{3,000 Views Special Pt.3} I really wanted to review this album, even though it was released almost 700 midnights ago

Hi! So, this is the only "older" album in the series. And by "older" I mean 2022. Midnights by Taylor Swift. You all know Taylor Swift, and you all know that I've recently become a Swiftie, but what you may not know is that since it released, I've considered Midnights one of my top three favorite albums of hers, along with Speak Now & Red. But even one of the greatest albums by one of the greatest pop stars isn't perfect. So let's get into the review!

1. Lavender Haze

My rating: 2/5 Mediocre

*sighs* Yet another album with a very weak opening track. Trust me, it will get better. I will admit, this grew on me since I first heard it. I finally understand the concept of the lyrics, which is actually pretty solid. It's essentially about trying to ignore what the general public thinks of a relationship, and just staying in the "lavender haze", which was apparently a common slang term a long time ago meaning intense love. But production-wise, this song as a whole falls flat. It's extremely boring and empty, and never feels like it goes anywhere. There are some Taylor songs with relatively empty-sounding production, like I Forgot that You Existed, Lover, and Karma, just to name a few, that I still find enjoyable because they at least do some interesting things. This one just feels completely bland. However, it's not quite as terrible as I initially thought.

2. Maroon

My rating: 5/5 Great

Alright, here's our first of many great songs on this album. This one seems to be a fan favorite. I consider this the sequel to Red, a Taylor Swift song that I admit to liking more than I probably should. This is like the better, more mature version of Red. First of all, the title is very similar, in that it's a one-word title describing a shade of red. In the original Red, she uses color related metaphors like "Losing him was blue like I'd never known / Missing him was dark gray all alone / Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met, but loving him was red". But in this song, instead of using different colors, she just uses different shades of red to represent different aspects of their relationship, and it's done so cleverly. "The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wind into me / And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet it was / The mark they saw on my collarbone / The rust that grew between telephones / The lips I used to call home / So scarlet, it was maroon." And that's just the chorus. Throughout the verses she uses yet more red imagery, such as wine, sunset, flowers, and rubies. I will often listen to Red and then Maroon consecutively, to show the evolution of her songwriting with a similar concept. Great song.

3. Anti-Hero

My rating: 5/5 Great

We all know this one. It's the lead single and biggest hit from Midnights. Oftentimes I tend to like singles a lot less than the rest of the album, not necessarily because of overplay, but more so because of I'm not a huge fan of the certain type of songs that tend to become more successful on radio. This is not one of those. This is a great song. It may not be the best one from the album, but it's still amazing. I'm kinda shocked this was such a hit considering it's not one of the most upbeat songs here, but I think that's great because it shows that not all songs Taylor releases as singles have to sound like Shake it Off or Blank Space.

4. Snow on the Beach (featuring Lana Del Rey)

My rating: 5/5 Great

Wow, this album has a lot of great songs. I'm not super familiar with Lana's music, but I like what I've heard. But... as many of you already know, she hardly sings on this song. She features so little that the Late Night deluxe edition of this album includes a remix of this song, literally labeled as "featuring more Lana Del Rey". I don't think I have a preference for either one, it's just a great song either way. It's about the rare occurrence of two people falling in love, comparing it to snow on the beach. It may not be my favorite from the album but it's quite great.

5. You're On Your Own, Kid

My rating: 5/5 Great

You probably already know this, but Taylor Swift tends to put a very emotive and vulnerable song as track 5 on her albums (other examples are Cold as You, White Horse, Dear John, All Too Well, All You Had To Do Was Stay, Delicate, The Archer, My Tears Ricochet, Tolerate It, and So Long London), and this is another great one. I don't love it quite as much as some people do, but it's quite fantastic. Like the title suggests, it's written from the perspective of a kid who longs for love but realizes they are on their own. The storytelling here is incredible and the atmospheric production perfectly supports it. Yet another great song.

6. Midnight Rain

My rating: 5/5 Great

Come on, why does everybody hate this song? It's so good! Literally one of my top five favorites from this album. Okay, I guess I can understand why people may not love this one as much as some of the others, because of the more basic production and pitch-shifted vocals, but like... it doesn't deserve all the hate. The production may be kind of empty, but it sounds perfect. A song like this shouldn't have crazy explosive production. I really like the synth sound it uses here. The weird vocal effects don't get in the way at all. Really the only time vocal effects get in the way for me is when they're really loud and distracting from the lyrics, which is not the case here. The lyrics in this song actually really shine. It's quite well-written, and very relatable. It's about a relationship where two people want different things, especially one where one person wants to focus more on their career. The chorus is simple but effective, and the verses are even better. I love this song so much, and I wish it was more popular.

7. Question...?

My rating: 4/5 Good

So, this one's just alright. I like the production, but it is kinda weird-sounding at times. The lyrics are well-written but I just don't quite understand what it's about. Obviously, there are Swift songs that I enjoy even though I don't entirely understand the message, such as The Bolter, and I still like this song, but... it just doesn't quite match up to a lot of the unbelievably amazing songs on this album. Still enjoyable tho.

8. Vigilante Shit

My rating: 3/5 Decent

Interesting title. So, this is another song that I don't really get. The lyrics are just about... well, revenge. Taylor has some good revenge songs, but this one is just meh. A lot of what brings this one down for me is just the production. It's got even less to it than Lavender Haze. Literally the whole song is monotone vocals over a repetitive electronic beat and just one or two occasional synth notes here and there. But the reason it gets a higher score than Lavender Haze is because even though the production does less, it sounds a bit better to me. So, this is one of my least favorite songs on the album, but it's not bad.

9. Bejeweled

My rating: 5/5 Great

From what I've seen this one seems to be a fan favorite. While I do think it's overrated, I still think it's a great song. It's about a concept that I don't think Taylor has done much of: about facing challenges but still being able to party and have fun. The only other song that comes to mind when I think of that concept is Shake It Off. I like Shake It Off more than a lot of people do, but I like this one better, mostly because the dreamy synth production here is a bit stronger. Another great song.

10. Labyrinth

My rating: 5/5 Great

I think this is my favorite song from the original main album. There is one 3am track that I like a bit better than this, which we'll get to in a second. But this is still one of my top 30 Taylor songs I think, yet somehow it's one of the least streamed songs from Midnights. The production is just incredible. It's very dreamy-sounding, but with those occasional loud bursts of sound, and it evolves by the end. This is one of those Taylor songs with very simple lyricism, but it's really effective here. I don't think I need to say much, it's just one of the best songs on the album.

11. Karma

My rating: 4/5 Good

Another fan favorite single from the album, and one of two Midnights songs that hit #1 on Hits 1. I just checked, and Taylor's surprisingly only had five Hits 1 #1s in the 2020s so far (this, Anti-Hero, Cruel Summer, Mr. Perfectly Fine, and Willow). But that's unrelated. As for my opinion on this song, it faded on me since I first heard it, but it's still good. The production is good but it would have been better if it had a bit more evolution, and here it feels a bit boring at times. The lyrics are kinda nonsensical but that's the whole point, and it's done pretty well here. This is a severely unpopular opinion, but if I'm being totally 100% honest here, I ever so slightly prefer the Ice Spice remix over the solo version. But both of them would receive a 4/5 rating.

12. Sweet Nothing

My rating: 5/5 Great

So, I originally didn't love this one, because the production feels a bit more basic and boring. But I've grown to really like it. It's such a sweet song, and I love that she and her boyfriend at the time Joe Alwyn wrote this song together. The lyrics are, like a lot of the songs on this album, simple but effective, and the message here is great. The production here may not be the greatest on the album, but I feel like it complements a song like this very well. Great song.

13. Mastermind

My rating: 5/5 Great

Ah yes, the ultimate Taylor Swift scheming song. It's all about the beginning of a relationship and how it was all part of an elaborate trap, which her new partner has fallen into. Taylor Swift really is a mastermind, and this song proves it. This is a very random comparison, which I do a lot, but I think this song kind of reminds me of my second favorite Taylor Swift song (which I won't tell you, but I would be interested to hear anyone's totally crazy guesses), as they are both kind of about a scheme for love, although they are definitely very different songs. This one is much more mature, elaborate, and focused on said topic, while my second favorite Taylor Swift song (again, I won't reveal it but it'd be interesting to hear someone guess what it is) is more rawly overdramatic and is less about mastermind scheming but more about crazy fantasies for how love will happen.

3am edition

14. The Great War

My rating: 5/5 Great

This one seems to be a lot of people's favorite, and while it's not my favorite, I certainly understand the appeal, as it's a great song, and a great opening to the 3am edition of the album. It's about a major conflict during a relationship, which is compared here to the Great War. The production matches it quite well and obviously I love the way it sounds. I don't need to say much here, it's just another great song.

15. Bigger than the Whole Sky

My rating: 5/5 Great

Yes. This is the one. This is easily my favorite song on the entirety of Midnights, any edition, and one of my favorites of Taylor's discography. This seems to be one of most people's least favorites, simply because it's one of three contenders for the saddest song of her whole discography, along with Ronan and Soon You'll Get better, for obvious reasons. But I love sad songs, so those are all some of my favorites of Taylor's career. I won't spend too much time talking about this one, it's just a heartbreakingly beautiful song, and I love it. If you don't love this type of song, that's fine. I just personally love listening to really sad music, so this is definitely not a skip for me.

16. Paris

My rating: 4/5 Good

Okay... this is a weird song to place after that song. We go straight from the saddest song on the album to the happiest song on the album. So, I get what this one's going for. It's like the better version of Lavender Haze, about being in love and blocking out distractions in the outside world. I like this significantly more than Lavender Haze, but it's not quite great. Really the only thing that takes me out of it is the chorus. I guess she literally couldn't think of any other words that rhyme with Paris other than "somewhere-else". Ferris, heiress, Harris... nope, "somewhere-else".

17. High Infidelity

My rating: 5/5 Great

So, this song is about a concept Taylor talks about a lot in her music (cheating), but this one goes very in-depth about it. I think this is my favorite cheating-related song Taylor has made. The metaphors here are all related to music terminology, so this song is thought to be about Taylor's DJ ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris. I particularly love the line "There's many different ways that you can kill the one you love / The slowest way is never loving them enough". The distorted synth production works really well here also. Great song.

18. Glitch

My rating: 5/5 Great

I think it's worth mentioning that this is track 5 of the 3am songs. Obviously this wasn't an intentional decision, as emotionally, it doesn't function like a usual track 5. But still interesting. As for my opinion on the song itself, it's another great one. The production here is unusual, but in a great way. The glitchy sounds perfectly support the theme of a metaphorical "glitch" expressed in the song. Conceptually, it's somewhat similar to Labyrinth, about a relationship that wasn't quite meant to be. And I really like the lyrics here a lot. So, this is one of my favorites, and a very underrated track on this album.

19. Would've, Could've, Should've

My rating: 5/5 Great

This one seems to be one of a lot of people's favorites from the album. While I wouldn't consider it one of my favorites per se, it's still a great song. This song is actually thought to be about her relationship with John Mayer, which she doesn't talk about much on her recent albums as they broke up over 10 years ago. Some of the lyrics are really hard-hitting, like the repeated refrain of "I regret you all the time". Honestly, I think this should have been the track 5 on the 3am edition, but I understand why Taylor may not have been thinking as much about the order of the bonus tracks as with the main album.

20. Dear Reader

My rating: 5/5 Great

So, this seems to be the least streamed song on Midnights. I don't know why, because it's yet another great song. The lyrics here are interesting, as they are directly addressing the listener and giving life advice, but are meant to not be trusted. This is one of those songs that I don't entirely understand the message of, but I enjoy a decent amount. And I love how the understated synth-pop production sounds here. Not much to say for this one, it's just a solid song overall.

Other bonus tracks (Til Dawn/Late Night editions)

Hits Different

My rating: 5/5 Great

So, I excluded the remixes of SOTB and Karma, because they are just too similar to the original songs and the few changes made in them don't drastically affect my opinion, so it's not entirely fair to count them towards the album score. But I decided to include these two songs, because they're actual unique songs included on some editions of Midnights. The reason they don't have track numbers is because they are only placed on different versions of the album. Both of these additional bonus tracks are great songs. I'm honestly shocked this one wasn't included on the main album. It's a classic example of Taylor taking a common phrase and completely changing the meaning. Usually, if something "hits different", that means it is extraordinarily great. However, in the context of this song, which is about a breakup, she uses it to mean it was extraordinarily bad. Conceptually, the idea of struggling to move on from a relationship expressed in this song reminds me of what is easily one of my top 13 favorite Taylor songs, Death by a Thousand Cuts. Great song that should've been on the regular album.

You're Losing Me

My rating: 5/5 Great

You may not remember this, but in mid-2023, back before it was even on streaming platforms, this song was on Hits 1 for months. It was obviously not on the countdown or even Hitbound, just in the abyss for a while, but it did make one of the prank countdowns. I guess I understand why this wasn't much of a radio hit, considering it's one of her most heartbreaking songs about a breakup, comparing it to death throughout the song, but it should've been. On top of the lyrics which are obviously fantastically written, the production sounds great too. This song has just what I like to see in a good Taylor song. There's enough to it that it's not empty and it feels like it evolves as it goes on, but not too much crazy explosive stuff that it distracts from the deep emotion in the lyrics. Another wonderful song.

Conclusion

Midnights rating: 89% (Great Album)

Bonus tracks rating: 98% (Great Album)

Overall album rating: 94% (Great Album)

Interesting. This album unexpectedly got the same score as TTPD, which just so happens to be 94, which is one of my favorite numbers (don't ask why).

Favorite songs: Labyrinth, Bigger than the Whole Sky

"Least" favorite song: Lavender Haze

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!