Being candid about her flaws and vulnerable as she may never have been, Taylor Swift just gave birth, with Midnights, his most mature album. However, you will have to do your part to reap all the benefits.
• Read also: Taylor Swift’s Tenth Album Causes Spotify Outages
On the music planet, there is now Taylor Swift and the others.
Courtesy picture
The cover of the album Midnights, by Taylor Swift, released this Friday.
The launch of each new creation by the 32-year-old idol, especially since she surprised everyone by successfully operating an indie folk turn on Folklore in 2020, becomes the event of the season.
Midnights was no exception. Since announcing the upcoming arrival of her 10e album, on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, Swift’s slightest social media post is analyzed by admirers in search of coded messages about the meaning of her 13 (the return of her favorite number) securities.
The music press is not left out. From the first hours of its release, at midnight on Thursday night until yesterday, Midnights has been dissected in all its folds and extolled.
Then, at three o’clock in the morning, the intriguing Taylor released on the internet a deluxe version including seven additional titles, nothing less.
dark pop
So what about it? Although she winks at her folk interlude of Folklore and Evermore in the song Sweet Nothing, Midnights marks Taylor Swift’s return to pop, but in a darker sound envelope flirting with electro, house and trap, created with four hands with her longtime accomplice, Jack Antonoff.
Midnights is a homogeneous album which requires to be tamed. There’s no pop fireworks like shake it offno soothing ballad that shoots through the heart like Cardigan.
It is upon repeated listening that its treasures are revealed, starting with Vigilant Shita haunting tale of revenge (the targets are said to be his recurring enemies Scooter Braun and Kanye West) whose minimalist rhythm and anxiety-inducing climate are reminiscent of Billie Eilish’s offer.
The vaporous duo Snow On The Beachwith Lana Del Rey, as well as the brilliant and androgynous Midnight Rain are two more examples that committed listeners will be rewarded.
Self flagellation
Taylor Swift doesn’t always give herself the best role. The first excerpt Anti-hero, possibly the most easily tamed song on the album, sees her lucidly delve into her insecurities and even self-flagellate when she sings “I’m the problem, it’s me.” She even presents herself as a Manichean manipulator facing a coveted romantic partner in Mastermindanother highlight of the record.
If he is crossed by the doubts and existential questions of his craftswoman, Midnights is her album where we feel her the most in control, the most confident in her abilities, the most mature.
Her voice, both strong and crystalline, betrays both her vulnerability and her inner strength. Taylor Swift has grown again and she is at the top of her game.