By: Sophia Alexandrou and Eva Mandelbaum
On October 21, Taylor Swift released her long-awaited 10th studio album, "Midnights." The album is based on 13 sleepless nights throughout her life, encapsulating the catharsis that can only exist at midnight. Throughout this album, she explores the theme of the ambivalence and insecurity that comes with growing up and embracing adulthood.
From Reputation-Era-esque “Karma” to the slower broken hearted anthem “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve,” the versatility of the songs on the album is undeniable. Each song tells its own story and evokes a wide range of emotions, but one thing all of them have in common is the sense of comfort sewn within each and every profound lyric.
In its first five days of release,"Midnights" earned over 1.4 million equivalent album units in the U.S. and reached over 423 million on-demand official streams. This album marks the largest streaming week for an album by a female artist ever.
“I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror, / it must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero,” Swift belts in “Anti-Hero,” the most streamed song on the album according to Spotify. In this heart-wrenching song about imposter syndrome, she opens up and shares her biggest fears and insecurities. In her album’s debut music video for this song, Swift touches on her biggest fears that keep her up at night. She assumes the roles of these self-destructive, personified fears that she must eventually accept.
The excitement of new Taylor music didn’t end at midnight as expected. A surprise for Swifties everywhere; she released 7 bonus tracks at 3 AM. With tracks like “The Great War” and “Paris,” Swift provides her fans with more prodigious songs to act as the soundtrack to their sleepless nights.
To call Taylor prolific would be an understatement. Swift began her music career at just 15 years old, and at age 32, "Midnights" is her 10th studio album. This impressive quantity doesn’t hinder the quality of her music; each one of her songs is filled with as much emotion and is as carefully crafted as a poem.
What’s coming next for Taylor? In the “Bejeweled” music video, in which she reenacts a version of "Cinderella," she hints at the re-recording and release of "Speak Now," her third studio album, released in 2010. When this will be released remains a mystery, but we can expect a new music video for every song from "Midnights" in the near future. Swifties can expect a lot of wakeful midnights these next coming weeks.