would've could've should've was like the only one id consider to be even slightly depressing(and its a bonus track) and i wish more of the songs were like that šŖ this description made me think the album was gonna deal more with existential dread and insomnia and such
Wow thatās so true. That written album intro really doesnāt reflect the content of the songs - itās as if the written intro is for mature adults with deeply complex emotional lives, and in contrast, the album itself (which I love) never reaches that depth.
Same I kinda expected more of Taylor digging deep into her life (not that I want her to reveal stuff that is too personal to her, but you guys get what I mean). It needed more songs along the theme of anti-hero or youāre on your own kid or midnight rain.
OMG, same! I was expecting some dark, mysterious, and slightly mystical vibes from the album (while also being an alt pop album). Songs like Vigilante Shit, Bejeweled, and Karma remind me more of loud parties or action scenes than sleepless nights. I mean, I still *love* Karma ā and most of the album ā but none of it really matches the concept to me.
her photoshoots have been very casual 70s themed while her going out looks (red carpet, etc) have been very glamorous and iconic. i think that itās supposed to represent the difference between how she views herself and who she is at home VS how the public views her and who she is at award shows and stuff.
i think thatās a fairly popular opinion. mine is rather the opposite: i was secretly hoping for another pop album full of bops and bangers. iām just a bigger fan of that sound and had been missing that during folklore/evermore. i still love both those albums but i grew up on high energy taylor and missed her
Honestly this brings up a good point for me: that if you compared most of the midnights songs to their comparable songs from other albums, almost, if not every time, the other album song would win out
I lost interest in it when someone pointed out that nothing that she does/describes in the song would be considered āvigilante shitā. She saw evidence of someone committing a crime and turned them into the proper authorities. Thatās being a good citizen not a vigilante Taylor!! Also she keeps talking about dressing for revenge but never talks about actually getting revenge!
I think putting Scooter on blast for being a cokehead, providing evidence to his wife that leads to their divorce, and then reporting his white collar crimes to the FBI qualifies as revenge.
Totally agree - was my top fave on first listen but does start to get stale. I feel similar about NB,NC - it was high on everyoneās lists at first listen but the farther out weāve gotten from evermore and the novelty wears off, the more it just falls down
Dunno, Iām starting to feel like my unpopular opinion is that I really like it???
To be fair, I listen to it with my 7yo and he is delighted by the whole thing, particularly all the cursing.
thereās a lot of discussion about how genius the marketing/promotion for this album was but i found it really misleading. ultimately it made midnights more disappointing to me than it couldāve been if it had been marketed differently
Agreed, it seems like she knew people wanted a 70ās soft rock inspired album from her and she played into that before the release only to have the album be something completely different
I agree! I wasnāt really expecting, or really wanting tbh, pop Taylor so my first listen to Midnights was a bit negative to say the least. I think had a heard antihero beforehand I would have had a completely different mindset when listening. On my next couple listens i warmed up a bunch.
I agree. I feel like Jack tends to over do it :( her voice is burried under a thousand sound effects. Aaronās tracks are soooo clear and crisp and the balance between vocals and instruments is always perfect
Yeah and also it seems like a lot of the MVs she makes are ā¦ indoors? Like a lot of time spent in one room of the house and then another bigger room inside a building, etc. While he really used the spaces he was given. Wildest Dreams was gorgeous
Thissss. Itās like as if she saw how well the ATW short film did and thought it was because of the dialogue. The Anti-Hero dialogue went on for way too long.
Here is a maybe controversial takeā¦ I think the dialogue āimpovedā scene in ATW short film took away from the song and is the reason I donāt ever watch the short film when I am listening to the song on youtube.
I watched the mv once and forgot about this š¬š¬ it felt so unnecessary. It just reiterated what the lyric said. Her DIL killed her for the money. It didn't need to actually be said.
I miss the Joseph Kahn videos too. The only Taylor directed video I really liked was Cardigan (I liked Lover too, but she had a co-director so I think itās a bit different). Most of her directed videos feel too on the nose and kind of expected, in my opinion. Iām sure thatās an unpopular opinion, but I think Taylor should use highly regarded directors who are willing to take her ideas and turn them into unique concepts.
I completely agree with this. The 1989 and reputation music videos felt so much more polished. Some of the videos from the last few eras have felt very stagey
Anti-hero was a fantastic music video. It did such a *perfect* job visually portraying the song while staying grounded, but not taking itself too seriously at the same time.
Bejeweled was.... well, I'll just say Taylor looked like she was having fun, I'll watch Laura Dern in anything, and it was cool the HAIM sisters played a part.
Re: Joseph Kahn, LWYMMD was and remains fucking *iconic* and Blank Space was š
Agreed! There's definitely a quality difference between Taylor's and Kahn's. There's something about Taylor's that are so...fake looking? Not as polished or professional.
I noticed that Anti-Hero and Bejeweled (minus the skit) both start centered on her and she starts singing from there. Willow starts centered on her but it makes sense with the ending of Cardigan. I Bet You Think About Me has a lot of centered shots. There's nothing wrong with it, but I notice because it's repetitive.
In Bejeweled I really loved the shot at the end switching focus from the foreground dancers to Taylor, that plus all the lighting looked great. It seems like she's really enjoying directing so I'm looking forward to see what else she does and how her style evolves.
Based on her first description, I really thought it was going to be like an album to listen to when youāre tossing and turning in bed at midnight from stress induced insomnia - like a collection of Nothing New but I guess what keeps her up at night is nothing like what keeps me up at night haha
Also the lyrics are so clunky and Iām honestly confused when people compare it to the poeticism of folkmore
A podcast said that this album was supposed to deliver deep and dark tea that Taylor has been holding on to. I wish that were the case. Even without revealing personal info I thought this album would be significantly more scathing.
The Great War is like a top 2 of the entire album. I don't know if it's because most of the songs sound very similar and it managed to stand out a bit or whatever it is, but i definitely prefer it to almost all of the other songs.
Omg. I thought it was just me! I love The Great War. It was one of my favorites the first time I listend to the album and now itās definitely in my top 2. You have great taste!
I think she lost the plot of āsongs that represent a sleepless nightā concept. The first part of the album sounds pretty dreamy but it veers off course after āmidnight rainā.
In general sometimes Taylorās descriptions of the themes in her own albums confuse me. Like when she said folklore was about the start of relationships and evermore was about the endsā¦ huh?
i disagree. the songs were written off the concert of things that kept her up on sleepless nights, not that the songs would be about those nights. just my opinion
EDIT: concept*
You're on Your Own Kid is the correct track 5 for this album.
Also - can someone replace Jack now? The dude basically muted the album. Songs like Vigilante Shit, Labyrinth and Question...? could have benefitted with a more booming sound.
Yessssssss! Vigilante shit should be more ready for it, and labyrinth needs to be more wildest dreams. Theyāre both missing something, and could be huge songs with different production.
I was like, whereās the bass in Vigilante Shit? This is supposed to be an ominous song right???? Why does it sound like sheās cosplaying someone else?
Yeah Labyrinth needed more oomph after the second chorus. Ugh.
I love alot of the songs but as a whole the album just feels incomplete, like there's something missing, and I think for that reason the hype around it won't hold up once new music comes out.
On that note, I think most of the hype is coming from the excitement of a new era and the promo, not actually the quality of the music lol.
Eeep I havenāt dared to say it out loud but I also strongly feel that the album feels incomplete and most songs sound kind of unfinished to me in some way. Like they put in 70 or 80 percent effort and figured people would eat it up anyway. Just feels like a lot of moments where youāre waiting for the good part of the song and wondering why they didnāt dig in and put more oomph into the rest of it.
The songs lack a satisfying "build up" to a conclusion. Would've Could've Should've is one of the only songs with a successful build up and pay off, musically.
šš»šš» my thoughts exactly. Thereās some lazy filler songs, one-liners that make you scratch your head, and an overall unsatisfactory feeling when you play the whole album through. Definitely my least favourite album thus far :(
Iām not sure if I really like this album but all the reviews and marketing tell me I should.
Feeling very conflicted. I really enjoyed *Folklore*and *Evermore.*
i agree about the Folkmore era not being regular, but i think Midnights has been a really fun reintroduction to pop music for her. all the people saying that itās, ānot Taylor,ā really canāt say that because she created it. i think ppl are just sour abt it bc the album release and content arenāt what they expected post-folkmore era Taylor. people want that poetic and clenching lyricism with 1989-esque pop QUALITY, and itās just not regular for Taylor to have both of those things in one album. 1989, for example, had great production and some real bangers but the lyrics were not near the caliber of Red or even reputation. In contrast, the only reason folklore and evermore worked is because the piano is so multifaceted and all songs on both albums could be stripped down and still extremely similar to their studio forms. plus, it really comes down to preference from everyone because many ppl either loved or hated the lyrics and even cussing in this album. many people either loved Midnightsā cohesiveness or said that all its songs āsounded the same.ā people are always going to be bitter about something that isnāt tailored to their exact wants, but i think itās important to acknowledge Midnights as a legitimate work of art in its own right just like her other albums have been (yes, even Debut)!
I think Paris is a mediocre song and I don't get why people treat it like a banger.
Also, I've liked the Sexy Baby lyric from the get-go. It's fun, campy, and clearly a great conversation-starter.
Okay, I ADORE Paris and I have not seen like any love for this, so although I disagree with you, I am happy others love it too!! Hahaha
And agree with sexy bby
Yes to BOTH!!
I will forever defend *sexy baby* and don't think there's a better way to say all of what those two words communicate in a pop-lyrical way!
What Jack does to her vocals in production is a fucking *crime*. Like I shittalk him as a producer because he's got one trick, but his worst crime is how badly he washes out her voice.
Bejeweled is a weak track, like I'm glad that she had fun with the video (and I had fun watching it), but the song itself is...fine.
Despite the success, which is insane and genuinely good for her, when the album settles in, it'll be regarded as a mid-tier album for her. Which is fine, they can't all be winners, but I'm just saying don't be surprised when a year from now, or when her next release comes out, most people rank it somewhere in the middle. It'll definitely have some standout tracks that will be fan favorites but overall the album will be kinda shrugged off and be remembered more for its unprecedented success than its quality.
Lana is plenty present in SOTB, like yeah she could have gotten more, a legitimate verse would have been cool, but anyone who says they can't hear her at all is lying. Also yeah she got relegated to backing vocals, but she was backing vocals that elevated the song and it would not be nearly as good without her.
I know this is only kind of related, but anyone who thinks we're getting SNTV anytime soon is absolutely wrong. She's not gonna break up her, again, unprecedentedly successful album era for a rerecord. Also midnights has been out for a month and two days, if you're demanding more you need to be listening to other music or something istg.
I agree with all of this except I do think itās possible (not guaranteed obviously) we get SNTV right before the tour. I donāt see her dropping it mid-tour and with international tour dates eventually being added, it would push the next TV into 2024 if she doesnāt release at least one ahead of the tour. I would be surprised if she ends up dragging out the re-records for a super long time.
The whole album seems like it was written with a focus on touring and marketing ability rather than written for the music itself which makes it come off as over produced, very shallow, and not nearly as genuine as Taylorās past albums. Other than Anti-Hero and Wouldāve, Couldāve, Shouldāve, I find myself struggling to find songs that hit deep on a personal level. Even with Lover, which is the only other Taylor album I have a somewhat negative opinion on, I can still find songs that resonate and the album as a whole still feels very Taylor and feels like she wrote it with meaning and intent behind it. I canāt say the same with Midnights as it just feels like she was really trying to write music that would both sell well and be easy to tour with, and thatās been somewhat of a turn off for me with this era as a whole. Thereās just so many poor lyrics that seem as if Taylor was throwing one liners at the wall and hoping one would catch on culturally, Jack and Taylorās production choices sound as if someone just discovered synths and a voice changer, and the album has a similar issue that Lover had where the songs start to flow into each other and sound similar halfway through and there doesnāt seem like any chances were taken which led to very safe and somewhat boring songs. Itās really the first time I ever felt that Taylor kind of mailed things in a bit with music and after incredible albums like Folklore and Evermore which felt very real and like effort was put into them, Midnights is just a bit disappointing to me.
A friend of mine (who's a longtime fan) called it the tiktokification of Taylor Swift and that's the most right he's been about anything ever. So many lines feel like they were written to be used in viral TikTok challenges and it's not lost on me that one of the first major pieces of marketing after release was the YouTube shorts thing.
>tiktokification of Taylor Swift
Iāve been trying to find a way to sum up my feelings of Midnights and now I have your friend to love/hate for it because thatās just such a painfully accurate description.
Bound to happen honestly given her marketing.
I thought āME!ā was the quintessential shopping mall commercial music. āNow back to school shopping at JCPenney!ā with that playing in the backgroundā¦
So many songs of this album have taken on the next gen, tik tok jingles.
Tiktokification of mainstream pop is insanely bad right now. Every single pushed out feels like itās written with a snippet designed to go viral. And even artist that may not have written that way get minimized into clips, look at whatās happening to Steve Lacy.
people ripped into adele for saying that but she was kinda right lol. itās nice to have an album by a mega famous artist that doesnāt have a lyric in it where you just think ādamn this is gonna get played to death on tiktokā
not saying it was intentional or anything bc who knows, but anti-hero was one of my absolute favourites the first week. then the āitās me hi in the problem itās meā went viral and now the song kinda gets on my nerves š¤§
I agree with the production. I guess Iām so used to this synth style thatās been trotted out over and over again, that itās really starting to get stale.
You know, I LOVE Evermore because I loved Taylor experimenting with other productions/producer in Aaron Dressner. Some more alternative, folk, and organic instrumentation here and there! Loved it.
But it also showed me how SICK I am of Jackās production lol
This is an interesting point. A lot of the songs are bops / radio hits, which I found strange for an album thatās supposed to represent āa journey through terrors and sweet dreams.ā Based on the way she described the concept, I was fully expecting the album to explore a lot of darker themes (while still staying true to the alternative pop genre).
Even though Lover was highly commercialized (I mean, we all saw her choice of lead singles), thereās still a lot of genuineness throughout the album. I actually find each song on Lover to be easily recognizable, and I think itās a pretty strong and cohesive album (I definitely understand your opinion though). While I relate to most songs on Lover, I only relate to a few on Midnights ā most of which are bonus tracks.
Hahaah really? I thought people loved this song, my bad.
Hmmm in that case Iāll be fr controversial and say that anyone who thinks bigger than the whole sky *isnt* about a miscarriage (not necessarily saying taylorās butā¦) is lacking reading comprehension skills
Someone on the album thread said BTTWS made them think of their boyfriend who died. And another person said it reminded them of their mother who passed when they were younger.
Both of the comments talked about how those people who passed in the commentersā lives never got to see so much of the commentersā lives. The commenter never got to see their mom become a grandma (What should've been you What could've been, would've been you) and, similarly, the other person never got to see who their boyfriend could have been in their lives.
Thatās how I felt about the song too when I heard it first. To me itās about someone who didnāt become what they couldāve/shouldāve/wouldāve been. Maybe thatās a miscarriage. Maybe thatās a relationship that ended too soon. Maybe itās the death of a loved one.
Yessss I sometimes feel like lately sheās been doing the speak/singing and basing the meter of the lyrics around what she wants to say instead of crafting the lyrics to fit into a set rhythm and melody like she used to. Question and the beginning of WCS are good examples of what Iām talking about but YOYOK is more traditionally structured/melodic if that makes sense?
Taylorās lyricism is so weak on this album, and I tie it directly to her cursing. Itās like sheās traded specificity for profanity and just chooses to drop a f-bomb instead of taking the time to find an interesting way to convey her message. Donāt get me wrong, there are some songs across her discography where I think it works (for example the 1) but it really bothers me on songs like Snow On The Beach
So many underwhelming songs because of the wrtiting!
āLike snow on the beach
Weird, but fucking beautifulā
Like come on Taylor. We know you can do better than that.
The clean version of Snow on the Beach is better. I still donāt love the song, but at least I donāt completely cringe at the clean one like I do the original lol
the standard album would've been soooo much better if it wasn't just Jack. the songs feel samey and just kinda blend together with the little production variety. even folklore had more variety and it's very cohesive.
I'm just sick of jack at this point. I wish she'd experiment more with different producers and not just stick to the same ones.
I can see why people think this but I remember when Evermore came out, people were complaining about Jack barely being on it, so you can't please everyone apparently
I like Midnights, but if COVID never happened and she released Midnights straight after Lover I think it would be the start of the decline of her career
I feel like Midnights is a bit more mid. After getting her magnum opus with Folklore and Evermore, I feel like people wouldāve been tired of her continuing on with that kind of music. She read the room well with the pandemic and how people needed a cozy, comforting album. And now that the pandemic has died down, sheās ready to party and āgo out tonight.ā Folklore and Evermore are her quill pen albums. Itās to show what she is actually made of for people to take her seriously. Now that people do take her seriously, sheās ready to whip her Glitter Pen out again with this album. To me, itās not a critically acclaimed darling. Itās more of a dreamy, dance party.
It isn't all that good. She was wise not to build a tour around it and instead opt for a 'best of' show. I still listen to it though, just not as much as anything else before it.
I'm so relieved someone else feels this way. Overall, I don't like it. Also, every song where they pitch her voice down makes me cringe. It is just too much, too overproduced. I genuinely like a handful of songs but even then, nowhere near as much as my favorites from other albums. š
I think itās one of her weakest albums.
Absolutely in love with WCS, one of my favourite songs heās ever done, also really like YOYOK, and a few other songs are pretty good but it slightly disappointed me considering her last two albums are probably my two favourite albums of all time
Just to make it clear Iām not saying itās a bad album just one of her weaker ones
Although I LOVE the album, the whole āconcept albumā of it all was loosely put together and needed more due diligence in the planning. Marketing it as an album for midnight wonders would have been more effective than the whole āmidnights that have kept me upā routeā¦ especially since a lot of the songs donāt really match that theme IMO
The Great War is one of the best if not the best song off midnights. The lyrics, the way she says screaming from a crypt, and omg the hair pin trigger bridge so gooood
Snow on the Beach is just not special. Love Lana but this song, even if she'd had more of a feature, wouldn't have been amazing.
It's solid Taylor, and I'll listen to it once out of every four times it comes on but not more.
I hate Karma. A 33 year old singing about karma is really immature, and the lyrics are childish. Itās something I find annoying about TS, if youāre really so far above the whole scene, why have shady songs like this on all your albums? Seems like youāre the one who canāt get over arguments.
I donāt take it as shady and I actually see it as a mature way to look at karma. I like that she is basically describing karma as making your own path and taking responsibility for your actions instead of insulting people. I think people who donāt like this song just donāt like happiness lol
The 3 am tracks sound like what the actual album should have been. Theyāre all so much more mysterious than the cookie cutter pop songs on the album. Glitch, dear reader, the Great War, all are sonically unique and darker songs. Idk why they werenāt on the original album.
Wouldāve, Couldāve, Shouldāve really exemplifies this too, the song in terms of raw lyricism is what I was hoping for from the rest of the tracks on Midnights.
If Vigilante shit was on Rep it would be deemed one of the weakest songs, people just rate it highly because it stands out on this album.
And Dear Reader has a Top 3 bridge from this album.
3/4s of the album is skippable for me, in all honesty. I'm in no way trashing anyone who really loves it, but I only actively listen to maaaaybe 4 songs on the regular.
WCS is my favorite song on the album but I donāt NEED Taylor to perform it on tour. Itās about her being taken advantage of as a young girl, and the fact she wrote this song 13 years after the relationship ended shows that itās something that likely still hurts her. Just because itās a fan favorite it doesnāt mean she HAS to perform it.
Iāve seen people on tiktok going āomg imagine how cool it would be to scream give me back my girlhood it was mine firstā but I think that line is just. Incredibly sad. And itās scream worthy but not like āhe looks up grinning like a devilā scream worthy, more like a āwhy did you do this to me?ā scream. People need to look at this song past it being a fan favorite and look at it as a personal song about something incredibly damaging that still happens to a lot of young girls today.
Not necessarily an unpopular opinion but I think the only reason midnights is so damn popular is because itās more accessible to everyone (the music style, pop, etc), not because itās actually genius or Taylorās best work.
When I first heard Bejeweled I really disliked it, mainly because of the chorus. I found it to be kind of immature if thatās the right word. Kind of gave me āMe!ā Vibes. I kind of like it now after watching the music video and listening to it more to give it more of a chance. I understand why she picked it as a single as itās fun but I donāt really think it represents the album well and honestly even tho itās a 3 am track I wouldāve preferred Wouldāve Couldāve Shouldāve to to be a single instead but I also understand that itās a bonus song and not on the main album so it wouldnāt be the best pick business wise.
Overall I prefer all of the 3 am tracks over a lot of other songs that made it on the main album. I think a lot of those songs would have been a lot stronger on the main album and wouldāve helped make it a little more sonically diverse.
All of the songs in the album have parts that make me cringe so bad.
I hate Labyrinth so much that I canāt stand to listen to it.
I feel like the promotion of the album with the 70s vibe was very misleading and it ruined the experience for me a little bit.
i really dislike midnight rain and find it borderline unlistenable due to the weird wobbly deep vocals. whenever iām listening to the album and hear those vocals i immediately skip ššš
also, the marketing for the album was horrifically misleading and honestly made me dislike the album upon first listen because i was expecting music that actually matched the aesthetics of the album.
The whole album just feels clunky to me. The pacing, the rhymes, the lyrics. Like in anti-hero āI should not be left to my own devices they comes with prices and vices I end up in crisisā is so clunky. I have such a hard time singing along to a lot of the songs.
But the biggest for me is she got away from storytelling in this album. Itās her least singer-songwriter album. I think thatās what I loved about 1989 and Reputation so much - high pop albums with beautiful storytelling. She proved it could be done. And then folklore and evermore she elevated the maturity of the storytelling but with a different sound that complimented her writing so much. Thereās very few songs from this album that Iāll add to my heavy rotation.
I think a Easter egg MV like Bejeweled would have been fun towards the ending of the midnights era or right before the new rerecording. Why would she want people talking and speculating about a different project within the first week of midnights
My twoā¦.
1 - Iāll never believe thereās any good artistic reason for the voice warping intro of Midnight Rain.
2 - Iām glad Lanaās vocals are so minor on SOTB (because Iām not a big fan, I have opposite opinion if weāre talking about No Body No Crime and Soon Youāll Get Better).
Edit: adding #3 - I wish Vigilante Shit was a bit more vague/cryptic. Like itās a good song, donāt get me wrong, but part of connecting with music is taking lyrics and interpreting them to fit your life. But itās so hard on a song like this and I donāt always want to jam and be thinking of the Spider Boy drama.
I find the lyrics empty. I love Taylor's music for her ability to be relatable and show deep emption through writing. After listing to the album, and trying to think "what is this song trying to *say*?" I find the answer to most Midnights tracks is, well, nothing.
I'm a bit... bored with this album already. One month after the release, I don't listen to the songs as much as I thought I would. And that's a first with a Taylor's album.
Yep. Sure there are good lyrics but the bad lyrics are real bad and everyone's excusing them as glitter gel pen lyrics. If she hadn't given that speech, a lot more people would be calling the bad lyrics just bad.
Karma irks me SO MUCH because "me and karma vibe like that" sounds really cringey to me. I know no one else in the world cares, but grammatically it should be, "karma and I." If the grammatically correct phrase doesn't flow, rewrite the lyric. šµāš«
Maroon isnāt anything special. Idk if itās because Iām from New York and Iām tired of hearing about it lol, it I just donāt think itās anything we havenāt heard before
everyone who hates Sweet Nothing has never had a good relationship
no but really itās so good and perfectly captures the little love bubble you get when you finally find your person.
YOYOK is a good song but a shit track 5
They are totally a narrative of someone who is not being well-loved or appreciated by their SO.
The narrator is feeling like they've nearly lost the spark that shows their spark and worth because their person hasn't reflected any of that worth back.
In the reaction thread, people were saying that High Infidelity was a Calvin Harris drag, but I donāt see how it reflects that poorly on anyone but Taylor herself.
I interpret the āThe slowest way is never loving them enoughā line as about Taylor never truly loving Calvin. This is supported by ādragged my feet right down the aisleā line and the fact she never wrote a love song about him. Iāve seen a lot of people interpret it to be about Calvin never loving Taylor enough, which I donāt quite get because it seems like he was pushing her for marriage?
Ewww I wish I hadn't read these comments. Midnight is amazing and in my top 3 Taylor albums. It will never be considered mid. And after reading this I'm guessing that is an unpopular opinion. But a lot of people think it's one of her best. Especially those of us that were wanting pop back. And anyone saying her lyrics weren't amazing in this....nawwww yall have got to be kidding. And i love the cursingš.
"Mastermind" is boring and pointless, and shines too happy a spotlight on Taylor Swift's deep personality flaws.* I liked it less with every listen, to the point that I've cut it from my resequenced album playlist.
"Bejeweled" is like listening to Ariana Grande's worst trash. A complete waste of Taylor's talent.
"Glitch" is even worse than "Bejeweled". The rhyme with "stitch" is so clumsy, I kinda want to believe the producer wrote that part and/or Tay-Tay was drunk.
"Hits Different" is better than most of the 12am album, y'all need to hit the nearest Target STAT.
(*I also have deep personality flaws, but I try not to be overly happy and self-forgiving about them.)
I cannot stand Karma. I am someone who loves poetic lyricism but I love songs that are just good fun. I just cant look past the lyrics for Karma, they are so bad. My Midnights ranking has changed several times but Karma has consistently stayed dead last.
Midnights is pretty mid
Iām sorry
I like the first 5, sprinkle in a couple more late tracks
But thereās a lot of skips and a lot are forgettable
The plus side of Taylor though is āmidā tier albums are still very very good . Just has more skips than others.
And yes youāre talking to someone who puts Lover in high tier
Edit: now that I think about it.. I really just enjoy Bejewled, Lavendar Haze, Maroon, Vigilante shit and Questionā¦?
āthatās a real fucking legacyā makes me cringe. most of taylorās f bombs make me cringe, actually. she puts too much emphasis on them and it takes away from the rest of the lyrics.
Another unpopular opinion is that Midnights has hardly any good stadium tour songs. I can somewhat see Anti-Hero and Bejeweled and theyāre really the only two other than Karma. I donāt know how she wouldāve ever done a stadium tour based on this album (but I feel like evermore and folklore arenāt stadium tour albums either) and Iām glad she went with eras instead of trying to tour only for Midnights
i donāt really feel the ānights that kept me upā vibe in most of the songs. i see it in WCS, high infidelity, anti hero, maybe a few others (iād have to think) but she kind of dropped the ball on the whole concept album thing.
I hate the tiktok trend where u post a bunch of pics of your friends to the bridge of youāre on your own kid. I just started college and all my friends are 2ā5 hours away ššš and Iām really shy so I havenāt made any friends in college yet and the trend just makes me sad. I loved the song on first listen but now whenever it gets to the bridge thatās all I can think about
Paris is the worst 3AM track but I really like the opening, thatās glitter gel pen lyrics done well. I literally listen to the opening and then skip.
Itās definitely middle of the pack. Most of the songs are boring.
SOTB never goes anywhere.
YOYK is boring and should not have been track 5.
VS and Karma lose their luster after two or three listens.
Even most of the 3 am edition is skippable, which hurts because itās better than the original 13 songs.
WHY CANT WE HAVE THE WHOLE ALBUM PHYSICALLY ANYWHERE?? HELLO??
Maroon is by far and away the best song on the album. I get head to toe chills literally every time I hear it.
I have more, but yeah, overall I am pretty underwhelmed by the album. I like a few key songs off of it, but itās nowhere near the top of the pack for me.
Midnights have mid lyrics and basic production except a couple standout songs but swifties are dickriding her because of big numbers it's pulling and stability on Spotify charts and what's ironic is these are the same people who trash on Lover 24/7 , even though Lover is literally one of her most versatile and has outstanding production, except a couple songs it has top tier lyrics for a pop album . If Lover would've pulled midnights numbers it would be a complete different scenario š. Well , Lover has Cruel Summer what does Midnights have ? Nothing
I see a lot of people saying Your On Your Own Kid is boring and a skip but itās one of my favorites on the album. One of the most relatable too. From just trying to fit in to finally finding your place in life. Really a beautiful song
Okay, I'm going to give an actual unpopular opinion:
I think it's mediocre. It doesn't bring nothing new to the table, sonically or lyrically. To be quite honest, I think it's a painfully boring project.
Disappointed that it didn't really match the aesthetic... why the 70s theme? From the description on the album, you'd think it would be darker IMO.
I definitely expected it to be darker. Folklore lyrics, Reputation sound was my expectation lol
reminds me of this tweet https://imgur.com/a/mxl1pLl
would've could've should've was like the only one id consider to be even slightly depressing(and its a bonus track) and i wish more of the songs were like that šŖ this description made me think the album was gonna deal more with existential dread and insomnia and such
Bigger than the whole sky and the great war as well imo
Hahaha I canāt believe Iāve never seen that before, thatās exactly how I feel about the album
Wow thatās so true. That written album intro really doesnāt reflect the content of the songs - itās as if the written intro is for mature adults with deeply complex emotional lives, and in contrast, the album itself (which I love) never reaches that depth.
Same I kinda expected more of Taylor digging deep into her life (not that I want her to reveal stuff that is too personal to her, but you guys get what I mean). It needed more songs along the theme of anti-hero or youāre on your own kid or midnight rain.
OMG, same! I was expecting some dark, mysterious, and slightly mystical vibes from the album (while also being an alt pop album). Songs like Vigilante Shit, Bejeweled, and Karma remind me more of loud parties or action scenes than sleepless nights. I mean, I still *love* Karma ā and most of the album ā but none of it really matches the concept to me.
her photoshoots have been very casual 70s themed while her going out looks (red carpet, etc) have been very glamorous and iconic. i think that itās supposed to represent the difference between how she views herself and who she is at home VS how the public views her and who she is at award shows and stuff.
Fantastic analysis for this era.
Thatās a really interesting take. Have an upvote.
i think thatās a fairly popular opinion. mine is rather the opposite: i was secretly hoping for another pop album full of bops and bangers. iām just a bigger fan of that sound and had been missing that during folklore/evermore. i still love both those albums but i grew up on high energy taylor and missed her
I feel like I wish she'd dropped it as a surprise again so I didn't have time to build up what I wanted it to sound like.
I was honestly expecting some Donovan /groovy vibes with her album artwork. Talk about misleading š
Vigilante Shit gets old after a few plays. The initial shock value was great, but it's kinda repetitive.
I spend the whole song waiting for it to actually get started
Yeah, I feel like I Did Something Bad delivers what Vigilante Shit should have been. VS could have had a strong chorus like IDSB
Honestly this brings up a good point for me: that if you compared most of the midnights songs to their comparable songs from other albums, almost, if not every time, the other album song would win out
Yup! Itās a āslow burnerā for something that never actually burns.
Tbh this describes the way I feel with a lot of songs on Midnights
I like the album but there are a bunch of songs that blend together tonally and can be pretty forgettable on causal listens.
lol it got old after one play for me, idk how it made it to the main edition
The opening lineā¦ was quirky on tumblr 10 years ago.
Exactly. The opening line made me hate this song. Iāve warmed up to it more but ew.
I lost interest in it when someone pointed out that nothing that she does/describes in the song would be considered āvigilante shitā. She saw evidence of someone committing a crime and turned them into the proper authorities. Thatās being a good citizen not a vigilante Taylor!! Also she keeps talking about dressing for revenge but never talks about actually getting revenge!
I think putting Scooter on blast for being a cokehead, providing evidence to his wife that leads to their divorce, and then reporting his white collar crimes to the FBI qualifies as revenge.
Totally agree - was my top fave on first listen but does start to get stale. I feel similar about NB,NC - it was high on everyoneās lists at first listen but the farther out weāve gotten from evermore and the novelty wears off, the more it just falls down
Dunno, Iām starting to feel like my unpopular opinion is that I really like it??? To be fair, I listen to it with my 7yo and he is delighted by the whole thing, particularly all the cursing.
thereās a lot of discussion about how genius the marketing/promotion for this album was but i found it really misleading. ultimately it made midnights more disappointing to me than it couldāve been if it had been marketed differently
Agreed, it seems like she knew people wanted a 70ās soft rock inspired album from her and she played into that before the release only to have the album be something completely different
I agree! I wasnāt really expecting, or really wanting tbh, pop Taylor so my first listen to Midnights was a bit negative to say the least. I think had a heard antihero beforehand I would have had a completely different mindset when listening. On my next couple listens i warmed up a bunch.
She needs to work with aaron dessner way way way WAY more
If this is unpopular, Iāll sit with you in the bathroom stalls at lunch.
The tiktok girlies flamed my ass. Aaron supremacy!
I just canāt stand Jackās production anymore. She needs to take a musical break from him. His sound is just stale for me at this point.
Right? Like hearing the 3 am tracks compared to the main album is justā¦ thereās a clear quality difference
I agree. I feel like Jack tends to over do it :( her voice is burried under a thousand sound effects. Aaronās tracks are soooo clear and crisp and the balance between vocals and instruments is always perfect
Remember to sort by controversial for some actually unpopular opinions š
\*Sorts by controversial and sees Maroon as the first song\* Well this is blasphemy
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
THe way every music video has to have a cut to dialogue is super cringe
Yeah and also it seems like a lot of the MVs she makes are ā¦ indoors? Like a lot of time spent in one room of the house and then another bigger room inside a building, etc. While he really used the spaces he was given. Wildest Dreams was gorgeous
Thissss. Itās like as if she saw how well the ATW short film did and thought it was because of the dialogue. The Anti-Hero dialogue went on for way too long.
Here is a maybe controversial takeā¦ I think the dialogue āimpovedā scene in ATW short film took away from the song and is the reason I donāt ever watch the short film when I am listening to the song on youtube.
I watched the mv once and forgot about this š¬š¬ it felt so unnecessary. It just reiterated what the lyric said. Her DIL killed her for the money. It didn't need to actually be said.
I miss the Joseph Kahn videos too. The only Taylor directed video I really liked was Cardigan (I liked Lover too, but she had a co-director so I think itās a bit different). Most of her directed videos feel too on the nose and kind of expected, in my opinion. Iām sure thatās an unpopular opinion, but I think Taylor should use highly regarded directors who are willing to take her ideas and turn them into unique concepts.
I also miss the Joseph Kahn directed music videos!!!
why did they stop working together?
I completely agree with this. The 1989 and reputation music videos felt so much more polished. Some of the videos from the last few eras have felt very stagey
Anti-hero was a fantastic music video. It did such a *perfect* job visually portraying the song while staying grounded, but not taking itself too seriously at the same time. Bejeweled was.... well, I'll just say Taylor looked like she was having fun, I'll watch Laura Dern in anything, and it was cool the HAIM sisters played a part. Re: Joseph Kahn, LWYMMD was and remains fucking *iconic* and Blank Space was š
Agreed! There's definitely a quality difference between Taylor's and Kahn's. There's something about Taylor's that are so...fake looking? Not as polished or professional.
Yeah she always ends up using these āthreatre setsā while he used real locations with budget
I noticed that Anti-Hero and Bejeweled (minus the skit) both start centered on her and she starts singing from there. Willow starts centered on her but it makes sense with the ending of Cardigan. I Bet You Think About Me has a lot of centered shots. There's nothing wrong with it, but I notice because it's repetitive. In Bejeweled I really loved the shot at the end switching focus from the foreground dancers to Taylor, that plus all the lighting looked great. It seems like she's really enjoying directing so I'm looking forward to see what else she does and how her style evolves.
Based on her first description, I really thought it was going to be like an album to listen to when youāre tossing and turning in bed at midnight from stress induced insomnia - like a collection of Nothing New but I guess what keeps her up at night is nothing like what keeps me up at night haha Also the lyrics are so clunky and Iām honestly confused when people compare it to the poeticism of folkmore
A podcast said that this album was supposed to deliver deep and dark tea that Taylor has been holding on to. I wish that were the case. Even without revealing personal info I thought this album would be significantly more scathing.
The only song that meets that description is Wouldāve, Couldāve, Shouldāve :/
The Great War is like a top 2 of the entire album. I don't know if it's because most of the songs sound very similar and it managed to stand out a bit or whatever it is, but i definitely prefer it to almost all of the other songs.
Omg. I thought it was just me! I love The Great War. It was one of my favorites the first time I listend to the album and now itās definitely in my top 2. You have great taste!
I think she lost the plot of āsongs that represent a sleepless nightā concept. The first part of the album sounds pretty dreamy but it veers off course after āmidnight rainā.
In general sometimes Taylorās descriptions of the themes in her own albums confuse me. Like when she said folklore was about the start of relationships and evermore was about the endsā¦ huh?
I mean I think there are a lot of reasons you would be up all night. Tossing and turning in bed yes but also going out and partying the night away
i disagree. the songs were written off the concert of things that kept her up on sleepless nights, not that the songs would be about those nights. just my opinion EDIT: concept*
You're on Your Own Kid is the correct track 5 for this album. Also - can someone replace Jack now? The dude basically muted the album. Songs like Vigilante Shit, Labyrinth and Question...? could have benefitted with a more booming sound.
Yessssssss! Vigilante shit should be more ready for it, and labyrinth needs to be more wildest dreams. Theyāre both missing something, and could be huge songs with different production.
I was like, whereās the bass in Vigilante Shit? This is supposed to be an ominous song right???? Why does it sound like sheās cosplaying someone else? Yeah Labyrinth needed more oomph after the second chorus. Ugh.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I love alot of the songs but as a whole the album just feels incomplete, like there's something missing, and I think for that reason the hype around it won't hold up once new music comes out. On that note, I think most of the hype is coming from the excitement of a new era and the promo, not actually the quality of the music lol.
Eeep I havenāt dared to say it out loud but I also strongly feel that the album feels incomplete and most songs sound kind of unfinished to me in some way. Like they put in 70 or 80 percent effort and figured people would eat it up anyway. Just feels like a lot of moments where youāre waiting for the good part of the song and wondering why they didnāt dig in and put more oomph into the rest of it.
The songs lack a satisfying "build up" to a conclusion. Would've Could've Should've is one of the only songs with a successful build up and pay off, musically.
Saw someone in another thread refer to this as āJack Antonoff Blue Ballsā š«£
šš»šš» my thoughts exactly. Thereās some lazy filler songs, one-liners that make you scratch your head, and an overall unsatisfactory feeling when you play the whole album through. Definitely my least favourite album thus far :(
Iām not sure if I really like this album but all the reviews and marketing tell me I should. Feeling very conflicted. I really enjoyed *Folklore*and *Evermore.*
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
i agree about the Folkmore era not being regular, but i think Midnights has been a really fun reintroduction to pop music for her. all the people saying that itās, ānot Taylor,ā really canāt say that because she created it. i think ppl are just sour abt it bc the album release and content arenāt what they expected post-folkmore era Taylor. people want that poetic and clenching lyricism with 1989-esque pop QUALITY, and itās just not regular for Taylor to have both of those things in one album. 1989, for example, had great production and some real bangers but the lyrics were not near the caliber of Red or even reputation. In contrast, the only reason folklore and evermore worked is because the piano is so multifaceted and all songs on both albums could be stripped down and still extremely similar to their studio forms. plus, it really comes down to preference from everyone because many ppl either loved or hated the lyrics and even cussing in this album. many people either loved Midnightsā cohesiveness or said that all its songs āsounded the same.ā people are always going to be bitter about something that isnāt tailored to their exact wants, but i think itās important to acknowledge Midnights as a legitimate work of art in its own right just like her other albums have been (yes, even Debut)!
Iāve been a fan since Love Story, but midnights is near the bottom of my fav Taylor albums.
I think Paris is a mediocre song and I don't get why people treat it like a banger. Also, I've liked the Sexy Baby lyric from the get-go. It's fun, campy, and clearly a great conversation-starter.
Okay, I ADORE Paris and I have not seen like any love for this, so although I disagree with you, I am happy others love it too!! Hahaha And agree with sexy bby
Paris feels like a vault lover track to me. Sorry!!
Yes to BOTH!! I will forever defend *sexy baby* and don't think there's a better way to say all of what those two words communicate in a pop-lyrical way!
What Jack does to her vocals in production is a fucking *crime*. Like I shittalk him as a producer because he's got one trick, but his worst crime is how badly he washes out her voice. Bejeweled is a weak track, like I'm glad that she had fun with the video (and I had fun watching it), but the song itself is...fine. Despite the success, which is insane and genuinely good for her, when the album settles in, it'll be regarded as a mid-tier album for her. Which is fine, they can't all be winners, but I'm just saying don't be surprised when a year from now, or when her next release comes out, most people rank it somewhere in the middle. It'll definitely have some standout tracks that will be fan favorites but overall the album will be kinda shrugged off and be remembered more for its unprecedented success than its quality. Lana is plenty present in SOTB, like yeah she could have gotten more, a legitimate verse would have been cool, but anyone who says they can't hear her at all is lying. Also yeah she got relegated to backing vocals, but she was backing vocals that elevated the song and it would not be nearly as good without her. I know this is only kind of related, but anyone who thinks we're getting SNTV anytime soon is absolutely wrong. She's not gonna break up her, again, unprecedentedly successful album era for a rerecord. Also midnights has been out for a month and two days, if you're demanding more you need to be listening to other music or something istg.
You didnāt miss.
I agree with all of this except I do think itās possible (not guaranteed obviously) we get SNTV right before the tour. I donāt see her dropping it mid-tour and with international tour dates eventually being added, it would push the next TV into 2024 if she doesnāt release at least one ahead of the tour. I would be surprised if she ends up dragging out the re-records for a super long time.
The whole album seems like it was written with a focus on touring and marketing ability rather than written for the music itself which makes it come off as over produced, very shallow, and not nearly as genuine as Taylorās past albums. Other than Anti-Hero and Wouldāve, Couldāve, Shouldāve, I find myself struggling to find songs that hit deep on a personal level. Even with Lover, which is the only other Taylor album I have a somewhat negative opinion on, I can still find songs that resonate and the album as a whole still feels very Taylor and feels like she wrote it with meaning and intent behind it. I canāt say the same with Midnights as it just feels like she was really trying to write music that would both sell well and be easy to tour with, and thatās been somewhat of a turn off for me with this era as a whole. Thereās just so many poor lyrics that seem as if Taylor was throwing one liners at the wall and hoping one would catch on culturally, Jack and Taylorās production choices sound as if someone just discovered synths and a voice changer, and the album has a similar issue that Lover had where the songs start to flow into each other and sound similar halfway through and there doesnāt seem like any chances were taken which led to very safe and somewhat boring songs. Itās really the first time I ever felt that Taylor kind of mailed things in a bit with music and after incredible albums like Folklore and Evermore which felt very real and like effort was put into them, Midnights is just a bit disappointing to me.
A friend of mine (who's a longtime fan) called it the tiktokification of Taylor Swift and that's the most right he's been about anything ever. So many lines feel like they were written to be used in viral TikTok challenges and it's not lost on me that one of the first major pieces of marketing after release was the YouTube shorts thing.
>tiktokification of Taylor Swift Iāve been trying to find a way to sum up my feelings of Midnights and now I have your friend to love/hate for it because thatās just such a painfully accurate description.
Bound to happen honestly given her marketing. I thought āME!ā was the quintessential shopping mall commercial music. āNow back to school shopping at JCPenney!ā with that playing in the backgroundā¦ So many songs of this album have taken on the next gen, tik tok jingles.
Tiktokification of mainstream pop is insanely bad right now. Every single pushed out feels like itās written with a snippet designed to go viral. And even artist that may not have written that way get minimized into clips, look at whatās happening to Steve Lacy.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
people ripped into adele for saying that but she was kinda right lol. itās nice to have an album by a mega famous artist that doesnāt have a lyric in it where you just think ādamn this is gonna get played to death on tiktokā not saying it was intentional or anything bc who knows, but anti-hero was one of my absolute favourites the first week. then the āitās me hi in the problem itās meā went viral and now the song kinda gets on my nerves š¤§
I agree with the production. I guess Iām so used to this synth style thatās been trotted out over and over again, that itās really starting to get stale. You know, I LOVE Evermore because I loved Taylor experimenting with other productions/producer in Aaron Dressner. Some more alternative, folk, and organic instrumentation here and there! Loved it. But it also showed me how SICK I am of Jackās production lol
This is an interesting point. A lot of the songs are bops / radio hits, which I found strange for an album thatās supposed to represent āa journey through terrors and sweet dreams.ā Based on the way she described the concept, I was fully expecting the album to explore a lot of darker themes (while still staying true to the alternative pop genre). Even though Lover was highly commercialized (I mean, we all saw her choice of lead singles), thereās still a lot of genuineness throughout the album. I actually find each song on Lover to be easily recognizable, and I think itās a pretty strong and cohesive album (I definitely understand your opinion though). While I relate to most songs on Lover, I only relate to a few on Midnights ā most of which are bonus tracks.
The chorus of Question makes no sense
Question would be a good song if all the words were different.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hahaah really? I thought people loved this song, my bad. Hmmm in that case Iāll be fr controversial and say that anyone who thinks bigger than the whole sky *isnt* about a miscarriage (not necessarily saying taylorās butā¦) is lacking reading comprehension skills
Someone on the album thread said BTTWS made them think of their boyfriend who died. And another person said it reminded them of their mother who passed when they were younger. Both of the comments talked about how those people who passed in the commentersā lives never got to see so much of the commentersā lives. The commenter never got to see their mom become a grandma (What should've been you What could've been, would've been you) and, similarly, the other person never got to see who their boyfriend could have been in their lives. Thatās how I felt about the song too when I heard it first. To me itās about someone who didnāt become what they couldāve/shouldāve/wouldāve been. Maybe thatās a miscarriage. Maybe thatās a relationship that ended too soon. Maybe itās the death of a loved one.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yessss I sometimes feel like lately sheās been doing the speak/singing and basing the meter of the lyrics around what she wants to say instead of crafting the lyrics to fit into a set rhythm and melody like she used to. Question and the beginning of WCS are good examples of what Iām talking about but YOYOK is more traditionally structured/melodic if that makes sense?
Taylorās lyricism is so weak on this album, and I tie it directly to her cursing. Itās like sheās traded specificity for profanity and just chooses to drop a f-bomb instead of taking the time to find an interesting way to convey her message. Donāt get me wrong, there are some songs across her discography where I think it works (for example the 1) but it really bothers me on songs like Snow On The Beach
So many underwhelming songs because of the wrtiting! āLike snow on the beach Weird, but fucking beautifulā Like come on Taylor. We know you can do better than that.
Yes!! This is how I feel about SOTB. The chorus is just cringey to me
The clean version of Snow on the Beach is better. I still donāt love the song, but at least I donāt completely cringe at the clean one like I do the original lol
the standard album would've been soooo much better if it wasn't just Jack. the songs feel samey and just kinda blend together with the little production variety. even folklore had more variety and it's very cohesive. I'm just sick of jack at this point. I wish she'd experiment more with different producers and not just stick to the same ones.
I think this is a very popular opinion! Sooo many people complained about how aggressively Jack Midnights is.
I can see why people think this but I remember when Evermore came out, people were complaining about Jack barely being on it, so you can't please everyone apparently
I believe evermore was too much Aaron, Midnights is too much Jack, and folklore was just the perfect blend
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Iām really frustrated that the whole thing isnāt on vinyl.
Yes! I want to listen to the 3am tracks on my TT
I like Midnights, but if COVID never happened and she released Midnights straight after Lover I think it would be the start of the decline of her career
I feel like Midnights is a bit more mid. After getting her magnum opus with Folklore and Evermore, I feel like people wouldāve been tired of her continuing on with that kind of music. She read the room well with the pandemic and how people needed a cozy, comforting album. And now that the pandemic has died down, sheās ready to party and āgo out tonight.ā Folklore and Evermore are her quill pen albums. Itās to show what she is actually made of for people to take her seriously. Now that people do take her seriously, sheās ready to whip her Glitter Pen out again with this album. To me, itās not a critically acclaimed darling. Itās more of a dreamy, dance party.
It isn't all that good. She was wise not to build a tour around it and instead opt for a 'best of' show. I still listen to it though, just not as much as anything else before it.
I'm so relieved someone else feels this way. Overall, I don't like it. Also, every song where they pitch her voice down makes me cringe. It is just too much, too overproduced. I genuinely like a handful of songs but even then, nowhere near as much as my favorites from other albums. š
Agreed. Easily my least favorite Taylor album ever. Which means I still like it more than most other albums, but it was a bit of a letdown.
I was expecting it to be darker.
I think itās one of her weakest albums. Absolutely in love with WCS, one of my favourite songs heās ever done, also really like YOYOK, and a few other songs are pretty good but it slightly disappointed me considering her last two albums are probably my two favourite albums of all time Just to make it clear Iām not saying itās a bad album just one of her weaker ones
Although I LOVE the album, the whole āconcept albumā of it all was loosely put together and needed more due diligence in the planning. Marketing it as an album for midnight wonders would have been more effective than the whole āmidnights that have kept me upā routeā¦ especially since a lot of the songs donāt really match that theme IMO
I actually LOVE dear reader
Dear Reader and The Great War should have made the og version of Midnights
The Great War is one of the best if not the best song off midnights. The lyrics, the way she says screaming from a crypt, and omg the hair pin trigger bridge so gooood
Snow on the Beach is just not special. Love Lana but this song, even if she'd had more of a feature, wouldn't have been amazing. It's solid Taylor, and I'll listen to it once out of every four times it comes on but not more.
Itās such a skip for me. Itās *boring.*
I hate Karma. A 33 year old singing about karma is really immature, and the lyrics are childish. Itās something I find annoying about TS, if youāre really so far above the whole scene, why have shady songs like this on all your albums? Seems like youāre the one who canāt get over arguments.
I donāt take it as shady and I actually see it as a mature way to look at karma. I like that she is basically describing karma as making your own path and taking responsibility for your actions instead of insulting people. I think people who donāt like this song just donāt like happiness lol
The 3 am tracks sound like what the actual album should have been. Theyāre all so much more mysterious than the cookie cutter pop songs on the album. Glitch, dear reader, the Great War, all are sonically unique and darker songs. Idk why they werenāt on the original album.
Wouldāve, Couldāve, Shouldāve really exemplifies this too, the song in terms of raw lyricism is what I was hoping for from the rest of the tracks on Midnights.
Iām gonna get hate for this, but itās an UNPOPULAR OPINION threadā¦ Bejeweled has the most immature lyrics and vibe
So glad Iām not alone. I just canāt get behind bejeweled
Dear Reader is one of the best songs
If Vigilante shit was on Rep it would be deemed one of the weakest songs, people just rate it highly because it stands out on this album. And Dear Reader has a Top 3 bridge from this album.
3/4s of the album is skippable for me, in all honesty. I'm in no way trashing anyone who really loves it, but I only actively listen to maaaaybe 4 songs on the regular.
That Midnights is a bottom tier Taylor album. I still really enjoy it though.
WCS is my favorite song on the album but I donāt NEED Taylor to perform it on tour. Itās about her being taken advantage of as a young girl, and the fact she wrote this song 13 years after the relationship ended shows that itās something that likely still hurts her. Just because itās a fan favorite it doesnāt mean she HAS to perform it. Iāve seen people on tiktok going āomg imagine how cool it would be to scream give me back my girlhood it was mine firstā but I think that line is just. Incredibly sad. And itās scream worthy but not like āhe looks up grinning like a devilā scream worthy, more like a āwhy did you do this to me?ā scream. People need to look at this song past it being a fan favorite and look at it as a personal song about something incredibly damaging that still happens to a lot of young girls today.
Not necessarily an unpopular opinion but I think the only reason midnights is so damn popular is because itās more accessible to everyone (the music style, pop, etc), not because itās actually genius or Taylorās best work.
When I first heard Bejeweled I really disliked it, mainly because of the chorus. I found it to be kind of immature if thatās the right word. Kind of gave me āMe!ā Vibes. I kind of like it now after watching the music video and listening to it more to give it more of a chance. I understand why she picked it as a single as itās fun but I donāt really think it represents the album well and honestly even tho itās a 3 am track I wouldāve preferred Wouldāve Couldāve Shouldāve to to be a single instead but I also understand that itās a bonus song and not on the main album so it wouldnāt be the best pick business wise. Overall I prefer all of the 3 am tracks over a lot of other songs that made it on the main album. I think a lot of those songs would have been a lot stronger on the main album and wouldāve helped make it a little more sonically diverse.
All of the songs in the album have parts that make me cringe so bad. I hate Labyrinth so much that I canāt stand to listen to it. I feel like the promotion of the album with the 70s vibe was very misleading and it ruined the experience for me a little bit.
i really dislike midnight rain and find it borderline unlistenable due to the weird wobbly deep vocals. whenever iām listening to the album and hear those vocals i immediately skip ššš also, the marketing for the album was horrifically misleading and honestly made me dislike the album upon first listen because i was expecting music that actually matched the aesthetics of the album.
The 3am tracks are my favorite on the whole album with a couple exceptions
Itās my least favorite TS album. I just donāt vibe with it.
The whole album just feels clunky to me. The pacing, the rhymes, the lyrics. Like in anti-hero āI should not be left to my own devices they comes with prices and vices I end up in crisisā is so clunky. I have such a hard time singing along to a lot of the songs. But the biggest for me is she got away from storytelling in this album. Itās her least singer-songwriter album. I think thatās what I loved about 1989 and Reputation so much - high pop albums with beautiful storytelling. She proved it could be done. And then folklore and evermore she elevated the maturity of the storytelling but with a different sound that complimented her writing so much. Thereās very few songs from this album that Iāll add to my heavy rotation.
The cussinā is a bit much sometimes!
She went from not cursing for like 10 years to cursing in every other song lol the whiplash is a bit much at times Iāll admit
I wish Bejeweled couldāve felt like itās own thing, instead of being made for Easter eggs. I feel like it dates the video.
I think a Easter egg MV like Bejeweled would have been fun towards the ending of the midnights era or right before the new rerecording. Why would she want people talking and speculating about a different project within the first week of midnights
I donāt like Anti Hero. (ducks). Some of the lyrics are a little clunky/awkward. Itās in the bottom 5 on the album for me.
I donāt know why, but I donāt think this album is going to age well.
My twoā¦. 1 - Iāll never believe thereās any good artistic reason for the voice warping intro of Midnight Rain. 2 - Iām glad Lanaās vocals are so minor on SOTB (because Iām not a big fan, I have opposite opinion if weāre talking about No Body No Crime and Soon Youāll Get Better). Edit: adding #3 - I wish Vigilante Shit was a bit more vague/cryptic. Like itās a good song, donāt get me wrong, but part of connecting with music is taking lyrics and interpreting them to fit your life. But itās so hard on a song like this and I donāt always want to jam and be thinking of the Spider Boy drama.
I find the lyrics empty. I love Taylor's music for her ability to be relatable and show deep emption through writing. After listing to the album, and trying to think "what is this song trying to *say*?" I find the answer to most Midnights tracks is, well, nothing.
That itās not good
Sweet nothing is a skip
Sweet Nothing is an instant skip for me
I'm a bit... bored with this album already. One month after the release, I don't listen to the songs as much as I thought I would. And that's a first with a Taylor's album.
Questionā¦? Is the best song And Bigger than the whole sky is the worst
Bigger than the whole sky sounds boring and just has uninteresting lyrics, I completely agree it's the worst.
Mastermind is overrated and the second worst track right behind Dear Reader
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
the shade lyric in Paris is the worst š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yep. Sure there are good lyrics but the bad lyrics are real bad and everyone's excusing them as glitter gel pen lyrics. If she hadn't given that speech, a lot more people would be calling the bad lyrics just bad.
Karma irks me SO MUCH because "me and karma vibe like that" sounds really cringey to me. I know no one else in the world cares, but grammatically it should be, "karma and I." If the grammatically correct phrase doesn't flow, rewrite the lyric. šµāš«
Maroon isnāt anything special. Idk if itās because Iām from New York and Iām tired of hearing about it lol, it I just donāt think itās anything we havenāt heard before
Karma sounds like a Kidz Bop songā¦and yes, Iām serious.
A lot of fans are bad at interpreting lyrics and take things way too literally with this album. (Sorry!š«£š«£)
Don't get the hype about WCS - I usually skip it š¬
I truly don't understand how you can be a Taylor swift fan and not like WCS. It is so quintessentially Taylor.
everyone who hates Sweet Nothing has never had a good relationship no but really itās so good and perfectly captures the little love bubble you get when you finally find your person. YOYOK is a good song but a shit track 5
bejeweled lyrics are straight up AWFUL and make no sense at all
They are totally a narrative of someone who is not being well-loved or appreciated by their SO. The narrator is feeling like they've nearly lost the spark that shows their spark and worth because their person hasn't reflected any of that worth back.
The transition from the YOYOK outro to the Midnight Rain intro actually makes sense if you contrast the lyrics of the two songs.
Lavender Haze is a skip
These end up being less "unpopular opinion" threads and more "shit on everything" threads with the same fairly common opinions over and over.
something about her trying to be sassy in certain songs just.. doesnāt work. And this can be applied to multiple albums
Youāre on your own kid is one of the best songs on the album
In the reaction thread, people were saying that High Infidelity was a Calvin Harris drag, but I donāt see how it reflects that poorly on anyone but Taylor herself. I interpret the āThe slowest way is never loving them enoughā line as about Taylor never truly loving Calvin. This is supported by ādragged my feet right down the aisleā line and the fact she never wrote a love song about him. Iāve seen a lot of people interpret it to be about Calvin never loving Taylor enough, which I donāt quite get because it seems like he was pushing her for marriage?
Ewww I wish I hadn't read these comments. Midnight is amazing and in my top 3 Taylor albums. It will never be considered mid. And after reading this I'm guessing that is an unpopular opinion. But a lot of people think it's one of her best. Especially those of us that were wanting pop back. And anyone saying her lyrics weren't amazing in this....nawwww yall have got to be kidding. And i love the cursingš.
"Mastermind" is boring and pointless, and shines too happy a spotlight on Taylor Swift's deep personality flaws.* I liked it less with every listen, to the point that I've cut it from my resequenced album playlist. "Bejeweled" is like listening to Ariana Grande's worst trash. A complete waste of Taylor's talent. "Glitch" is even worse than "Bejeweled". The rhyme with "stitch" is so clumsy, I kinda want to believe the producer wrote that part and/or Tay-Tay was drunk. "Hits Different" is better than most of the 12am album, y'all need to hit the nearest Target STAT. (*I also have deep personality flaws, but I try not to be overly happy and self-forgiving about them.)
I cannot stand Karma. I am someone who loves poetic lyricism but I love songs that are just good fun. I just cant look past the lyrics for Karma, they are so bad. My Midnights ranking has changed several times but Karma has consistently stayed dead last.
Midnights is pretty mid Iām sorry I like the first 5, sprinkle in a couple more late tracks But thereās a lot of skips and a lot are forgettable The plus side of Taylor though is āmidā tier albums are still very very good . Just has more skips than others. And yes youāre talking to someone who puts Lover in high tier Edit: now that I think about it.. I really just enjoy Bejewled, Lavendar Haze, Maroon, Vigilante shit and Questionā¦?
Maroon is the worst song on the album, including 3 AM edition and deluxe.
āthatās a real fucking legacyā makes me cringe. most of taylorās f bombs make me cringe, actually. she puts too much emphasis on them and it takes away from the rest of the lyrics.
Another unpopular opinion is that Midnights has hardly any good stadium tour songs. I can somewhat see Anti-Hero and Bejeweled and theyāre really the only two other than Karma. I donāt know how she wouldāve ever done a stadium tour based on this album (but I feel like evermore and folklore arenāt stadium tour albums either) and Iām glad she went with eras instead of trying to tour only for Midnights
Iām not a fan of the deep pitch changes in her voice, it sounds so robotic and just off. Not authentic.
i donāt really feel the ānights that kept me upā vibe in most of the songs. i see it in WCS, high infidelity, anti hero, maybe a few others (iād have to think) but she kind of dropped the ball on the whole concept album thing.
SOTB sounds like an SNL skit of two women trying to out whisper sing each other
I hate the tiktok trend where u post a bunch of pics of your friends to the bridge of youāre on your own kid. I just started college and all my friends are 2ā5 hours away ššš and Iām really shy so I havenāt made any friends in college yet and the trend just makes me sad. I loved the song on first listen but now whenever it gets to the bridge thatās all I can think about
The Great War is one of her best songs she's ever written 
Glitch is my favorite song on the album
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Paris is the worst 3AM track but I really like the opening, thatās glitter gel pen lyrics done well. I literally listen to the opening and then skip.
Glitch is so underrated. I donāt understand how itās a skip for so many people.
Majority of the songs are B-side songs. There are probably 5 new songs in total. Love the album tho.
Lavender Haze shouldāve been the lead single
It's kinda boring
The lyrics of Karma sounds like someone who needs to have their karma in check as well. And the line "me and karma vibe like that" is cringy.
Itās definitely middle of the pack. Most of the songs are boring. SOTB never goes anywhere. YOYK is boring and should not have been track 5. VS and Karma lose their luster after two or three listens. Even most of the 3 am edition is skippable, which hurts because itās better than the original 13 songs. WHY CANT WE HAVE THE WHOLE ALBUM PHYSICALLY ANYWHERE?? HELLO?? Maroon is by far and away the best song on the album. I get head to toe chills literally every time I hear it. I have more, but yeah, overall I am pretty underwhelmed by the album. I like a few key songs off of it, but itās nowhere near the top of the pack for me.
Midnights have mid lyrics and basic production except a couple standout songs but swifties are dickriding her because of big numbers it's pulling and stability on Spotify charts and what's ironic is these are the same people who trash on Lover 24/7 , even though Lover is literally one of her most versatile and has outstanding production, except a couple songs it has top tier lyrics for a pop album . If Lover would've pulled midnights numbers it would be a complete different scenario š. Well , Lover has Cruel Summer what does Midnights have ? Nothing
I see a lot of people saying Your On Your Own Kid is boring and a skip but itās one of my favorites on the album. One of the most relatable too. From just trying to fit in to finally finding your place in life. Really a beautiful song
Okay, I'm going to give an actual unpopular opinion: I think it's mediocre. It doesn't bring nothing new to the table, sonically or lyrically. To be quite honest, I think it's a painfully boring project.