Hello, everyone … as I work on my next post of multiple mini reviews, I have a review of an album I was very excited about: the new Taylor Swift album, Midnights. I’ve been planning on reviewing this album for a while, and now it’s finally out.

This is a review of the standard thirteen-track edition of this album. I’ve heard some of the bonus tracks, and I will listen to all of them at some point, but for now I’m just reviewing the standard edition.

Now, before I get into my thoughts on the album, I want to talk about my opinions on Taylor Swift’s music up to this point.

I would consider myself a pretty big fan of Taylor Swift … and calling myself a ‘pretty big fan’ kind of feels like an understatement, but the reason I use that term instead of ‘huge fan’ or anything like that is just because I haven’t listened to enough of Taylor Swift’s music to call myself a ‘huge fan’, specifically her early music.

That’s not to say that I love everything I know by Taylor Swift, but overall, I’m a pretty big fan. And I had very high expectations … until the album came out and I started seeing some mixed reviews, which were way more negative than I expected.

I also saw that this was more of a pop album than her last few, which I was surprised to find out. But anyway, now that I’ve given the album multiple listens, how do I feel about it?

If I had a huge following, this review would cause a ton of controversy … for a few different reasons. First of all, my opinions on some specific songs on this album are quite controversial. Also, I am a reviewer who nitpicks a lot about production, and this review is no exception to that. But another reason is because … well … unfortunately, I think it’s a pretty big step down from evermore. And no, it’s not because Taylor Swift went back to making pop music … in fact, I think I prefer 1989 over evermore if I had to choose between the two. I think 1989 is a really, really good album, and this album reminds me of it in a lot of ways … but the production is a big part of why this album doesn’t click for me as much as 1989. And also melodies.

That being said, I want to mention a fourth big reason why this might be a controversial review … which is that, despite me finding this album quite disappointing, I think it’s better than a lot of people are giving it credit for. I don’t think this album is bad. Just very disappointing, considering how excited I was about it.

I’m going to have a lot to say here, and I’m going to start by going through each track on the album. Then I’ll have more to say after that.

“Lavender Haze” opens the album, and at least to me, it sounds like a generic radio hit from 2015. In my opinion, it has pretty basic percussion, not a lot melodically that really clicks for me, and I don’t like the mixing, either, with the percussion way louder than the other instrumentation.

Where I think this album gets more interesting is on the second song, “Maroon”, which features a really nice buzzing synth with percussion that’s mixed really well. This song also has a very 1989 feeling to it, and I think it’s done well, even though I think it’s far from as good as the best songs on 1989.

Then there’s the song, “Anti-Hero”, which I feel conflicted on. I love the vocals and vocal melodies on the verses. It’s a song that I still think is pretty decent, but I feel like there’s so much missed potential here. I just find that it kind of kills the song for me when the chorus kicks in with, ‘It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.’ That just feels really cheesy to me and the chorus doesn’t have much melodically that clicks for me. Also, there are some extra synths added into the chorus which feel out of place. Also, I don’t mean this as a good thing or a bad thing, but am I the only one who thinks the post-chorus sounds kind of like a Christmas song?

But what I will say for sure is that I like it more than the next track here, “Snow On The Beach”, which features Lana Del Rey. There’s just not much here that I find all that interesting. I think it starts off promising, but as the song goes on, the production starts to annoy me a bit, specifically with the bass just sounding kind of … awkward. And I’m not even sure how to describe why. The post-chorus feels unnecessarily repetitive to me, too. Also, the drums are mixed so quietly on this track to the point where I wonder why they’re even here.

But then there’s the one I’m sure so many fans were the most excited about, and that is track five. If you know, you know. “You’re On Your Own, Kid” is track five on Midnights, and it’s a song I respect a lot more than I like. It seems to be a very personal song to Taylor, and I’m not trying to disrespect that. But I personally just find the melodies kind of boring, and there’s not a lot in the instrumentation that really grabs my attention, either. Something just feels missing to make it fully click for me.

When I saw the track list of the album for the first time, the one that I was most excited about was probably “Midnight Rain”, the sixth song here, just because … I don’t know, I guess the title just really gave me a good feeling about this song. And I will admit the song disappointed me a bit, as it’s nowhere near being close to one of my favourite Taylor Swift songs, but I still think it’s one of the better songs on the album. I think it’s mixed really well, with the percussion and synths sounding really good together. I also really like the chorus of this song.

The next song, “Question…?”, has some good melodies in it, but I don’t like the boring beat in the first half of the song, as well as that synth that continues throughout pretty much the entire track and really doesn’t fit with the song in my opinion.

Right after that is my least favourite track here, “Vigilante Shit”. Musically, it kind of sounds like my least favourite track on Lover, “You Need To Calm Down”, if it were on Reputation. The percussion sounds absolutely terrible in my opinion, and there’s so little in the instrumentation, which isn’t always a bad thing, but when there’s so little here melodically that interests me, all there really is to focus on is the lyrics, which I’ll talk a bit about later. But still, musically, this song is a total mess in my opinion.

The next song on this album is “Bejeweled”, which I think has some really good lyrics, and I like a lot of the melodies, too. But there’s one big issue I want to point out here, which is how quiet the bass is. If the bass weren’t so quiet, I think this would have been one of my favourites on the album, but it really holds this back for me, and makes it feel like it’s missing something.

But right after that is the one song here that I truly love, and that is “Labyrinth”. I love the production on this song, and there’s some details that really just bring it to another level for me, like the part a minute and a half in where all the instrumentation goes away except for that synth (or whatever it is) which sounds absolutely incredible! Also, there’s a sound with about twenty seconds left in the song which I’m not really sure how to describe other than that it reminds me of the Radiohead song, “Kid A”. That’s a huge compliment! But most notably, the detail that I probably love the most in this song is that rising sequence of four notes that keeps showing up throughout this song. It’s such a magical sound that I never get tired of listening to! Especially in the context of this song, where it fits pretty much perfectly!

“Karma” is another one of my favourites on the album. It’s got a great chorus, percussion that’s mixed well, and the synths add lots of detail, but instead of too much to the point where it feels like a bunch of random synths added in to make it sound like there’s more here than there really is, it’s the right amount of detail in my opinion. I also really like the glitchy intro of this song. It’s just a really enjoyable song to listen to, and I’ve added it to my sunny day playlist!

After that is the second-to-last track, “Sweet Nothing”, which is enjoyable while it’s on, but there’s not much about this track that makes it stand out to me. At least to me, it’s just kind of … there.

Finally, there’s the closing track, “Mastermind”, which sounds like it’s really lacking something in the instrumentation, and I can’t quite tell what. Maybe more powerful percussion? Maybe another synth? I’m not sure, but something feels missing to me. Overall, there’s not a lot melodically that I like in this track, either. I just don’t really like this track as a closer, or as a song in general.

But, of course, considering this is a Taylor Swift album, it doesn’t feel right for me to review this album without talking about the lyrics.

I think despite some highlights in the production, I do think it’s a bit of an issue for me on this album. Same with the melodies. But for the most part, the lyrics are one element of this album that do work for me. But it’s not just about the lyrics of each individual song, as—like probably every Taylor Swift album I’ve listened to—there seem to be some themes throughout the album where songs connect together.

Now, I feel it’s worth mentioning that, personally, I don’t listen to music for the lyrics as much as I listen for production and melodies. In other words, compared to a lot of critics, I don’t care as much about lyrics. But lyrics do still contribute to my opinions, just not as much as they probably do for most.

Now, there’s a part of me that wants to say, ‘Look, as much as I like a lot of the lyrics, it’s too much for me to fully understand unless I put in way more effort than I want to to try and make it all make sense.’ And no, I’m not going to spend all my time looking into the lyrics to find all the details … but there’s a lot to these lyrics, and I decided to try to analyze the lyrics a bit more than I would for most albums.

I also want to make it clear that, as always, these are just my personal interpretations of the lyrics. I might be totally missing the point.

Also, as always, any ‘criticisms’ here are not meant to be disrespectful. I understand that a lot of these lyrics are very personal to Taylor, and I’m just sharing whether or not these lyrics click for me personally.

So, with all that being said, I think the best place for me to start is by talking about the song, “Anti-Hero”, which is the album’s first single … and like I said earlier, I feel conflicted on this song, with the verses sounding fantastic to me, but the chorus not so much. But overall, I like the lyrics. In this song, Taylor seems to be painting herself as the villain, calling herself the anti-hero … and there are some great lines here in my opinion, most notably the line in the second verse, ‘sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby, and I’m a monster on the hill.’ But I’m still left feeling like the upbeat sound of the song doesn’t really work with the lyrics.

Now, there are also some other songs where Taylor is singing about revenge and karma, one example of the latter being on—you guessed it—the song, “Karma”, where she calls out somebody’s bad actions, calling karma ‘a relaxing thought’, because she wants to feel like this person’s going to have to face some sort of consequence for these actions. Revenge is a theme on “Vigilante Shit”, and even though I really don’t like how this song sounds, I mostly like the lyrics on this song, with Taylor giving somebody proof of something this person’s spouse did. It’s still my least favourite track here, but it’s closer than it would have been if it weren’t for the lyrics.

But the thing is … I’m kind of left wondering what the point of the album is lyrically. It kind of feels all over the place. And that doesn’t ruin the album for me … there are albums I love in which I don’t really care about the lyrics! It’s just that I’m not really a big fan of a lot of the melodies and production, and while I like most of the lyrics, I feel like this album needed something more to really click for me … and if I liked the way the themes were tied together more, it might have gotten there for me.

Now, I want to talk about some other lyrics on this album, including the song, “You’re On Your Own, Kid” … and while I find the melodies and instrumentation really boring, I love the lyrics on this song, which seem to be about mistakes Taylor made in the past, all to try and get a relationship to work out, but it never did, and she acknowledges that she went too far. Like I said earlier, this is just my interpretation, but I love the lyrics here. I just wish I liked the instrumentation and melodies more.

I also love the self-confidence on “Bejeweled”, and I feel like this song was so close to clicking for me, but the thing I mentioned earlier about the bass just holds it back for me, as well as the verses sounding kind of boring instrumentally.

I also love the lyrics on the outro of “Midnight Rain”, where Taylor seems to be looking back at a past relationship from before she got famous, and I love the line, ‘I guess sometimes we all get some kind of haunted, some kind of haunted. And I never think of him, except on midnights like this.’

“Labyrinth” shows Taylor falling in love, and worrying that the relationship will fail, and I think the lyrics fit really well with the sound of this song.

But back to the idea of Taylor painting herself as the villain, I want to briefly mention the song, “Mastermind”. While I understand this song isn’t meant to be taken seriously, it is creepy lyrically. And it’s songs like this that hold the album back for me … even though there are a lot of great lyrics on this album, and I like the majority of the lyrics on this album, I don’t find the lyrics as consistently good as they would almost have to be in order for this album to click for me despite my feelings on the production, melodies, and instrumentals.

So, overall … I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m giving Midnights a 5/10. It’s one of the most disappointing albums of the year for me, but again, a lot of that is due to just how high my expectations for this album were. There are some real highlights on this album for me, too. But as a whole, I don’t see myself going back to this anytime too soon.

But as always, this is just how I felt about the album. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you thought of it. Overall, it’s an album I respect a lot more than I like.

If there are any other albums you want me to review, 2022 albums or otherwise, feel free to let me know … no guarantee I’ll review them, but there’s a chance.

I have another mini review post I’m working on right now … I’m not sure when it’ll get posted, but hopefully soon.

I really appreciate all the support I’ve gotten so far, and thanks to everyone who has read my reviews!

And with that, I’ll be back with more posts soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Maroon”, “Midnight Rain”, “Labyrinth”, “Karma”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Lavender Haze”, “Snow On The Beach”, “Vigilante Shit”, “Mastermind”