As the general public probably knows, global superstar Taylor Swift released her tenth studio album, “Midnights,” on Oct. 21. After breaking almost every record it could, fans could not be more ecstatic with the result that has been long-awaited since the 2020 release of “Evermore.”
Swift has been hinting at this album for a long time. In her 2019 music video for “The Man,” she listed the word ‘karma’ on a wall featuring the titles of her albums. Fans speculated whether this album was originally supposed to be released in 2016, before she went on a hiatus due to internet drama. The sound of the album fits the theory, with the synth-pop sound found on “reputation,” and some of the more pop-lyricism found on “1989.” But fans will never know for sure if this theory is actually true.
On Aug. 28, she announced to the world that she was releasing the album at the VMAs and almost immediately, her name was trending on pretty much every social media platform. Fans went crazy. Most had been so preoccupied with which re-recorded album was coming next, they didn’t even consider that she might be releasing something new.
From then, she posted cryptic videos to TikTok announcing the thirteen track titles. Five days before the release, she posted a video to her social media platform, giving the release week schedule, including a “special very chaotic surprise” at 3 a.m. on Oct. 21.
The day arrived, and with midnight, came the first thirteen tracks. Then 3 a.m. rolled around and seven more tracks were released with “Midnights (3am Edition).” From the first reverbed “meet me at midnight” at the beginning of “Lavender Haze,” fans were hooked.
This first track describes her never-ending fight with the media over her marital status. In almost every interview in the last couple years, interviewers ask if she is married and this song is her response. She just wants to focus on being happily in love, without society’s misogynistic pressure to get married.
This seems to be a recurring theme throughout the album. Swift doesn’t want to focus on societal pressures, but instead, on her love. Another focal point seems to be her past relationships.
In “Midnight Rain,” she discusses leaving the comfort of a healthy relationship to focus on herself and her career. This song could either be about Tom Hiddleston or Taylor Lautner. The lyrics: “He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain / He wanted a bride, I was making my own name / Chasing that fame, he stayed the same / All of me changed like midnight,” could go either way.
During her relationship with Lautner, her career was on the come up, so she wanted to focus on her career. Also, she sings about “making her own name”; if they got married, they would have the same name. However looking on the Hiddleston side of things, it is commonly known that they split because he was looking for something serious. Both fan-theories make sense.
Swift seems to be writing a lot about her “Speak Now” era exes, one being John Mayer. Mayer is one of two infamous ex-boyfriends to her fans–the other being Jake Gyllenhaal. Her “Speak Now” hit, “Dear John” quickly became a fan favorite after its release, and Swift followed it up with a second song with this album called “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.”
The song describes the long-lasting trauma that the relationship left her and the regret that soon followed. This song is possibly even more heartbreaking than the first, with the line, “give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.” This was followed by a stream of hatred towards Mayer, similar to that of Gyllenhaal after the release of “Red (Taylor’s Version).”
“Karma,” directed solely at Scooter Braun, the owner of her music, seems to be another theme throughout this album. Songs “Vigilante S—” and “Karma” show that she has made peace with what happened because she knows that Braun will get what he has coming.
In “Vigilante S—,” Swift reveals she played a part in his ‘karma,’ when she sings “don’t get sad, get even.” She also later reveals that she had a hand in both his divorce and his lawsuit with the FBI, in the lyrics “She needed cold hard proof so I gave her some / […] / Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife” and “While he was doing lines / And crossing all of mine / Someone told his white collar crimes to the FBI.”
“Karma” shows the brighter side of her revelation, singing “Karma’s a relaxing thought / Aren’t you envious that for you it’s not?” However petty the lyrics may seem, fans are happy that Taylor has settled in her bad situation.
Beside this, Swift also opens up about her struggles with her mental health in this album. Many fans resonated with her song, “Anti-Hero,” where she describes her struggles with her weight and appearance. In another song, “Dear Reader,” she tells fans that they shouldn’t take advice from her when she’s “falling apart.”
Throughout the whole album, fans get to see a brand new side of Taylor Swift through a fun, new sound. “Midnights” is streaming on all music platforms.
