{"id":14429,"date":"2022-10-22T03:27:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-22T00:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selectednews.info\/ru\/an-analysis-of-taylor-swift-s-midnights-tracks-theories-and-inspirations\/"},"modified":"2022-10-22T03:27:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T00:27:30","slug":"an-analysis-of-taylor-swift-s-midnights-tracks-theories-and-inspirations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selectednews.info\/ru\/an-analysis-of-taylor-swift-s-midnights-tracks-theories-and-inspirations\/","title":{"rendered":"An Analysis of Taylor Swift\u2019s ‘Midnights’ Tracks, Theories, and Inspirations"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new Taylor Swift album isn\u2019t just something to listen to; it\u2019s a piece of work to discuss, analyze, and dissect. With its numerous Easter eggs, it\u2019s ripe for examination, but with relatable, memorable lyrics, it\u2019s also a vehicle for self-reflection. In other words, a new Swift original doesn\u2019t just stay between you and your headphones; it must be pored over with others, posted about in excess, and in some extreme cases, embedded into your entire personality. With the arrival of Midnights, Swift\u2019s 10th studio album, all of this was turned into high gear. The 13 tracks (and seven bonus songs) are all new work written about nights throughout her career, meaning the influences of past eras and even relationships seep through its melodies. It\u2019s a lot to take in.To help make sense of it all, we partnered with our friends at Cosmopolitan and gathered four Taylor Swift-loving editors to break down the new album in detail: Madison Feller, ELLE.com Senior Writer\/Editor; Samuel Maude, ELLE Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief; Emma Baty, Cosmopolitan Entertainment Editor; and Tamara Fuentes, Cosmopolitan Associate Entertainment Editor. Below, they talk through Midnights\u2019 best tracks and hidden messages, as well as Swift\u2019s growth as an artist and how she subverts the public\u2019s perception of her, all with a refreshing sense of humor. Listen to the full conversation here. First Impressions Emma Baty: I really enjoyed the album. I think it\u2019s a really nice continuation of what she did with Folklore and Evermore, and kind of blends a lot of what we love her for, what she\u2019s done in the past. I get flashes of every one of her albums up until this point. Tamara Fuentes: It does feel like it\u2019s a little bit [reminiscent] of past iterations, which I think is part of the point. She did note that she wrote this throughout different 13 nights throughout her career. And so we\u2019re seeing glimpses of those moments. For me in particular, it feels a little too repetitive from things that we\u2019ve seen before. Maybe I also had certain expectations like other listeners, where it might be more of a grungy indie vibe. It\u2019s not my favorite album, I\u2019ll definitely say that, but I think I had just different expectations and so I\u2019m still kind of figuring that out as a listener.Sam Maude: I love it, actually. I really enjoyed it. I agree with the fact that it feels a little repetitive in some places. I was taking notes as I was listening last night. The amount of times I was like, \u201cOh, this song reminds me of this other song in Taylor\u2019s Swift discography,\u201d or \u201cThis song reminds me of this Jack Antonoff song\u201d was quite a lot. And I will say, this is such a Jack album to me, and by album I\u2019m talking about the first 13 tracks we got, not the other seven that were released at 3 A.M. But it\u2019s very Jack Antonoff\u2019s style of a Taylor Swift song. I think this album shows how\u2014in my opinion\u2014wonderful the collaboration between the two of them is. I think it takes the best of Jack Antonoff and the best of Taylor Swift and really melds it together into this fabulous Taylor Swift album that I\u2019m really kind of obsessed with. But I do think it can get repetitive to other Taylor Swift songs in the past.Feller: Sam and I are on the same page. I\u2019m obsessed. From first listen, I was like, \u201cOh, I think this could potentially be one of my favorite albums.\u201d To me it\u2019s like 1989, Reputation, and Folklore had a child all together. I feel like I\u2019m still parsing through. I should tell everybody that I am reporting from Spain. This came out at 6 A.M. my time, so I\u2019ve been listening for almost 12 hours straight. But I haven\u2019t dived as deep into the extra seven. But of the core 13, to me this is potentially a no-skips album, which is maybe controversial.The Surprise Extra SongsBaty: Who am I to question Taylor Swift\u2019s release strategies? But I almost do wish she had let the album breathe as its own entity before releasing the extra seven songs. Because I woke up this morning and went straight to the album and was kind of parsing through that, figuring out how I felt about it. I wanted to listen to it multiple times front to back, and then I was like, \u201cOh my gosh, I have these seven other songs I need to also get through.\u201d I wish she had kind of spaced it out a little bit more. I don\u2019t know how you guys feel about that.Fuentes: I completely agree. I think I wanted to kind of see how it is on its own a little bit before jumping into the bonus tracks. Though I will say this: I think the \u201c3 A.M.\u201d version kind of changed my opinion of it with some of the tracks. So maybe it was just a different way to try to get some listeners who were a little hesitant to see what else she was working with. But I\u2019ve never seen somebody do something like this, so it\u2019s definitely very interesting.Maude: Yeah, I think this \u201c3 A.M.\u201d moment felt a little too soon. I wanted to sit a little more in it. And it also is a little weird to me that Aaron Dessner [who collaborated with Swift on Folklore and Evermore] was relegated to these seven tracks and wasn\u2019t on the 13 at all. I like the seven extra tracks, but again, I haven\u2019t spent as much time with them and I agree with what everyone\u2019s said there. Favorite TracksBaty: If I\u2019m looking at the track list, in order the first three songs, \u201cLavender Haze,\u201d \u201cMaroon,\u201d and \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d really work for me. And then I feel like I get a portion of the album that I\u2019m a little bit more neutral on. And then when I get back down into \u201cLabyrinth,\u201d \u201cKarma,\u201d and closing out with \u201cMastermind,\u201d that really also works for me. I think it\u2019s weird how my favorite songs are grouped at the top and the bottom of the album.Fuentes: For me, I would say my top three are \u201cLavender Haze,\u201d \u201cSnow on the Beach,\u201d and «Karma,\u201d which are in some ways very vastly different from each other, which is kind of interesting. Maude: I am definitely a fan of \u201cKarma.\u201d I actually love this track 5, \u201cYou\u2019re on Your Own, Kid\u201d and it\u2019s been a bit on repeat for me this morning. And then I think \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d is a great first music video. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s being branded as the lead single, but I think it\u2019s a great choice. Feller: I also love \u201cYou\u2019re on Your Own, Kid.\u201d My first listen through, \u201cMastermind\u201d was my standout. That\u2019s what I put on repeat immediately after I listened straight through. And I will say that \u201cSweet Nothing\u201d really did something to me. I don\u2019t think I really caught everything when I listened through the first time, but when I went back, I feel like it captures a very specific feeling that I relate to extremely hard, even though she\u2019s kind of talking about it from her perspective of being a celebrity, which that part I can\u2019t relate to. But even still, I think she really communicates a feeling in a very effective way that I\u2019ve never really heard before. And I\u2019ll admit that one made me cry. So I feel like that has to be in my top three. But in terms of the other seven, I feel like \u201cThe Great War\u201d and \u201cParis\u201d are very fun. And then I really need to dive lyrically into \u201cWould\u2019ve, Could\u2019ve, Should\u2019ve,\u201d which, I don\u2019t know if we want to speculate, but we think it is about John Mayer, right?Fuentes: That seems to be the general take. Yes.Feller: Are there any other standouts from the seven for y\u2019all?Fuentes: \u201cWould\u2019ve, Could\u2019ve, Should\u2019ve\u201d was a really big standout for me. I actually liked the seven more, I think, than most of the original 13. Like \u201cBigger Than the Whole Sky,\u201d \u201cHigh infidelity,\u201d [and] \u201cDear Reader.\u201d I just really loved those tracks and, you know what? I\u2019m kind of glad she took it out a little bit earlier just so I can get to experience them as well. Maude: I\u2019m on the \u201cGreat War\u201d and \u201cParis\u201d train for the last seven. But I will also say \u201cGlitch\u201d is an interesting song to me, and only because the Spotify background is the glitch of \u201cWildest Dreams.\u201d Like that weird glitch people were speculating about and had this Easter egg, she put it as the background to \u201cGlitch\u201d on Spotify. This was such an \u201coh my goodness\u201d moment. Easter EggsFeller: I feel like on that note, we should talk about some of the Easter eggs, which, LOL that she put one in her NYU speech. That is so funny to me. And she put one in her first \u201cMidnights Mayhem\u201d TikTok, right? She did the \u201cit\u2019s me, hi.\u201d Are there any other big ones that you feel like you\u2019ve spotted or seen people talk about?Baty: I don\u2019t know if I would classify this as an Easter egg, but somebody pointed this out on Twitter, so I cannot claim this. But I love that when she used to write all these songs about the previous men she had dated, and there were obviously all these people who were being snarky and being like, \u201cWell she should write a song called \u2018I\u2019m The Problem\u2019\u201d or whatever. And she basically subverted that for \u201cAnti-Hero,\u201d and I just love that she does stuff like that and she just messes with people. I don\u2019t know if I would classify that as an Easter egg, but it\u2019s a subtle or not-so-subtle clap back of sorts. And I really, thoroughly enjoyed it.Maude: I mean that teaser trailer for all the visuals was just flooded with Easter eggs in my opinion. Like her being in the Reputation stadium tour outfit, her being in other outfits from her career, and that was like an \u201coh my gosh, what is going to be happening throughout this era of Taylor?\u201d To me, in some ways, this album feels like a service to her fans, really capitalizing on the Easter eggs she\u2019s had for so long and really just kind of leaning into her lore and her career. I think it\u2019s really an interesting album in terms of how much her fans are\u2014myself included\u2014obsessing over it and going nuts.Fuentes: I agree it\u2019s very much a retrospective album. It just astounded me how quickly the fans were able to pick everything up. And I think that\u2019s just a true testament to how much Taylor means a lot to them and also just how much fun she has with them and they play along as well. Baty: I think she sees her fans as like collaborators in a way that other artists definitely don\u2019t. The \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d Music VideoBaty: I thought it was fun. I liked it. I would like to see more videos and also videos that work as a cohesive creative vision. I\u2019m not saying they need to really directly play off one another, but I\u2019m interested to see if she\u2019s gonna go really hard with music videos for this album, and after hearing her speak about wanting to work even more in the visual medium of her work, I\u2019m excited to see what she comes up with and the big picture of it all.Maude: I saw reports that this was a visual album, which I don\u2019t think has been confirmed, but I would love. I really loved the music video. I thought it was fun. I thought it was actually interesting commentary. I thought it was relatable in a lot of ways. Also, why did she make her children actively horrible in that music video? I thought that was funny. It was giving very Knives Out in that sense, kind of like \u201cyou\u2019re not getting the money,\u201d and I really enjoyed it. Swift\u2019s Self-ReflectionFeller: I also thought [the \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d video] was really fun and funny. I actually think the album as a whole is fairly funny, and I kind of love that about Taylor in her thirties. I just feel like she\u2019s much more open to make fun of herself and be self-referential, but also own the things about herself than maybe she wouldn\u2019t have talked about before. Like in \u201cMastermind,\u201d where she says that she\u2019s confessing about how much she really does create and plan and that that is rooted in these deep insecurities for her. But then parts of the song are also funny. I just feel like, as she\u2019s gotten older, she\u2019s done a really great job of being able to talk about the things that all the fans talk about and the media talks about in a way…she\u2019s not putting herself down, but she\u2019s still copping to things that we kind of all know be true about her.Baty: I think it\u2019s a way for her to reclaim those narratives about herself. To me it feels very, very like, \u201cOh, I know what everybody says about me, and guess what? In some ways you\u2019re not wrong and I\u2019m just gonna own up to it and, like, this is who I am.\u201d And I do feel that with this album as well. It seems like her really looking at what the conversation is or what her public persona is and commenting very intentionally on that. And I think it really works.Fuentes: I think \u201cDear Reader\u201d stood out to me a little bit more maybe because it\u2019s more emotional. But it also kind of reminded me a lot of Paramore\u2019s \u201cIdle Worship,\u201d where the idea of how we kind of put artists on pedestals, where we look to them to help us and with these types of needs, but they\u2019re also still very much human. Her speaking about that, I think, is one of the most honest moments we\u2019ve seen from Taylor in a very long time, which I\u2019m very happy to see.The Lana Del Rey Collab, \u201cSnow on the Beach\u201dFeller: I feel like I\u2019ve seen a lot on Twitter that people are upset that [Lana] didn\u2019t get a verse, which obviously I also would\u2019ve wanted her to have a verse, but when she came in on the chorus, I audibly gasped and I\u2019m kind of obsessed with how it sounds. But were you all disappointed that there wasn\u2019t more?Baty: Yeah, I am a little bit disappointed. I like the song, I just wish Lana had a little bit more to do so it felt more like a true collaboration between the two of them. Kind of like when Haim did a feature with Taylor Swift, that felt a lot more like two parties coming together to create something cool, that felt a little bit more 50\/50. That being said, I still like the song but I wish it had a little bit more of Lana\u2019s essence in it.Fuentes: I think part of it has to do with the fact that, you know, you have a certain expectation when you see \u201cfeaturing\u201d on a track name, right? And so you kind of expect more of, maybe they\u2019ll have their own verse or something or really work on vocals together and they also have their own shining moment. But that\u2019s more of a conversation in terms of how royalties work and different things in the streaming age, but I will say I\u2019m not entirely too disappointed. We do hear Lana\u2019s vocals and they do sound really, really amazing. And just the fact that we even got a collab between the two of them I think is just something I never would\u2019ve predicted years ago. I hope this opens up some more doors, maybe in Lana\u2019s future project and Taylor making more of an appearance there and seeing what they can do together. Maude: I really liked the song, I\u2019ll start by saying that. But, I don\u2019t know, Taylor kind of has this history of when she features a man, they tend to get a full verse, and then when she features a woman, they often are backing vocals. And I think the one exception literally in her discography to that is Phoebe Bridgers. But when she\u2019s featured like The Chicks or Maren Morris or Colbie Caillat, all of them are background vocals. To me, I definitely wanted a verse from Lana Del Ray here. And I think after getting that wonderful verse with Phoebe Bridgers on \u201cNothing New\u201d on Red (Taylor\u2019s Version), I was really like, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re gonna have more verses from women in the future.\u201d And then when it didn\u2019t happen here, I guess I was a little like [sigh], \u201cback to what it\u2019s been.\u201d I just think it\u2019s a common occurrence in her discography. I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just a little interesting to me.Feller: Yeah, I also wished that she gave women kind of more to do on her songs, but I think the reason that this one in particular didn\u2019t bother me was because when Lana comes in on the chorus, I suddenly felt like I was in a Lana Del Rey song and it really worked for me. Tear-Jerker TracksFeller: In terms of songs that were more emotional, for me, it\u2019s really \u201cYou\u2019re on Your Own, Kid,\u201d \u201cSweet Nothing,\u201d even \u201cLabyrinth.\u201d Then, when we get into the extra seven, \u201cBigger Than the Whole Sky\u201d and \u201cWould\u2019ve, Could\u2019ve, Should\u2019ve.\u201d Baty: \u201cMaroon\u201d got me a right off the top. Literally, I think within the first 30 seconds I was teary-eyed, and I can\u2019t quite pin down why, but that song really got me. So I hope I\u2019m not alone.Maude: I\u2019m in agreement on \u201cYou\u2019re on Your Own, Kid.\u201d Songs that have always had an impact for me are coming-of-age songs or songs that feel like they\u2019re addressing insecurities in your teenage years. I have this very vivid memory in my life of driving in Des Moines, Iowa with the windows rolled down listening to Troye Sivan\u2019s \u201cYouth,\u201d and songs that embrace nostalgia. To me, \u201cYou\u2019re on Your Own, Kid\u201d really did that. I think that\u2019s why I\u2019m kind of obsessed with this album, because it really feels like this coming-of-age album that\u2019s really examining Taylor coming to terms with a bunch of things that have happened in her past. Feller: Something that\u2019s so interesting to me about \u201cYou\u2019re on Your Own, Kid\u201d is, to me, it ends on a hopeful note, even though it is really emotional and nostalgic. By the end, you\u2019re kind of rooting for yourself, which I feel like is a rare take for a track 5 on a Taylor Swift album. I also want to go back to \u201cMaroon,\u201d Emma. To me, when we\u2019re talking about \u201cself-referential,\u201d that is such a good example. You know, the \u201cgrown up red.\u201d On first listen I was like, \u201cOh, it\u2019s about Jake [Gyllenhaal].\u201d But do we think it\u2019s about Jake?Baty: I think you could definitely make the case. It mentions New York, like it feels very, very similar to what we\u2019ve heard about him via her songs. I think that\u2019s a fun theory. I like the song regardless, honestly.Feller: To me, it is like the big sister to \u201cRed,\u201d and what a difficult thing to do and do well, especially so many years later. Standouts and TakeawaysFuentes: For me, a standout track is \u201cHits Different,\u201d but that\u2019s on the Target edition, so I don\u2019t know how many people have heard it, but I love it and I hope other people check it out because it\u2019s actually really, really wonderful.Baty: Yeah, it seems unfortunate that that one didn\u2019t make it on the main album. But I was just gonna say that I will be drinking screw-top ros\u00e9 all day in honor of Ms. Taylor Swift and her mysterious roommate [as referenced in \u201cMaroon\u201d]. Maude: I read an article about this album that was like, \u201cThis is an album for the people who [liked], I think they listed, \u2018Wildest Dreams,\u2019 \u2018False God,\u2019 \u2018Delicate,\u2019\u201d kind of the more subdued pop that Taylor has. I read that before I listened and I was just kind of like, oh no, \u2018cause it named every single one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs. And I was like, \u201cThis is going to be bad for me.\u201d And I do feel like it is in that vein. I\u2019m gonna call it Wildest Dreams-core, which I\u2019m kind of obsessed with. I\u2019m not gonna rank this album in my Taylor albums, but I do have a feeling it\u2019s going to be high up there.Baty: Wildest Dreams-core is very spot-on, Sam. I think you\u2019re right.Feller: That\u2019s funny, because I\u2019m obsessed with this album, but I cannot tell you the last time I listened to \u201cFalse God,\u201d and \u201cDelicate\u201d is also fine to me. But these 13 really \u201chit different,\u201d if we\u2019re gonna quote Taylor. So that\u2019s so interesting. Maybe I need to go back and do some more self-reflection.Maude: I have a tattoo that is inspired by \u201cDelicate\u201d and I will say it. So this album was I feel like kind of tailored to me.Feller: Pun intended. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.Madison is a senior writer\/editor at ELLE.com, covering news, politics, and culture. When she’s not on the internet, you can most likely find her taking a nap or eating banana bread.Tamara Fuentes is the current Associate Entertainment Editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers TV, movies, books, celebrities, and more. She can often be found in front of a screen fangirling about something new. Before joining Cosmopolitan, she was the entertainment editor over at Seventeen. She is also a member of the Television Critics Association and the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association. Follow her on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram.