A review of Taylor Swift’s new album

Gaby Peña | Writer

October 28, 2022

Taylor Swift released her new album “Midnights” on October 21st, 2022. For the past few weeks, she has been building up the album by posting a series of videos on TikTok which she referred to as “Midnights Mayhem”. In these short videos, she has a bingo cage, and on each bingo ball was the title of the track. Each video was a reveal of a song name, and in some videos she included a short description of her inspiration behind the song, leaving her fans to make predictions of the song lyrics and meanings. 

In one of these “Midnights Mayhem” videos, Swift dropped jaws when she announced that Lana Del Ray would be featured in her song, “Snow on the Beach.” This TikTok got 11.8 million views; more than any of her other mayhem videos. I, along with millions of others on the internet, was ecstatic. I am a big listener of Lana Del Ray and Taylor Swift, so hearing that they were collaborating was very exciting. However, when the album was released, I couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed after listening to “Snow on the Beach” and not hearing Lana Del Ray have a single verse; she was only doing background vocals. I kept waiting to hear Lana Del Ray’s beautiful voice singing independently in the song, but that moment never came. I was not the only one upset by this, in fact less than an hour after the album released, people were already making jokes and memes about not being able to hear Lana Del Ray. Amongst the most popular of these jokes are people saying that Lana Del Ray was “featured” because she held the microphone for Swift in the studio. I personally felt deceived by Taylor Swift, for she heavily hyped up the song and continued to emphasize her collaboration with Lana Del Ray only to release a song where she didn’t have a single verse. 

Additionally, Taylor Swift released a music video for her song “Anti-hero” along with the album release. This video has been receiving some heat, for in one scene, Swift is shown stepping on a scale and the word “fat” shows up on the scale where there weight would be. Some people think that Swift was being insensitive and fatphobic, associating the word “fat” with something negative. However, the song “Anti-hero” is about Swift’s internal battle with herself. The lyrics “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me” indicate that she feels constantly sabotaged by herself, and other lyrics of the song mostly talk about aspects of herself that she feels insecure about. I don’t believe that Taylor Swift was trying to be insulting when she used the word “fat”; rather, I feel that it added to the purpose of the song by demonstrating how her internal struggles with body dysmorphia have taken a toll on her life. 

Now, let’s explore some of our student’s opinions on the new album. “I’m not mad about her returning to pop,” Senior Alyssa Mormille stated “I’ve been a swiftie since the 1989 era and I absolutely love the album.” To clarify, when Mormille mentions that Taylor Swift “returned to pop,” she is referencing how Swift’s more recent albums, “folklore” and “evermore”, have been softer and alternative, so many people were expecting “Midnights” to be the same way. One of these people who was not a big fan of the pop aspect of the album was senior Genevieve Heal, who stated “I see what Taylor was trying to do exploring this sound, but I didn’t like the pop sync and thought it took away from her voice and songwriting.” 

Whether you like the album or not, there is no doubt that “Midnights” is record-breaking. Within the first few nights since the release, 1.2 million units were sold, breaking the record that was previously held by… wait for this… Taylor Swift. Fans are now speculating that Swift is going to announce a tour, but there has been no confirmation for her that this will happen. I guess the fans will be left waiting with anticipation, which is nothing new for the Swift fandom.