Midnights is Taylor Swift’s Worst Album

In order to make myself perfectly clear, I have to start by saying that I have been a diehard Taylor Swift fan since Day One. “Tim McGraw” was playing on the radio, and I was 100% there for it. And I have been for every single song and album since. I started writing reviews/posts about her albums after she released 1989. I never thought of them as reviews, they were really just little blogs sharing my thoughts about each album. I’ve shared two of these articles here on Vocal, my thoughts about both Folklore and Evermore, Taylor’s last two albums. If you are interested in reading those, I have them linked.

Anyway, what I am getting at is this: it is precisely because I am a huge fan and supporter of Taylor’s that I can be blunt and honest about things like this. Taylor has never been some kind of untouchable icon or mythical figure to me as much as she has been a friend there with me through all the ups and downs of my life. This is, again, why I feel comfortable and confident enough to say what I’m saying. I’ve never had the kind of relationship with Taylor where I feel like I have to be obsessed with everything she does just because she is the one who did it. I see her as a friend, and because of that I see her as somebody I can be honest with.

Midnights is Taylor Swift’s worst album. And I’ll tell you why.

It is important to note that saying this is her worst album is not the same thing as saying this is a bad album. It isn’t a bad album. It has the deep lyrics, the haunting refrains, the upbeat choruses, the perfectly phrased one-liners, and many other things that all of us have come to know, love, and expect from anything Taylor puts out.

Nevertheless, it is in my mind, undoubtedly her worst album. The simple way of explaining why comes in the form of two very simple reasons. 1) I feel it was and is advertised in a way that is very misleading to the overall sound and soul of the music. And 2) I just truly, honestly, completely feel as if… we’ve been here before. I was so deeply disappointed when I finished listening to the album for the first time and felt almost like I’d heard all of it before.

For one horrifying moment, I sat there, ironically at midnight, and wondered if I had somehow outgrown or surpassed Taylor in some way. I am so used to her newest album magically being exactly what I need right when it is released that I had a short moment of panic when Midnights was not that. When it actually disappointed me. But, in order for reason #2 to make sense, I’ll have to start with reason #1.

Anybody who knows Taylor’s music knows that each of her albums is often considered an “era”. Each one has a very specific feel, sound, and story. All while somehow always being Taylor. It’s why we love her so much: she takes us on so many different musical journeys all while still being true to herself. Every time Taylor is about to release an album, one of the first things she does is release the artwork. The cover of the album and/or the various photos of herself shot for the album. This art is always wonderful, and it always showcases the feel and sound that we can expect from the forthcoming music.

For example, the day that the snake video struck out at us on Instagram, I was not only absolutely beside myself with excitement for Reputation, but I had a very good idea of the sound, the feel, and the story Reputation was going to have. I was not disappointed. In fact, Reputation took my nugget of expectation and multiplied it about 13 million times. It was everything I expected and so, so, so much more. To the point where Reputation was released over 5 years ago now and I am still not Ready For It.

So, let’s talk about the artwork for Midnights, and what it expressed as far as what we could expect for the sound and feel of the album. The cover features a headshot of Taylor with little makeup other than a slightly colored lip, blue eyeshadow, and heavy liner. We’re obviously supposed to focus a bit on the eyes: how the blue eyeshadow and heavy liner are reminiscent of various midnight scenarios. She is looking at the flickering flame of a lighter.

I was surprised and excited by it. While it doesn’t have the simplicity of her more recent album covers, it did represent one very strong style to me. One that was only stronger in the other album artwork. You see Taylor in high waisted jeans paired with striped frilly shirts, rust colored corduroy pants with a blue sweater, her hair straight in a textured sort of way. She is sitting on patterned couches or laying on shag carpet beside parquet flooring. Paneled walls provide the background.

The obvious message she was sending was this: Give me the 1970s Forever.

From day one, Midnights was portrayed as a 1970s-inspired album. And I was living for it. From the outset “Venus” by Shocking Blue was vibrating in my blood and absolutely begging Taylor Swift to take those guitars, that kill-me-wonderful 1970s sound and just MURDER all of us with a 2022 Taylor Swift spin. I absolutely could not wait for Midnights to give me 1970s Taylor. The artwork had already done so, now it was up to the music.

Well. Then the album was released. “Lavender Haze” started playing in my earbuds. I don’t remember the last time my heart sank that fast. My first thought became how I felt about the album as a whole, “I like it fine. It just isn’t what she promised.” And by the time I finished listening to the last track, my other thought about this album rose to my mind, “Taylor… I feel like we’ve been here before.” Far from having the 1970s sound that it promised, Midnights once again gave us some techno-esque bubblegum pop with a few voice changes and a joke of a collaboration. The now very expected sounds and voice changes I blame mostly on Jack Antonoff.

If I were being brutally honest and a tiny bit mean, I’d say this: Midnights is the younger sister of Lover while also being the very jealous little cousin of 1989. This creature is probably 13 years old and under the impression that she is jaded from the many and varied experiences one struggles through in middle school. All of this keeps her up at night while she dreams about a “Sweet Nothing”s kind of love.

Before I go into listing the tracks to support my arguments, I would like to say that “Maroon” made me cry. In a kind of nostalgic way where my heart said, “Oh, I know what she’s saying here. I know how this feels.” That’s why that song is the one I’ve listened to most from Midnights. And even though it is a song I truly enjoy and feel connected to because I relate to the sentiment, it is still disappointing. Why? Because we’ve been there before.

Usually, in these reviews/blogs, I go track by track and list all my thoughts and opinions. This post is already fairly lengthy, however, and I feel that I can get all my points across without dragging it out quite so much. So, I’ll just highlight the tracks that I feel need specific attention with regard to my personal thoughts.

Track #1: Lavender Haze

Taylor explained to us in an episode of “Midnights Mayhem” that the phrase “lavender haze” refers to the feeling that comes when you are very much in love with someone. That heady, beautiful feeling that the two of you and your love are the only things on the planet. Well, it was a good idea until I actually heard the lyrics.

After going on about how she’s tired of being asked about when she and Joe might tie the knot, the chorus tells us, “I feel the lavender haze creeping up on me. Surreal. I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say. No deal. The 1950s shit they want from me. I just wanna stay in this lavender haze.”

So, a couple of things:

Taylor, you’ve been with Joe for six years. It is okay for people to wonder about you getting married.

What you’re basically saying is that the “lavender haze” can only exist when things aren’t solid to the point of an actual commitment.

I’m a little tired of listening to album after album about how Joe Alwyn is the exception to every rule, the healer of any hardship, and the lover of all lovers only to hear in this album that the idea of marrying him is just “1950s shit”.

Are we afraid of commitment? And maybe more than a little misguided about what marriage is supposed to be?

Track #3: Anti-Hero

Okay. So, this song is a big deal. I hear it playing everywhere. And everybody is freaking out about the fact that Taylor is saying, “I’m the problem.”

I really respect Taylor for writing this song, and I think it’s a great song. Not everybody can dive into their insecurities like this. But honestly, the fact that she felt the need to write it at all is what rubs me the wrong way.

First of all, we already had “Anti-Hero”. It is called “The Archer” and I think it’s a much better representation of what “Anti-Hero” is trying to say.

Second of all, Taylor has been admitting her faults and being self-aware for a very, very long time. I’m so tired of the world treating her like she has no clue that sometimes she can be the bad guy because sometimes we’re all the bad guy. It is only because “Anti-Hero” explicitly states, “I’m the problem,” that people are finally saying she’s with the program. As if “A Place in this World”, “Fifteen”, “Breathe”, “Back to December”, “I Knew You Were Trouble”, “I Almost Do”, “The Last Time”, “Sad Beautiful Tragic”, “Blank Space”, “Wildest Dreams”, “Clean”, “New Romantics”, “I Did Something Bad”, “Getaway Car”, “I Forgot That You Existed”, “Afterglow”, “Illicit Affairs”, “Peace”, “Champagne Problems”, “Gold Rush”, “Happiness”, “Coney Island”, and “Long Story Short” haven’t been admitting her faults, realizing her weaknesses, and being honest about them for years.

Track #6: Midnight Rain

I just feel bad for Tom Hiddleston. And would like to point out that here Taylor is, again, talking about a time when she was the bad guy. It’s like… she knows or something. Wild.

Track #9: Bejeweled

Where to begin. What to say. Ugh. I can’t even begin to explain how annoyed I am that the chorus is so catchy because “Bejeweled” is what “Me!” threw up when hungover.

Track #11: Karma

I did not like this one at first because of the sound. Because we’d been here before. But I really enjoy the lyrics. I’d like to “vibe like that” with karma.

Track #12: Sweet Nothing

This track bothers me. I’ll just say it out loud. Maybe because it exists alongside “Lavender Haze” and I just can’t deal. We all know Joe Alwyn is your reason for living, Taylor. We get it.

Bonus Track #2: Bigger Than The Whole Sky

I’ve heard rumors that this is about Taylor Lautner, which makes so much sense. Bless his heart. And bless Taylor’s heart for being far more regretful of breaking up with him than of cheating on Calvin Harris. What a mood.

Bonus Track #6: Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve

This song is also a pretty big deal. It bothers me because I feel like this is a phrase Taylor uses A LOT in this album, and that feels like a little too much for me at times. But this song is one I’ve grown to really appreciate. It is an interesting perspective on the John Mayer relationship, and I’m pleased with it.

So, no, I have not written this lengthy review of Midnights in order to talk about how it is a garbage album. It isn’t. It’s very Taylor and has a lot of beauty in it. However, it’s very repetitive and almost feels like a regurgitation of everywhere we’ve all been with her before. It kills me that it is her biggest album release thus far because she has other albums that far, far surpass it.

And, if I’m being honest, the biggest disappointment of all is that it is most definitely not a 1970s-inspired album.