Written By: Eleni Daskalakis
On August 28th 2022, at the MTV awards, Pop Icon Taylor Swift announced that she would be releasing her tenth studio album titled Midnights on October 21, 2022. This was a very big deal for her fan-base, the Swifties, because Taylor only has been releasing re-recording of her previous albums due to legal issues she had. This would be her first original release since 2020, the anticipation and expectations for it was very high.
The Review
I’ll preface this review by saying I am a Swiftie but I promise this will be completely non-bias. Within the first twenty four hours of this album’s release several spotify and billboard records were broken with more soon to follow. The album has caused a divide in opinions of the fanbase and after listening to it several times I have found it caters to a particular music taste. On this version of the album there are a total of 21 tracks but there were a few I was very excited to hear. The first song I listened to was Bejeweled and it’s become one of the most popular songs off the album with a viral tiktok trend. It has a catchy beat and the type lyrics Taylor Swift Fans love about. She is known for her storytelling and lyrics and I will say this album has a lot of that.
On that note it is why Anti-Hero and Your Own Your Own Kid became a fast favorite of mine. Karma is on my favorite list because it’s catchy. I also loved Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve after the first listen because it fits in with my own music taste. However, I am not really a fan of the album as a whole. There were quite a few tracks I was super excited to hear but they just didn’t hit the mark. For example, Snow on the Beach is a song “featuring” Lana Del Rey and when I first saw that on the track list I was insanely excited but then when it was released the song itself wasn’t that great and Lana doesn’t have a verse it’s just her very faint background vocals. Similarly, I was so ready to hear songs like Vigilante Shit and Midnight Rain. In my opinion they were good but nothing amazing to me. I never thought I’d say something like that about Taylor Swift but you know I have to keep it honest for this review. I was also really sad to see a song titled Hits Different is only on the Target CD. I was contemplating buying it due to the fact that I don’t fully love this album. For me its overall sound and vibe doesn’t fully match mine.
The Final Verdict
I felt that a lot of the songs were overhyped and that I was so excited to hear something that didn’t meet my expectations. It compares similarly to her two prior releases Folklore and Evermore which makes sense as she has come a long way from her debut in 2006. I personally was hoping the album would have more of a Reputation and 1989 sound.(If you don’t know those albums by her I highly recommend you give them a listen there’s absolutely no skips on them.) I couldn’t help but feel that some of her new songs lack that “magic” that makes her old songs so amazing. I have found that the rerecordings of her old album do have bonus tracks on them that are better than some of the Midnights tracks. I have talked to multiple people about this album and some think it’s her best one yet while others don’t like it that much. Overall, this album is good, it’s not my favorite but I’ve added some songs to my playlist. I would definitely say it is worth giving it a listen because you will most likely find a song or two you like. Plus you have to answer the question of is Midnight’s “mid”?