MIDNIGHTS REVIEW

An abridged “Midnights”

BY MARGARET HOLMES

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! My third annual Taylor Swift album review! Sophomore year I gave you “Folklore”, junior year “Red TV”, and now, my very last year, senior year, I give you “Midnights” by Taylor Swift!

Lavender Haze: Well, okay. The first notes of Taylor’s singing are decent… Not necessarily worth waking up at 6:00 am on a weekend though. At least she has some real singing rather than that weird whispering she had in her previous albums. I’m glad she’s finally over that. As for the lyrics though, I feel like I’ve heard this same song from her 10 times now.

Maroon: Reputation music! Hallelujah! This song slaps, honestly. If “Maroon” is a rewrite/ more mature version of her song “Red”, I can definitely get behind it. However, I’m not a huge fan of artists (looking at you Olivia Rodrigo) dropping the F-bomb for no reason simply to be ‘cool’. Hearing it in the same song with a line like, ‘Carnations that you thought were roses, that’s us,’ is so funny that I can’t even take it seriously.

Anti-Hero: This song is honestly pretty crazy. It’s insane, with lyrics like ‘I have this dream my daughter in law kills me for money’ or the hilarious, ‘I stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror.’ But the music is pretty good and her singing is even better. I also like her allusions to different fairy tales and movies in this song. I highly suggest you all watch the music video, it’s very trippy.

Snow on the Beach: Uh oh… the mumbling whispering is back. Despite that though her chorus is very enjoyable which is high praise from me, who hates repetitive choruses. I was honestly pretty confused searching up the lyrics to this song after hearing it and seeing that Lana Del Rey was in it. I never would have guessed because their voices blended so well. I think Swift maybe should have given Del Rey some solo lines if she was going to make a cameo.

(Ironically, the Youngblud ad on my Spotify was the best music I have heard so far…)

You’re On Your Own, Kid: This song is pretty popular already. I don’t like the title but the verses and chorus are all really good. Really spot on lyrically and instrumentally. This song is kind of nostalgic, but it’s hopeful at the same time which I think is an interesting combination. This song is really vulnerable for Swift and, along with ‘Anti-Hero’, I think it’s one of the most meaningful songs she’s written. Midnight Rain: I might be in the minority here, but I really don’t like this song. I don’t like that annoying auto tune voice and I personally don’t like the comparisons made in this song. I think ‘The Way I Loved You’ and ‘Don’t Blame Me’ did a much better job at conveying the theme of not wanting a ‘boring’ relationship. This one might be my least favorite on the album.

Question..?: This song has definitely grown on me. I think the chorus is kind of misleading and it’s easy to miss that this song is about Harry Styles and not a cutesy New Years’ Eve scenario. It isn’t great, but it has a good beat and I think it has better instrumentals then a lot of other songs.

Vigilante Sh*t: Well hello there Billie Eilish. Or actually, this sounds more like Melanie Martinez than Billie Eilish, which 8th grade me would be very happy about. I actually really love this song. It’s just really fun and I’m happy to hear a song resembling Reputation. I really like Taylor Swift revenge songs and you cannot tell me the bridge was not inspired by Melanie Martinez because it 100% was.

Bejeweled: Some songs you just have to laugh at. This is one of them. You actually can’t even talk about this song without watching the music video because it is ICONIC. So if you haven’t, go watch that and come back because that is an EXPERIENCE. You can’t take this song too seriously so just put it on, sing along, and have fun cause that’s pretty much all there is to it.

Labyrinth: This song sounds a little too much like ‘Mirrorball’ for me to love. I’ve said this repeatedly, but I don’t like the whispering. And why is there autotune? Why would you need to autotune whispering? Nothing about this song makes sense. I guess the lyrics are kind of good but it gets lost with the weird autotune voice (serious what is that) and the whispering. I do like how she has some lines from her NYU speech though.

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Karma: I am of the opinion that calling karma her boyfriend when she has a REAL boyfriend is a bit disrespectful to Joe Alwyn. But at least this song has a good beat and some actual music and singing rather than random mumbling. This song is pretty fun. (Reminiscent of the lone Youngblud ad…)

Sweet Nothing: I have to be honest, by track 12, I’m a little tired of Taylor basically whispering. She has good vocals, she has GREAT vocals. Why isn’t she using them? This is her third album in a row relying on the whispering and I had hoped she would get into something fresh. At least Folklore had ‘Betty’ and Evermore had ‘No Body, No Crime’. Where is the life, Taylor? But aside from all that, I DO like the lyrics even though they are a little repetitive for my taste.

Mastermind: The lyrics are pretty cute in this song. I’m honestly so relieved to hear anything resembling “1989”. I love both the chorus and verses, which is pretty unusual for me when listening to music. My only complaints are that the music is kind of boring and the line ‘no one wanted to play with me as a little kid’ is pretty strange to put in this song.

Swift portraying her past self in the “AntiHero” music video

Swift bedazzles in the “Bejeweled” music video