Midnights: Bop or Flop?

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Taylor Swift’s most recent album, “Midnights,” is proving to be more controversial than expected. 

Prior to listening, many fans predicted the album to share the same stripped musicality and introspective tones as the artist’s “Folklore” and “Evermore”, while others suspected the album would reflect the angsty narrative of “Reputation.” However, “Midnights” has surprised Swifties with its unusual synths, eccentric vocal effects and nuanced production.

The album generates a floaty and ethereal experience that came as a curveball to Swifties, especially since the album was dropped without any pre-released singles. 

Freshman Kairi McDermott, a dedicated Swiftie, added, “I like “Midnights,” but overall it’s pretty disappointing. There are some really good songs, but the ratio of bangers to flops is terrible. Like, ‘Snow on the Beach’ with Lana del Rey was so dumb. Literally, Lana is just breathing in the background while Taylor sings.” 

McDermott isn’t alone in finding the album disappointing, however, many other fans have embraced the change in Swift’s songwriting. 

Fellow freshman Harper Sabetto, another Swiftie, stated, “This definitely isn’t Taylor’s best album, considering that she’s had better album openers than ‘Lavender Haze’, and that whole thing with the Lana del Rey feature. But I think ‘Midnights’ gets its bad reputation because the most overplayed songs aren’t even the album’s best ones. ‘Anti-Hero,’ the most popular song, is incomparable to ‘Karma’ and ‘Maroon.’ Plus, Taylor told us that the album was going to be conceptual and reflective, so we shouldn’t’ve expected it to be as harmless and easy to listen to as Fearless, or something.”  

It’s safe to say that “Midnights” is definitely different, but that may not be a bad thing. Plus, the album broke the record of Most Streamed Album in 24 Hours with a whopping 184.6 million streams, according to Nylon Magazine, so it must not have been too shabby.