Taylor returns with a vengeance as her tenth studio album ‘Midnights’ has become the fastest selling album of 2022.
After an agonizing three month wait Taylor has finally dropped her tenth album and fans are (rightfully) going insane. So why is this album such big news? It has been two years since Taylor released her sister albums, folklore and evermore and one could have expected the album that follows to lean into this new indie sound or return to her beloved pop sound. So, what can we expect from midnights? In all honesty it appears a mix of all her individual sounds and personality’s.
This ground-breaking album is a tribute to ‘13 sleepless nights’ from Taylors life; It is a musical exploration of body image, friends, past loves, childhood, and all of them angsty, heart-breaking topics you only experience during midnights. The opening track of ‘lavender haze’ certainly has the same feel of albums such as ‘lover’ and ‘1989’, detailing how this love haze can break criticism and hate. Whereas a personal favourite ‘vigilante shit’ holds the same feel of her 2017 album ‘reputation’. The truth is at every turn this album seems to change, it really is a tribute to all her past albums and past self’s.
There are also no denying Taylors incredible vocals, there is a reason she is number one, you must hand it to her, this girl can really sing. In true Taylor fashion, the song writing is beautiful. Traditionally, the fifth song on the album (as any swiftie will know, the fifth song on any of her albums is garunteed to make you cry) ‘you’re on your own kid’ holds some of the most heart-breaking lyrics, “I gave my blood sweat and tears for this/ I hosted parties and starved my body/ like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss.” It really feels like we are seeing this raw, vulnerable side of Taylor where she opens about the true hardships this life has given her.
It is no secret this industry has not been especially kind to Taylor swift, from sexist commentary, misogynistic stereotypes, the constant villainization of her as a ‘heartbreaker’ and unnecessary commentary on her body and size. So, you begin to wonder how it got that bad? How did criticism of her music turn into sexist abuse causing her to hide away for a year? The answer is actually quite simple, the problem lies within the industry. The music industry is inherently misogynistic, Taylors earlier music being labelled as ‘too girly to be taken seriously’ but when her style changed with the release of ‘reputation’ she was now a ‘jealous bitch’ but the narritive changed again with the release of folklore as she was ‘trying too hard to be different’. The truth is women in the music industry cannot win they will always be faulted for something, sometimes even if it is just for their femineity.
For critics, this album has done extremely well, many signing her praises as this record-breaking album is the third-largest streaming week ever for an album. It has also become the fastest selling album of 2022. The only dissapointing aspect of this album was the much anticipated collab with singer Lana Del Rey in their song ‘snow on the beach.’ It was less of a collab and more of a simple harmony, Lana was nowhere to be heard, maybe Taylor told her the wrong beach! However, this being said, their voices work extremely well together.
This album truly is a masterpiece, a collection of all her past albums and feelings to create a truly heartbreaking yet liberating listening experience. There really is no denying Taylor swift really is the music industry.
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