectly embodies this idea of justice coming into fruition, taking the anger of reputation and making it into a fun, flirty, party anthem.

There are echoes of Lover, with many of the songs discussing relationships and love in its many forms. The albums are quite similar with their instrumentals as well -- Midnights mirrors  Lover’s balance of pop anthems and understated acoustic songs.  

Although I overall enjoyed the album, a few tracks fall flat. “Snow on the Beach” featuring Lana Del Rey, while catchy, does not deliver on Del Rey’s feature. Her feature provides some backing harmonies, but as a Lana fan, I found this underwhelming. “Vigilante Shit” is a fun song but feels as though it’s trying to recreate “no body, no crime” (evermore)and quite frankly, “no body, no crime” did it better.Meanwhile, some tracks were simply not memorable. I’d even go as far to say that some sound the same. It’s a good album, and a good Taylor Swift album at that, but it definitely did not knock Red and folklore out of their reigning top spots on my T.S. album ranking. That being said, it really is a fun album with rich tones and vibey tunes, and I eagerly await the rest of the videos that will make up the visual album.