After much anticipation, fans met Taylor Swift at midnight on October 21, 2022 for the release of her 10th studio album, “Midnights.” 

The album begins with “Lavender Haze,” a song about wanting to stay forever in the beginning period of a relationship without the opinions of others. Swift starts the song with whispering “meet me at midnight,” adding a special touch to track one. 

In “Maroon,” Swift compares a relationship to many different shades of red, notoriously one of Swift’s favorite colors, and seems like a more mature “Love Story.” While “Lavender Haze” has a more upbeat tone, track two is a bit more serious, making it clear this album will be a mix of different styles.

“Anti-Hero” was the song I most anticipated from this album, and I was a bit disappointed. The song is catchy, but a bit repetitive and lacks the poetic lyrics that Swift has shown fans she’s capable of writing. But, I think we can all agree that the line, “Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me,” hits a little too hard. 

“Snow On The Beach” is the only collaboration on “Midnights,” featuring Lana Del Ray, and the two artists’ voices blend beautifully. The song opens with instrumentals that sound straight out of a Disney princess movie and, along with “Labyrinth,” is most reminiscent of “folklore” with its softer instrumentals. “Question…?” is another song that reminds me of “folklore,” with lyrics reminiscent of “illicit affairs.” 

On every album strategically crafted by Taylor Swift, track five is an iconic song that tends to be very emotional. Let me just say, she did not disappoint with this one. Just like previous track fives, “You’re On Your Own, Kid” is a hit. Swift sings with anguish of how she has been waiting for some sort of great love, but ultimately realizes she is on her own. This song is an anthem for everyone who gives their all to someone with nothing in return. The fun beat makes this song one you can cry and dance to. 

“Midnight Rain,” with heavy auto-tune in the beginning, takes a different direction than many previous Taylor Swift songs. While many may be turned away by this, I like this one. It sounds like it could be on Lorde’s “Melodrama,” which might be one of the greatest compliments it could receive. 

Everyone knows Taylor Swift loves karma, so it’s no surprise the song with that very name is great. “Karma” is another upbeat, head-bopping song. The chorus is extremely catchy, and Swift personifies karma through her lyrics. If there is one takeaway from this song, I’d say it’s that Swift and karma are best friends.

Track 13 is “Mastermind,” and probably my favorite off of the album if I had to pick. Swift lets us look into her mastermind of a brain as she sings of planning an “accidental” meeting. The bridge does not disappoint. I think the line, “no one wanted to play with me as a little kid, so I’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since,” might just be a little too relatable.

This brings us to the end of the “Midnights” track list, but the chaos doesn’t end there. At 3 a.m. on October 21, Swift released seven more songs with “Midnights (3am Edition),” because she really likes parenthesis. 

The first “3am” track is titled “The Great War.” Yet again, this song uses a fun beat and Swift’s masterful lyrics to describe a relationship that was strong enough to survive The Great War. This and “Paris” make great songs to dance around your dorm to. 

Arguably the saddest song on the album, track 15 is called “Bigger Than The Whole Sky.” This song seems to be about a loss Swift had no control over. She incorporates lines like “everything single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness” to shred our hearts.

“High Infidelity” could be viewed as Swift’s confession that she cheated on someone, as she tells the story of a relationship that involved some disloyalty. 

In “Glitch,” Swift looks at a relationship that started as a friendship, but there was a glitch and they fell in love. I will admit I was not a fan of this one at first, but I’m a sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope, so it has grown on me.

“Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” track 19, is a song you can scream your heart out to while simultaneously dancing. With lyrics like “and I damn sure would’ve never danced with the devil at nineteen,” I can’t help but think about “Dear John,” Swift’s six-minute masterpiece from her third album, “Speak Now.” The third verse is special in its own way, ending with “living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts, give me back my girlhood, it was mine first,” a heart-shattering line. 

Overall, “Midnights” was not what Swifties were expecting. Instead of the “folklore”/”evermore” sound that fans have grown familiar with, Taylor Swift’s 10th album creates a new, dreamy sound. The lyrics are also more biographical than those on her previous two albums, which featured songs about fictional events and people. Many are still unsure of how they feel, but I can confidently say that this album was worth all of the mayhem for me.