Is Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” the experimental album we’ve been waiting for?

Taylor Swift is an international success and one of the most prominent female musicians in the industry. She’s won 11 Grammy Awards, 34 American Music Awards and holds around 62 Guinness World Records for her musical accomplishments. Her crisp vocals and string instrumentals have delighted audiences from her country music beginnings to her pop star status. Swift’s newest project is “Midnights” which is a change of pace from previous records. Whether that change is for the better is up to the audience to decide.

Taylor Swift’s more recent albums, such as “Red: Taylor’s Version,” “Folklore” and “Evermore,” were iconic for their deep lyrics and wistful, folky music that took us back to a time before even the artist. Though nostalgic, these albums refreshed us from synth-pop projects from other artists like “Future Nostalgia,” “Positions,” “Sawayama” and “After Hours.” But in 2022, Swift switched gears and seemed to follow the synth-experimentalist pop trend while trying to maintain the energy of her 2020-2021 run.

The few moments of weakness lie in the production, done mainly by Jack Antonoff, who usually hits the nail on the head with artists like Swift. Unfortunately, vocal distortions in tracks like Question…? distract us from her raw voice, which doesn’t require tampering in the first place. “Midnight Rain’s” production is a collage of noises that try to transport us to a space-age setting but leave us confused on the couch. “Vigilante Shit” emulates a blurry hip-hop sound that sounds like it should’ve been made for more cryptic artists like Lorde or Billie Eilish. Weird production choices aside, these songs are enjoyable and dominate the charts. They fit the current musical climate that caters to potential TikTok audios and catchy radio hits. “Midnights” is a dish where every ingredient is individually excellent, but they don’t make a super cohesive product.

The best part of the album is that Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff get to have fun with the creative process, and her lyricism reflects that. Some songs feel like a therapy session where she admits her faults while others sprinkle us in magical moments of time. And of course, we still have endearingly weird lines like “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby / And I’m a monster on the hill.”

“Maroon” has one of the most authentic sounds on the record, delivering the audience precisely what they’d want from Swift in the best possible way. Its enchanting chorus goes, “The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me / And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was / The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones / The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon.” These lines have clear and classically Swift imagery. Another successful track is “Snow on the Beach” for its collaborative elements with Lana Del Rey and dreamy production. It takes us to a wintery world that encapsulates Swift’s “Midnights” manifesto, “a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.”

Across the board, it’s safe to say that around 70-80% of critics and audience members enjoy “Midnights.” Pitchfork rates it a 7.0 out of 10, and PopMatters ranks it higher at an 8.0. Swift has always been about her lucky numbers, and 10 might be her next one. Shortly after Midnights dropped, songs from her tenth studio album dominated the top ten slots of the Billboard Hot 100. These were the following:

1. Anti-Hero
2. Lavender Haze
3. Maroon
4. Snow on the Beach, feat. Lana Del Rey
5. Midnight Rain
6. Bejeweled
7. Question…?
8. You’re on Your Own, Kid
9. Karma
10. Vigilante Shit.

So save your money, Swifties, because the Eras Tour is coming to Atlanta for you to hear all these charting tracks in person. 

Overall, Midnights is a success for first-time listeners and old-school Swifties, and few artists have been able to maintain the cultural impact and streaming numbers Taylor Swift has over her incredible music career. She’s not stopping anytime soon. It’s as the fans say, “she is the industry.”