Midnights: Music Review

The callback to her jaded love and loss of innocence appears full-flashing in Taylor Swift’s glitzy, melancholy, new album, Midnights. Her foray into this era has broken records across Spotify and the Billboard Top 100, where she holds the record for most streams in one day and most vinyl records sold. Once again, Taylor reminds us of her connection to affection, but this time in a way few could have imagined. Swift’s new music offering looks upon past songs for inspiration while cascading the same look of affection down the well she garnered in her embittered heart.

Wholesomeness has gone out of fashion in the beat-heavy, tear-jerking scene of modern pop. Midnights is no different. Scoring more curse words than ever before and beckoning more sensual references, the album mirrors Swift’s previous years of not giving “a damn about her reputation”. In fact, Midnights gets to the heart of it: “It’s me, I’m the problem, it’s me,” Swift sings in “Anti-Hero,” one of the leading tracks. In the pop music world, Swift’s image is something she doesn’t have to worry about: she’s been a pop powerhouse for years after breaking onto the country music scene as a teenager. Swift follows her trend of swapping the stuffy, black-and-white genres for bolder, more colorful ones.

While Swift takes her latest step into modern music with a bang, it’s not a stretch to see the echoes of her old heartbreak in the new dawn. One can see callbacks to “Red, Lover”, and most of all “1984” in the chorus and melodies of the new tracks. At the heart of Midnights is Swift’s merging into the more adult world she’s so suddenly been swept into. It’s in these confessionals is Swift shaking off and clinging to the twinkly star that gleamed so vibrantly in albums of the past. While her old songs were honest listenings that could comfort the listener, Midnights strays from the formula we’re all familiar with and pulls in the listener with a modern edge.