Album Review: Taylor Swift's "Midnights"

Photo Courtesy: Taylor Swift Wiki

On Friday 21st October, the world of pop was  turned upside down by the release of Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated ninth studio album, Midnights, her first new body of work in almost two years. Released without any preceding singles, the leadup to the debut of Midnights was marked by a string of cryptic clues, such as song titles revealed one by one, and a series of visuals released intermittently throughout the promotional campaign. After all this intense build-up, on top of  the universal appraisal of her two previous albums, a slight twinge of disappointment is perhaps inevitable , even for the most die-hard fan.

Swift has spent the past two years re-recording her first six albums, after the master tapes were sold  without her permission. This not only scored her two further UK number one albums, but seems to have put her in a nostalgic mood. Revisiting the feelings that inspired these older songs may have guided the direction of her latest project; Swift describes it as ‘the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life’.  

Although it is a pity that the musical style of much of Midnights often feels like a repeat of her previous work, this doesn’t mean Swift has fully retreated back to the music that assured her success. The guitars and stripped-back production that characterised her 2020 companion albums are still evident, alongside an eclectic use of sonic enhancements that breathe more life into her twenty new tracks. These are hardly revolutionary concepts, yet they’re what made folklore and evermore so highly praised; it was such a radical departure for Swift, who had previously been painted as no more than a pop artist with little substance. 

However, Swift cannot take sole credit for this accomplishment. Once again she joined forces with super-producer Jack Antonoff (known as the guitarist and drummer from pop band Fun), whose recognisable blend of indie-infused-pop has dominated charts for the past half-decade. Yet, Antonoff’s involvement has not been without its drawbacks. The producer has been criticised for repeated similarities amongst his roster of production projects, particularly on recent albums by Lorde and St. Vincent.  

If there’s one thing Taylor Swift has become renowned for, it’s her sublime sense of lyricism; her 2020 magnum opus mixed the personal with the fantastical, the corporeal with the psychedelic, and the nostalgic with the present, creating a body of work that inspired a new legion of fans. However, this sadly seems to have lost its sharpness on Midnights. Swift’s lyrics are a little offbeat — the Tik-Tok friendly ‘Anti Hero’ is a prime example, with a chorus crying ‘it’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me’.

It’s clear that she isn’t faking the experiences she writes about; for example, the lyric from the heartbreaking ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’,  ‘I hosted parties and starved my body’, ’ is especially personal. But, lyrical gems aside, the words behind Midnights’ melodies don’t carry the gravity they needed to alleviate the album from its sonic flaws. It seems at odds with Swift’s track record that Midnights appears to have not one song screaming to be a single.  

Part of the reason her lockdown offerings were so lauded is because they blisteringly revealed exactly where Taylor Swift was, whilst Midnights dives into where Swift has been – with mixed results. But if there’s one thing we know about Taylor Swift, it’s that we have no idea where she’ll go next – let’s hope it’s even better than before.