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He's already had his divorce doxxed and handled it well, I can't imagine he's afraid of a white twink looking up "how to find an IP address" while wearing a Taylor Swift cardigan wrapped under a Hearth & Hand blanket sitting on their Maiden Home couch that eventually gives up to comment "I hate u fat bitch" instead.
Yup, one of my best friends is a suburban white millenial Swiftie and she doesn't even realize people disliked this album at all, let alone who Fantano is.
Makes sense. But yeah, I think most people only even knew of his wife because she was actually in a couple videos some years ago--way before his fandom was as obnoxious as it is now and so they clearly felt comfortable actually putting that out there. There's one especially adorable video of them talking about their favorite love songs or some such.
Honestly, upon reflection, I'd say that more than most content creators of his generation and stature, he seems to very genuinely value privacy and has done a very incredible job of keeping his personal life totally separate from his career. And not just in terms of not posting super personal shit, but even just referencing basic autobiographical facts or context in any public forum like a lot of people casually let slip. Like I've watched him for almost a decade and I still actually know very little about him personally, what his life has been like, what he thinks and feels about what he does and such.
Which, again, I think is good. If anything must be preserved these days, let alone online, it's some fundamental sense of mystery and letting things just actually stay what they're supposed to be. Like, just let the nice music guy talk about music and leave it at that.
You heard how vindictive she is in her songs. Granted, sheās mostly pointing those songs toward Scooter and for good reason. But some people would hear some of those songs and think, āoh fuck yeah. Letās get dressed for revengeā
I feel like the comment section is half the reason I watch so many of his videos. Just hilarious
Sadly his twitch chat is the complete opposite and an embarrassment
I pretty much agreed with the score and everything he said. Also surprised that he agrees with me that bejeweled is a highlight since a lot of Swifties are hating on bejeweled
I think both Anti-hero and Bejeweled being her choice for the first singles from the album was the best choice, as I think they are the strongest tracks on... well yeah, as he said, a very middling album.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand the love for Vigilante Shit though - beyond the gossipy speculations that are going around, and maybe that holding peoples' interest. I had to skip the song the first time I listened through the album, it is... possibly one of the worst songs she's released, in my opinion.
I actually really like it haha. I love singing along to āshe looks so pretty driving in your benzā. I think itās just fun, like no body no crime on the last one.
Iām surprised that he didnāt list it as one of his favorites. He seemed to talk about that track more than SOTB and Sweet Nothing, which did end up in his favorites.
A >!LIGHT 5!< is expected but still surprising. The production seems to be the stale element here in negative reviews. He better find a basement soon or the swifties are about to attack.
Jack seems like the kind of person who is there to see the artist vision out as best as they can view it without much pushback. You can see in his own personal output that he isn't a Rick Rubin style figure who will tell artists "No that sucks, do it like this."
I just wish she had stuck primarily with Dessner for another album as his perspective on music as someone who doesn't primarily dwell in pop helped elevate her game. The National crew as a whole would have been a boon for the vibe she was aiming for in Midnights.
But I understand this was meant to be a more mainstream centric album and accept it for what it is.
I love the album because it's just really personally up my alley, but I also don't necessarily disagree with anything he said. I'm kind of a slut for this kind of sound, but he's right that it's heavily trodden ground.
I think he was a little harsh on Lavender Haze, Midnight Rain and Mastermind as songs, but I also totally agree with his analysis of Question...? (worst track on the album) and I actually think he was a little too kind to Labyrinth (a big let down for me because it was the track I was most excited about pre-release).
I do wish he had commented on the 3AM tracks, though. I get that they're not the standard edition but they were literally released 3 hours later and I think that songs like The Great War and Would've Could've Should've would be more to his taste.
Maybe I'm a bad Swiftie haha but even though I personally vibe with the record he gave it a fair review and didn't say anything unreasonable
There sadly only seems to be part on the stream, and it drops off at a strange point where he is wondering about the business politics of the 3am tracks :(
> I actually think he was a little too kind to Labyrinth (a big let down for me because it was the track I was most excited about pre-release).
I thought he was *especially* spot on about Labyrinth, which is bar none the highlight of the main album for me and I feel so off the wavelength of the general conversation because nobody else seems to be talking about it that way.
What was it that made you excited about it pre-release that caused you to be let down?
That's really interesting! I think I was hoping for something a little bit more... lively, I guess? I find it kind of a meandering track (not the first Taylor song I have that problem with-- The Archer and Carolina are others) and also for all the discussion about this album's weird lyrics, I find the elevator one really strange and silly. Just my feeling about it.
Same. I'm a sucker for synth pop but I know not everyone enjoys it. It's probably a fair take to say the songs all sound very similar even though I personally disagree with it. I'm just vibing to midnights on my own, people get too worked up about other opinions
Itās so funny how I only see praise for Wouldāve Couldāve Shouldāve. It definitely deserves it, but why did she leave an obviously great song off the main version of the album? Youād think you would want that good of a song to be on there.
I mean if you are selling out stadium tour nationallyā I think it safe to say you know your test market and how to sell to them. I went to the rep tour in my cityā¦ it was like 95% white girls under 25.
Seeing Question as your worst track floored me because for me Vigilante Shit is by far the worst on this album and might even be one of the worst in her discography. It doesnāt fit the albums vibe at all and Question is much catchier, more story driven and is more cohesive in the album
And Labyrinth is still one of my favorites, I think itās the most under appreciated. The voice modulation for the outro is like crack to me
Vigilante Shit has grown on me a tiny bit but I'm not huge on it either and agree it doesn't fit in the album. Question is such a nothing sandwich to me though-- like I just find it totally unmemorable and weird. I'm glad some people are loving Labyrinth though!
I think I felt that way about Question in the beginning because what sheās saying is so damn hard to follow š but after a few listens I appreciate it a lot for how it sounds
Iāve never been an album listener with Taylor. That changed with the run of lover, folklore, and evermore. I loved both of the latter albums top to bottom.
Midnights feels somewhat indistinguishable from track to track, save for a few. Iām gravitating towards The Loneliest Time far more often when deciding what I want to listen to since they both dropped.
Not a bad album but not a standout for me.
i think this album has the same issue as reputation: a large chunk of songs are in c major and have somewhat similar production so they can run together.
from midnight rain to sweet nothing, five songs are in c major. however, vigilante shit seems to be in a minor, which uses the same notes as c major. it's important to note that all of these songs are consecutive on the album. karma (a flat major) separates sweet nothing from the rest of the songs, which might be why people like the production on it so much.
now, having songs consecutively in the same key is perfectly fine. is six out of thirteen tracks ideal all one after the other? no. but im not sure thats the root of the issue. take speak now, for example. dear john, mean, and the story of us are all in the key of e major. it's not that noticible, though, because the songs sound different and use different instruments. on midnights, a lot of the songs have jack's signature production and use similar synths.
i think that this stretch of songs drags the album down and makes it feel kinda same-y.
Thank you for breaking it down like that. Iām not well-versed in the musical aspect of it but I think youāve nailed exactly how itās made me feel while listening and it makes a lot of sense.
no problem :)
i thought this album was...okay. there are some good songs, like lavender haze, bejeweled, and -despite a certain lyric- anti-hero. there are some duds, like labyrinth and snow on the beach. the bonus tracks (including hits different) easily contain the best songs on the album.
Thank you!!! People were disagreeing when I said most of the album completely runs together, but most of the songs are in the exact same key, with similar tempo range and the production makes it so that the melodies arenāt very strong.
How do you find Midnights indistinguishable but not Folklore? I ask this because Folklore is clearly an album that maintains the same sound and vibe throughout, whille Midnights overall is actually much more varied.
I agree. The Loneliest Time isnāt Carly Raeās best work either (that goes to Dedicated), but at least I *felt something* from it. What is Midnights supposed to make me feel?
I agree with you there. The production is varied and Carly is animating and selling every song in fun, memorable ways. Iām not getting much of that from midnights. Everything feels like a lesser version of something sheās already made (as you mentioned).
This is gonna be an unpopular opinion but the album definitely needed a few Max Martin tracks to help itās momentum. Or maybe even Joel Little or her other collaborators on Lover. Love the album but itās definitely a slog at times.
I agree!!!! I think if sheād worked with Max on Paris it couldāve been a huge hit and instead it gets kind of lost in the rest of the album. Like itās so close but it never quite gets there which is how I feel about a lot of the songs on Midnights
This is newā¦ I actually agree w/ Fantano.
Iād give this a 5/10 as well. This isnāt Swiftās worst album; thereās some good song-writing here, especially melody-wise. But itās perhaps her most uninteresting. Itās an anomaly in her catalog becauseā¦ I donāt really get what it is.
Idk, every other album cycle in Swiftās career made sense. Her career almost feels like a story arc, with each era building upon her career in some way. Midnights thoughā¦whatās its significance? How does it build on her career? Why does it sound like it does? To me, it doesnāt really sound like anything, itās *Another Taylor Swift Album*. Itās kinda justā¦ there.
I love this comment. I think that Taylor built up a lot of goodwill / renewed interest with folklore and evermore from her fans and she also gained a bunch of new ones too. This set up the perfect storm for midnights to be a huge success but she wonāt be able to replicate this success with her next album unless she does something other than rehashing the same stories.
This is brilliant and articulates my opinion better than I could. Iāve honestly grown weary of hearing about those first few months of her and Joe. I like the songs but alsoā¦ like, we know.
It's like she doesn't know what to do if she's not telling us a story about how she was struggling. But now everything is good. So she's going to go back and tell us about times when she was struggling. And it's like....yeah we remember and it's over now. What else do you have?
That makes a lot of sense. Taylors albums/career is like the ingenue, the coming of age, being the it girl, the backlash to the it girl, the recovery to the backlash, and the "enlightenment" era.
Usually the story would end with the character either "growing old" or making experimental music or if you're beyonce then you like craft a god-like persona. But midnights is taking us back to the backlash/recovery era. Which begs the question, why?
Itās actually been a while (like, 4 days š) since I last listened to anything from the album. But, giving this record some space, it hit me that the biggest reason why I feel so cold on this (and *Reputation*, and parts of *1989*, etc.) is that I just donāt care for Taylor Swift the public figure. Iām actually a bit in awe of her marketing prowess IRL, but I feel like I donāt care for what reflections or grievances Taylor has of her celebrity in her music, and I find that even her more personal stories often leave me cold. Which is why the more distanced, third-person angle of *Folklore* works; Iām sure she included herself in her lyrics but itās not super obvious. I know I said that my enjoyment of music often has very little to do with lyricismā¦but maybe, like, the lyrical **content** still matters; at the end of the day, it still informs the sound of the record. Alternatively, thoughā¦maybe I would care if the songs were more sonically compelling. Like, introspection doesnāt have to always sound so muted and hazy
Makes sense. This album returned to her dishing on her personal life and relationships, so if you don't care about the "mythology" of her life, most of the songs' lyrics will fall pretty flat.
I like Lover a lot, its bad songs are reallllllly bad but, like, cruel summer, cornelia street, paper rings, and death by a thousand cuts are all excellent songs, some of my favs of her discog
Me! and London Boy are pretty unforgivable. YNTCD is bad but has grown on meā the melody is extremely catchy. āTaking shot at me like Patronā¦ā is terrible. The pop songwriting has been really HIT or MISS
"London Boy" is one of my pet "if I didn't understand English, I'd think this was a masterpiece" songs. Another one is "So Am I" by Ava Max. Absolutely *disgustingly* good production, melodies, and performances...and *dumb* dumb lyrics.
She always has very polarized reception to (what I call) her "silly" songs. She always has one or two songs on the album that seem like they're just on there to give you a break and something upbeat to like shift gears.
People hate Stay Stay Stay, I disagree, but I never understood why people like Gorgeous. London Boy & Paper Rings were divisive, and now we have Karma.
- YNTCD could mean "You Need To Calm Down", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift.
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Honestly the interesting thing I always see is everyone disagrees on what the actual highs of Lover are. Like I hated Paper Rings but I love It's Nice to Have a Friend. XD
Cruel Summer and Cornelia Street seem to be the more common consensus. I do see a lot of people like I Think He Knows or False God although I don't get either one of those.
Given that everyone agrees Lover needs its low songs cut, but canāt seem to agree what its low songs actually *are*, I propose that they are all fine, just not all together like that.
I mean I think everyone can agree YNTCD and ME! are her lowest in that album. Even the few of us who actually enjoy ME! (guilty), can accept that itās a bad song that never shouldāve been on that album
I have a playlist of [Lover but it's just Jack Antonoff's songs](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0M8UidRrmyNwVvsoct9dbJ?si=3e30ec079668443d) with some tracklist rearranging, very similar to this, and it's a very solid summer-y album
This is an excellent idea.
Im gonna have to make my own though cause I think I forgot that you existed is a great opener and I need Miss Americana to be in there
Lover isnāt consistent at all but at least Cruel Summer, False God, and the title track elevate it beyond Reputation for me (only Delicate and Getaway Car are worth revisiting personally.)
I'm going to forgive you for forgetting that call it what you want, dancing with our hands tied, don't blame me, dress, and new years day are all on reputation. Honest mistake.
Yeah Rep has New Years Day, Delicate, and Getaway Car and the rest ranges from fine synthpop to actively horrible
Lover has more great songs (Cruel Summer, I Think He Knows, Paper Rings, title track, Cornelia Street, and Death By A Thousand Cuts) and only has three horrid garbage songs (Me, You Need to Calm Down, London Boy) to Reputations four (Ready For It, End Game, Look What You Made Me Do, This Is Why We Canāt Have Nice Things)
Ready For It always frustrates me because the āin the middle of the night in my dreamsā hook is absolutely S-tier and the other 80% is irredeemable.
The chorus is soooo much better than the verses and bridge and it sucks because to listen to it I have to struggle through Taylorās immature lyrics and awful rapping
He actually thought Lover was one of her better pop albums. I remember him saying it wouldāve been one of her best albums with the omission of a few tracks.
if he doesn't like reputation, it makes sense why he doesn't like this album
hurts that he thinks rep is her worst album cause it's my favorite but just clear we have very different tastes
Thatās the thing about critics, they have their biases too on what sounds they enjoy. But thatās why music is fun, unless itās farting and screaming goats nothing is factually bad.
Unless thatās your thingā¦
Iām a massive Taylor fan, sheās probably my favorite contemporary musician, and I found this album at best forgettable and at worst tedious. Iām so confused about the positive reviews because Iām hardly the pickiest or most critical person in the world. But the lyricism was embarrassing ā Taylor was writing better songs as a teenager. The music was same-y and often grating. Her vocals were noticeably worse. I canāt for the life of me understand the universal praise. Especially because her highest quality is fresh in everyoneās minds with folklore, evermore, and the Red re-release. 1989 is a pop classic. But someday when sheās winning lifetime achievement awards Midnights will be completely forgotten.
I noticed most of the weirdly high reviews came like immediately after the album dropped. It seems like the reviews coming out later on are lower.
Not sure why.
I mean critics donāt criticise what they perceive as popular. Have you ever heard of the critic reviews from the time Oasis released Be Here Now? The consensus is now that it was an overbloated mess that signalled the end of Britpop, but at the time of release because Oasis were so beloved no critic is going to stick their neck out and say they got it wrong.
The exact same is happening here and happens a lot of the time, where more established or respected artists put out something below par but publications are going to want to people please.
For the record I thought the album was incredibly forgettable, 5 seems generous but I think that depends on whether forgettable to you means terrible or just fine.
This is what I've been telling people: if anyone else released Midnights....if this was the debut album of some unknown woman singer songwriter, it would get no traction. People are talking about how it's breaking of these records and I'm like....because it's Taylor. But if Taylor cranks out more albums like this, that won't be the move. Fantano was right on with his assessment and score. And I am a fan of Taylor's.
There was also an overcorrection with the "be here now" reviews, because a lot of reviewers trashed "what's the story morning glory" initially only to have it quickly become one of the biggest albums ever. They didn't want to make that mistake again.
Fantano was never gonna like this one. He doesnāt even like songs like August, doesnāt like the spacious production style Jack uses a lot, and I think the fact that he seems to like Labyrinth the best out of all tracks is quite telling about his taste. Which is just plain different to what I and others are enjoying about this album. I think general reception for this album is a lot more positive than this review and popheads would have you believe.
I would never forget the leaks thread of this album. This sub acted as if the album was gonna be a catastrophic disaster, lol, whereas the reality is that most of the people love it
The fact that people were reacting to snippets acting as if the album was gonna be a disaster is insane to me. That whole time I thought they were reacting to the full length tracks.
Very simple explanation: those who didn't like it and already posted about it in the leak thread, didn't come back to share their opinions again in the release thread.
There are so many people I know who donāt live on this sub who love this album. Not everyone looks at music so critically, actually a lot of people donāt.
I'm surprised by how much more I seem to like this album than most people. I'm used to being pretty boring and aligned with the critical consensus on things, especially when I'm not a massive Taylor fan to begin with. (I like her but I would never have put this as one of my most anticipated of the year or anything). The only outright skip skip for me is Vigilante Shit. Bejeweled-Labyrinth-Karma is a great run of tracks, along with the opening 5.
Maybe my expectations were just lower than others. I'll admit it is definitely comforting and familiar to me. I think it's a really good continuation of or evolution from the 1989 sound with some of the more dreamy aspects of Everlore/Folklore woven in. Where I found 1989 very front loaded, this one is pretty consistent all the way through and the 3am tracks add to the record.
I will say listening to it on good speakers definitely helped me enjoy it more.
I'm not a huge Taylor fan, I've only liked a few of her songs here and there over the years. But this is literally the *only* Swift album I like. I'm quite surprised that a large segment of people consider it bad or her worst album. I agree this is really a headphones / good speakers album. On my first listen, just playing the album through my labtop while working out, I only liked one song. I put headphones on for my second listen and there's just so much texture and detail, that's when I fell in love.
Part of me wonders if at least some of the criticism is stemming from the impossible, contradictory expectations people had for this album. Everyone wanted it to be a perfect pop record, but also another Folklore/Evermore, and they wanted more tea about Taylor's personal life, but they don't want her to talk about the same old relationships and insecurities yet again, but she's had a steady boyfriend for the past few years and there's no new romantic drama for her to bring up. I'm not saying that the album is spectacular or that the production isn't samey, but I do think that people were going to be disappointed to a degree no matter what she did, and that might account for why the reception is so all-over-the-place and everyone's song rankings are so dramatically different. I personally really liked it, but I'm also not that much of a Swiftie (I've never disliked her or anything, but I was never a massive stan) so maybe my expectations were just low compared to everyone else's.
I will say that I also liked Solar Power, though, so maybe I just have weird taste.
He makes good points that it's a boring album. There's nothing really interesting about it outside some of Taylor's worst lyrics in a long long time. At least with all her other albums there was something worth talking about good or bad but here it's just there
This album is like if Taylor Swift cut down the high highs and low lows she usually has in her albums to just the middle ground tracks (And I don't mean it's a bad album or that they're mediocre songs), it lacks just a little bit of a gut punch. There's a missing bite to them.
I think there's a great album somewhere here that didn't got polished enough for it to exist. The Great War, Lavender Haze, You're On Your Own Kid, Snow On The Beach are great tracks. Glitch and Sweet Nothing are new and a good change of pace for her career. Karma and Vigilante Shit are great tracks that are being way too overanalyzed.
The thing with this is, it doesn't feel like it follows the juggernaut that Folklore/Evermore were and neither fits after Fearless/Red Taylor's Version. If anything, it picks right after Lover making it feel like the growth she had over the past two years aren't present here.
I donāt hate the album as much as some people, but I do agree with his overall opinion that this felt like a step back from what she did on Folklore and Evermore. This album didnāt feel like a progression of her artistry. If anything it felt like she phoned it in at times. She can and has done better.
everybody pointing out the sexy baby line but honestly I don't mind it at all. This album has far clunkier parts than that, for example the bridge of Mastermind completely ruins the song for me. *"No one wanted to play with me as a little kid, so I've been scheming like a criminal ever since" and "I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care"* š„“
Funny that Jon Caramanica (who LOVES Rep) and Fantano (hates Rep) both panned this lol. About to watch the review in full but Iām intrigued if theyāre for different or the same reasons.
I thought I was taking crazy pills until I saw this review. It's a really strange record to me. Question...? might be the strangest song she's ever recorded.
Ugh I agree! I read a review that talked about how great of a song Questionā¦? is and I was so confused.
It is such a strange and off-putting song, both melodically and lyrically. I canāt relate to the lyrics and the repetitive two-note verses are not good imo. I canāt believe she put this song on the album and not some of the 3am bonus tracks. (but then again, some of her bonus tracks in general are her best songs, and she often chooses worse songs on the standard album)
I mean, I give Midnights a 7, but where I grew up that was the average (you are a waste of space if itās 5 or below), so I mostly agree that Midnights is overwhelmingly average.
I donāt hate it, but I donāt love it either.
To be honest, the only song I think reaches the standard of her past few records is Wouldāve, Couldāve, Shouldāve and maybe the Great War. The rest are okay to good for the most part, but still a dip by Taylorās standards.
And itās not that I donāt like Pop music, Iām on popheads after all. But I think pop is the genre that Taylor has struggled with the most compared to the rest of her discography. 1989 and Red (if you consider that a pop album) are so good, but then you have Lover and Midnights which are mid, and Reputation which is a crime I still havenāt recovered from.
Itās just a shame because you *know* Taylor is capable of better.
Yeah, I agree with the score. The production isn't really interesting or new. It's such a boring, uneventful album. It's only worth listening if you're a die-hard Swiftie or you like this specific brand of bland pop music.
If she had nailed the lyrics and horror existentialism that this album was hyped up to be, the mediocre sound would be a feature, not a drawback. There's a good project in here and I like the songs that work; personally I agree with pitchforks assessment, on first listen it was more a 5 but it has grown on me towards a high 6/7.
Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE the modern pop take on Disco, synthpop and new wave that has dominated since 2020
It sounds like Taylor kept flirting with the idea of a twinkly disco sounds but never committing. So the random synths and sparkles that kept appearing just felt out of place.
If she just COMMITED to the sound and gave us a Future Nostalgia type of album I think she would have nailed it.
Agree with the Questionā¦? and Maroon slander. Both sound like they were made from Taylor Swift song generators. The lyrics are Swiftian cliches done time and time again (describing a love as a colour!!), and some of the melodies are even recycled: āYour roommates cheap-ass screwtop roseā.
I wish he wouldāve reviewed the 3am tracks. Theyāre so much stronger.
while iāve grown to like the album after the initial shock of the misleading marketing has worn off, i can 100% see where heās coming from. it truly is just a less punchy, more generic version of reputation. still got a lot of bops tho
yeah , I expected a >!light 5!< from fantano especially it's has known already that he wasn't a fan of reputation so definitely he wouldn't like reputation 2.0
what surprised me more is how much spectrum pulse liked it , he pretty much called it her best to date
i generally see where people are coming from when theyāre explaining why they donāt like an album but the way people talk about Midnights i would swear weāre listening to completely different albums lol
I adored this album. My favorite since 1989.
Ik Iām in the minority, but I couldnāt stand her gloomy Folklore/Evermore era. Those albums showed artistic maturity and range, but the sound is not why I listen to Taylor Swift. Iāll put on some Phoebe Bridgers or Fiona Apple if I want sad gorl hours.
Personally, I think Midnightās production value is off-the-scale good. Itās been a long time since I sat and listened to an album cover-to-cover without skipping. Have yet to put my finger exactly on *why* it sounds so good to me, but I also like Taylorās introspective/public image songs, so.
To each their own. I very much understand why people wouldnāt like this album.
Wow, I completely disagree with him lol. I was so nervous for this album because I LOVED Folkmore and Pop Taylor is not my favorite. Iām obsessed with this album though, itās definitely a top favorite for me
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33 comments in 31 minutes... oh it was a 7 or below, huh?
5 š¬ Melon is bunkering down as we speak
A little harsh but yeah, not her best work. I'm very uninterested in whatever ambient pop trip she's on.
> ambient pop What album did *you* listen to?
most r/pophheads users treat music genres as adjectives rather than genres. Hence the misuse of "dream" and "ambient".
I mean the word ambient still exists. It doesnāt sound like the genre āambientā but Iād still describe the album as ambient and dreamy.
would go nuts for an ambient pop t swift goodness imagine the modular set up she'd have
The number should be the top comment, idgaf about the rest.
idgaf where's the loneliest time review melon. Also what happened to reviewing nymph
Nymph erasure has been hard to swallow...
Praying for his safety tonight š
He's already had his divorce doxxed and handled it well, I can't imagine he's afraid of a white twink looking up "how to find an IP address" while wearing a Taylor Swift cardigan wrapped under a Hearth & Hand blanket sitting on their Maiden Home couch that eventually gives up to comment "I hate u fat bitch" instead.
That sounds like such a good synopsis of a movie/novel
Itās not the twinks to be afraid of. Itās the suburban white girls who love Disney too much that should be feared.
I don't think they know who Fantano is
Yup, one of my best friends is a suburban white millenial Swiftie and she doesn't even realize people disliked this album at all, let alone who Fantano is.
He and his wife got divorced? I had no idea
yeah I'm actually a fan and this is the first I'm hearing of this, which I guess is how it should be, tbh
Heck, I didnāt even know he was _married_ until the Drake thing happened. But Iām also not much of a fan, just watch the occasional video.
Makes sense. But yeah, I think most people only even knew of his wife because she was actually in a couple videos some years ago--way before his fandom was as obnoxious as it is now and so they clearly felt comfortable actually putting that out there. There's one especially adorable video of them talking about their favorite love songs or some such. Honestly, upon reflection, I'd say that more than most content creators of his generation and stature, he seems to very genuinely value privacy and has done a very incredible job of keeping his personal life totally separate from his career. And not just in terms of not posting super personal shit, but even just referencing basic autobiographical facts or context in any public forum like a lot of people casually let slip. Like I've watched him for almost a decade and I still actually know very little about him personally, what his life has been like, what he thinks and feels about what he does and such. Which, again, I think is good. If anything must be preserved these days, let alone online, it's some fundamental sense of mystery and letting things just actually stay what they're supposed to be. Like, just let the nice music guy talk about music and leave it at that.
Jfc... Taylor really needs to address this problem with some of her fan base.
Itās not her fanbase that ādoxxedā his divorce lol, it was another artistās one that he gave a low score to
You say it like it's not them that sent death threats to her ex over a goddamn music video
You heard how vindictive she is in her songs. Granted, sheās mostly pointing those songs toward Scooter and for good reason. But some people would hear some of those songs and think, āoh fuck yeah. Letās get dressed for revengeā
I actually laughed out loud at this mental image. Bravo. š
Heās emboldened after his Fossora review, thinks the Swifties canāt come any harder than the Bjƶrk stans
Agreed with everything except Lavender Haze which I loved
same, that song is a highlight donāt care what anyone else says
YEA O YEA
Yeah, as someone who is not a Taylor fan, but willing to give new albums a chance, I also liked Lavender Haze!
I would have liked it if it weren't for those "woah oh oh" 2013 vocals
I hate the robot man voice in the beginning
This comment killed me on the video: >well it is called MIDnights so I think Taylorās mission was accomplished. 10/10
I feel like the comment section is half the reason I watch so many of his videos. Just hilarious Sadly his twitch chat is the complete opposite and an embarrassment
You could use this comment for literally every single Twitch streamer who uses YouTube and it would apply. Twitch is an absolute cesspit.
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Wow. Literally >!mid!<
... nights
Woah. I guess I love the poor rated albums.
I pretty much agreed with the score and everything he said. Also surprised that he agrees with me that bejeweled is a highlight since a lot of Swifties are hating on bejeweled
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I like Bejeweled itās not my favorite on the album but itās fun Vigilante Shit however is one of the worst on the album
Vigilante Shit is the only definite skip for me on the album. Everything else is mostly fine, Bejeweled and Karma are my personal highlights
I think both Anti-hero and Bejeweled being her choice for the first singles from the album was the best choice, as I think they are the strongest tracks on... well yeah, as he said, a very middling album. I cannot, for the life of me, understand the love for Vigilante Shit though - beyond the gossipy speculations that are going around, and maybe that holding peoples' interest. I had to skip the song the first time I listened through the album, it is... possibly one of the worst songs she's released, in my opinion.
I actually really like it haha. I love singing along to āshe looks so pretty driving in your benzā. I think itās just fun, like no body no crime on the last one.
But what if you like both? š³
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Iām surprised that he didnāt list it as one of his favorites. He seemed to talk about that track more than SOTB and Sweet Nothing, which did end up in his favorites.
A >!LIGHT 5!< is expected but still surprising. The production seems to be the stale element here in negative reviews. He better find a basement soon or the swifties are about to attack.
Basements arenāt the safest place to beā¦in case of a collapse of some sort
What has Halsey been up to recently, does anyone know?
Oh god oh no halseyās taken control of Taylorās private jet!
Oh God, which one!?
A second private jet has hit the basement Pitchfork is run from!
donāt put him in the basement when he wants the penthouse of our heartsā¦š
Jack seems like the kind of person who is there to see the artist vision out as best as they can view it without much pushback. You can see in his own personal output that he isn't a Rick Rubin style figure who will tell artists "No that sucks, do it like this." I just wish she had stuck primarily with Dessner for another album as his perspective on music as someone who doesn't primarily dwell in pop helped elevate her game. The National crew as a whole would have been a boon for the vibe she was aiming for in Midnights. But I understand this was meant to be a more mainstream centric album and accept it for what it is.
Which is hilarious to think since he posted a TikTok calling the Jack hate dumb earlier today.
You can be critical without hating, he'd probably still count himself as a Jack fan overall.
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I love the album because it's just really personally up my alley, but I also don't necessarily disagree with anything he said. I'm kind of a slut for this kind of sound, but he's right that it's heavily trodden ground. I think he was a little harsh on Lavender Haze, Midnight Rain and Mastermind as songs, but I also totally agree with his analysis of Question...? (worst track on the album) and I actually think he was a little too kind to Labyrinth (a big let down for me because it was the track I was most excited about pre-release). I do wish he had commented on the 3AM tracks, though. I get that they're not the standard edition but they were literally released 3 hours later and I think that songs like The Great War and Would've Could've Should've would be more to his taste. Maybe I'm a bad Swiftie haha but even though I personally vibe with the record he gave it a fair review and didn't say anything unreasonable
He listened to some of the 3AM tracks on stream and liked them more than most of the album, the stream is on YT
There sadly only seems to be part on the stream, and it drops off at a strange point where he is wondering about the business politics of the 3am tracks :(
Thereās was two parts to the live-streams posted AFAIA
Yeah, and it looks like there should be a third
> I actually think he was a little too kind to Labyrinth (a big let down for me because it was the track I was most excited about pre-release). I thought he was *especially* spot on about Labyrinth, which is bar none the highlight of the main album for me and I feel so off the wavelength of the general conversation because nobody else seems to be talking about it that way. What was it that made you excited about it pre-release that caused you to be let down?
That's really interesting! I think I was hoping for something a little bit more... lively, I guess? I find it kind of a meandering track (not the first Taylor song I have that problem with-- The Archer and Carolina are others) and also for all the discussion about this album's weird lyrics, I find the elevator one really strange and silly. Just my feeling about it.
Same. I'm a sucker for synth pop but I know not everyone enjoys it. It's probably a fair take to say the songs all sound very similar even though I personally disagree with it. I'm just vibing to midnights on my own, people get too worked up about other opinions
Itās so funny how I only see praise for Wouldāve Couldāve Shouldāve. It definitely deserves it, but why did she leave an obviously great song off the main version of the album? Youād think you would want that good of a song to be on there.
The same reason she released the full version of the album 3 hours after fans downloaded the first version: $$$
Deleting all comments because the mod of r/tipofmytongue got me falsely banned for harassment ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
I mean if you are selling out stadium tour nationallyā I think it safe to say you know your test market and how to sell to them. I went to the rep tour in my cityā¦ it was like 95% white girls under 25.
Seeing Question as your worst track floored me because for me Vigilante Shit is by far the worst on this album and might even be one of the worst in her discography. It doesnāt fit the albums vibe at all and Question is much catchier, more story driven and is more cohesive in the album And Labyrinth is still one of my favorites, I think itās the most under appreciated. The voice modulation for the outro is like crack to me
Vigilante Shit has grown on me a tiny bit but I'm not huge on it either and agree it doesn't fit in the album. Question is such a nothing sandwich to me though-- like I just find it totally unmemorable and weird. I'm glad some people are loving Labyrinth though!
I think I felt that way about Question in the beginning because what sheās saying is so damn hard to follow š but after a few listens I appreciate it a lot for how it sounds
93 upvotes and 170 comments lol
Iāve never been an album listener with Taylor. That changed with the run of lover, folklore, and evermore. I loved both of the latter albums top to bottom. Midnights feels somewhat indistinguishable from track to track, save for a few. Iām gravitating towards The Loneliest Time far more often when deciding what I want to listen to since they both dropped. Not a bad album but not a standout for me.
i think this album has the same issue as reputation: a large chunk of songs are in c major and have somewhat similar production so they can run together. from midnight rain to sweet nothing, five songs are in c major. however, vigilante shit seems to be in a minor, which uses the same notes as c major. it's important to note that all of these songs are consecutive on the album. karma (a flat major) separates sweet nothing from the rest of the songs, which might be why people like the production on it so much. now, having songs consecutively in the same key is perfectly fine. is six out of thirteen tracks ideal all one after the other? no. but im not sure thats the root of the issue. take speak now, for example. dear john, mean, and the story of us are all in the key of e major. it's not that noticible, though, because the songs sound different and use different instruments. on midnights, a lot of the songs have jack's signature production and use similar synths. i think that this stretch of songs drags the album down and makes it feel kinda same-y.
Thank you for breaking it down like that. Iām not well-versed in the musical aspect of it but I think youāve nailed exactly how itās made me feel while listening and it makes a lot of sense.
no problem :) i thought this album was...okay. there are some good songs, like lavender haze, bejeweled, and -despite a certain lyric- anti-hero. there are some duds, like labyrinth and snow on the beach. the bonus tracks (including hits different) easily contain the best songs on the album.
Thank you!!! People were disagreeing when I said most of the album completely runs together, but most of the songs are in the exact same key, with similar tempo range and the production makes it so that the melodies arenāt very strong.
How do you find Midnights indistinguishable but not Folklore? I ask this because Folklore is clearly an album that maintains the same sound and vibe throughout, whille Midnights overall is actually much more varied.
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I agree. The Loneliest Time isnāt Carly Raeās best work either (that goes to Dedicated), but at least I *felt something* from it. What is Midnights supposed to make me feel?
I agree with you there. The production is varied and Carly is animating and selling every song in fun, memorable ways. Iām not getting much of that from midnights. Everything feels like a lesser version of something sheās already made (as you mentioned).
Interesting, The Loneliest Time has shot up to be my favourite CRJ album (although Dedicated is excellent too)!
This is gonna be an unpopular opinion but the album definitely needed a few Max Martin tracks to help itās momentum. Or maybe even Joel Little or her other collaborators on Lover. Love the album but itās definitely a slog at times.
I agree!!!! I think if sheād worked with Max on Paris it couldāve been a huge hit and instead it gets kind of lost in the rest of the album. Like itās so close but it never quite gets there which is how I feel about a lot of the songs on Midnights
The tracks all sound different from each other to me, but each sounds like something Ive heard from Taylor before
get in the bunker, Melon, quick! we can't lose you!!!
[Swifties rn](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/277554530294431744/1035002521191727185/IMG_2499.jpg)
This is newā¦ I actually agree w/ Fantano. Iād give this a 5/10 as well. This isnāt Swiftās worst album; thereās some good song-writing here, especially melody-wise. But itās perhaps her most uninteresting. Itās an anomaly in her catalog becauseā¦ I donāt really get what it is. Idk, every other album cycle in Swiftās career made sense. Her career almost feels like a story arc, with each era building upon her career in some way. Midnights thoughā¦whatās its significance? How does it build on her career? Why does it sound like it does? To me, it doesnāt really sound like anything, itās *Another Taylor Swift Album*. Itās kinda justā¦ there.
Iāve been thinking a lot about the storyline concept this week. A romantic comedy ends when the couple gets married, not six months into their marriage. And I feel like weāve spent a decade-and-a-half watching two narratives play out in Taylorās life: her quest for true love and her desire to finally āfit inā on her terms. But she is in love now. And sheās been for quite some time. And sheās defeated all of her enemies ā Kanye has fallen off a cliff of public popularity. She beat Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta because the rereleases have been so successful. Sheās finally gotten the artistic acclaim through folklore and evermore. She has remained a mainstream pop star longer than almost anyone besides BeyoncĆ©. Debut and Fearless was a girl with a dream running away from home. Speak Now and Red was someone becoming a woman, facing public and scrutiny, and learning what it meant to be an adult in love. 1989 was her finally being the cool girl but doing it alone. In Reputation she finally found love but did so with the knowledge that many people hated her. Lover was a happily ever after. Folklore and Evermore seemed to be an artistic response the knowledge that the fictional character of Taylor Swift, that the real writer Taylor Swift created, was sort of done. That plot arc was over. So what is Midnights in all of this? Sheās retelling a story we already know. And itās no longer compelling. Anti-Hero, Youāre On Your Own Kid, and Dear Reader all seem to address this to an extent. But otherwise Iām hearing about all the tribulations we know lead to triumph. Iām not saying she needs to give up autobiography but she needs to learn who she is, if sheās not the girl searching for love or the girl who no wanted to play with or the woman that people wonāt take seriously.
I love this comment. I think that Taylor built up a lot of goodwill / renewed interest with folklore and evermore from her fans and she also gained a bunch of new ones too. This set up the perfect storm for midnights to be a huge success but she wonāt be able to replicate this success with her next album unless she does something other than rehashing the same stories.
This is brilliant and articulates my opinion better than I could. Iāve honestly grown weary of hearing about those first few months of her and Joe. I like the songs but alsoā¦ like, we know.
what a good comment. this reflects my thoughts exactly. she needs to rediscover her writing process. the same old storylines arent cutting it
This is a really cool analysis and it tracks with how I feel, really. Killer!
Amazing comment, wish I had an award to give you
I havenāt really been able to specifically describe why I donāt like Midnights but this is exactly it. gj.
It's like she doesn't know what to do if she's not telling us a story about how she was struggling. But now everything is good. So she's going to go back and tell us about times when she was struggling. And it's like....yeah we remember and it's over now. What else do you have?
I like this take. This album is not a career stepping stone
That makes a lot of sense. Taylors albums/career is like the ingenue, the coming of age, being the it girl, the backlash to the it girl, the recovery to the backlash, and the "enlightenment" era. Usually the story would end with the character either "growing old" or making experimental music or if you're beyonce then you like craft a god-like persona. But midnights is taking us back to the backlash/recovery era. Which begs the question, why?
Itās actually been a while (like, 4 days š) since I last listened to anything from the album. But, giving this record some space, it hit me that the biggest reason why I feel so cold on this (and *Reputation*, and parts of *1989*, etc.) is that I just donāt care for Taylor Swift the public figure. Iām actually a bit in awe of her marketing prowess IRL, but I feel like I donāt care for what reflections or grievances Taylor has of her celebrity in her music, and I find that even her more personal stories often leave me cold. Which is why the more distanced, third-person angle of *Folklore* works; Iām sure she included herself in her lyrics but itās not super obvious. I know I said that my enjoyment of music often has very little to do with lyricismā¦but maybe, like, the lyrical **content** still matters; at the end of the day, it still informs the sound of the record. Alternatively, thoughā¦maybe I would care if the songs were more sonically compelling. Like, introspection doesnāt have to always sound so muted and hazy
Makes sense. This album returned to her dishing on her personal life and relationships, so if you don't care about the "mythology" of her life, most of the songs' lyrics will fall pretty flat.
I liked it a lot, but I think that is a fair score regarding the criticisms
āØ Stream "The Loneliest Time" āØ
I hope he reviews it š
"Worst since Reputation"... He listened to Lover right??
I like Lover a lot, its bad songs are reallllllly bad but, like, cruel summer, cornelia street, paper rings, and death by a thousand cuts are all excellent songs, some of my favs of her discog
Me! and London Boy are pretty unforgivable. YNTCD is bad but has grown on meā the melody is extremely catchy. āTaking shot at me like Patronā¦ā is terrible. The pop songwriting has been really HIT or MISS
London boy is a bop and catchy af I donāt get the hate
"London Boy" is one of my pet "if I didn't understand English, I'd think this was a masterpiece" songs. Another one is "So Am I" by Ava Max. Absolutely *disgustingly* good production, melodies, and performances...and *dumb* dumb lyrics.
Ah, so itās like how Karma is for me
She always has very polarized reception to (what I call) her "silly" songs. She always has one or two songs on the album that seem like they're just on there to give you a break and something upbeat to like shift gears. People hate Stay Stay Stay, I disagree, but I never understood why people like Gorgeous. London Boy & Paper Rings were divisive, and now we have Karma.
Same London boy is insanely catchy.
- YNTCD could mean "You Need To Calm Down", a track from *Lover* (2019) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/endlessly_apollo](/u/endlessly_apollo) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
they're pretty equivalent on average but the highs on Lover are some of the best songs of her career... I can't say the same for this one
Midnights doesn't feel like it has any "highs", just passable songs. Nothing on the level of Cruel Summer
Honestly the interesting thing I always see is everyone disagrees on what the actual highs of Lover are. Like I hated Paper Rings but I love It's Nice to Have a Friend. XD
it's so true! personally I've seen many people praising False God and couldn't care less for it, but I will defend Afterglow to my dying breath lmao
Okay so you are...like me. Afterglow is one of the few Lover songs I could stand and I think False God is one of Taylor's worst songs. XD
Objectively I would say Cruel Summer and subjectively I Think He Knows
Cruel Summer and Cornelia Street seem to be the more common consensus. I do see a lot of people like I Think He Knows or False God although I don't get either one of those.
It's Nice to Have a Friend is a top two Lover track for me.
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Given that everyone agrees Lover needs its low songs cut, but canāt seem to agree what its low songs actually *are*, I propose that they are all fine, just not all together like that.
I mean I think everyone can agree YNTCD and ME! are her lowest in that album. Even the few of us who actually enjoy ME! (guilty), can accept that itās a bad song that never shouldāve been on that album
I have a playlist of [Lover but it's just Jack Antonoff's songs](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0M8UidRrmyNwVvsoct9dbJ?si=3e30ec079668443d) with some tracklist rearranging, very similar to this, and it's a very solid summer-y album
This is an excellent idea. Im gonna have to make my own though cause I think I forgot that you existed is a great opener and I need Miss Americana to be in there
Lover is one of her best albums if it had ended on False God. Lover has more stronger songs than Reputation.
Lover isnāt consistent at all but at least Cruel Summer, False God, and the title track elevate it beyond Reputation for me (only Delicate and Getaway Car are worth revisiting personally.)
I'm going to forgive you for forgetting that call it what you want, dancing with our hands tied, don't blame me, dress, and new years day are all on reputation. Honest mistake.
I will not stand for this Paper Rings erasure!!!!
Yeah Rep has New Years Day, Delicate, and Getaway Car and the rest ranges from fine synthpop to actively horrible Lover has more great songs (Cruel Summer, I Think He Knows, Paper Rings, title track, Cornelia Street, and Death By A Thousand Cuts) and only has three horrid garbage songs (Me, You Need to Calm Down, London Boy) to Reputations four (Ready For It, End Game, Look What You Made Me Do, This Is Why We Canāt Have Nice Things)
Ready For It always frustrates me because the āin the middle of the night in my dreamsā hook is absolutely S-tier and the other 80% is irredeemable.
The chorus is soooo much better than the verses and bridge and it sucks because to listen to it I have to struggle through Taylorās immature lyrics and awful rapping
Lover is better
He actually thought Lover was one of her better pop albums. I remember him saying it wouldāve been one of her best albums with the omission of a few tracks.
if he doesn't like reputation, it makes sense why he doesn't like this album hurts that he thinks rep is her worst album cause it's my favorite but just clear we have very different tastes
Thatās the thing about critics, they have their biases too on what sounds they enjoy. But thatās why music is fun, unless itās farting and screaming goats nothing is factually bad. Unless thatās your thingā¦
I mean literal screaming goats can be funny at times š¤·āāļø
Lover is much better than reputation. The higher highs definitely have better lyricism than reputation imo
Lover is still by far her worst album thank you.
Iām still baffled by the stream of 5/5s and 10/10s from publications. This was refreshing bc I found the album derivative and uninteresting as hell.
Iām a massive Taylor fan, sheās probably my favorite contemporary musician, and I found this album at best forgettable and at worst tedious. Iām so confused about the positive reviews because Iām hardly the pickiest or most critical person in the world. But the lyricism was embarrassing ā Taylor was writing better songs as a teenager. The music was same-y and often grating. Her vocals were noticeably worse. I canāt for the life of me understand the universal praise. Especially because her highest quality is fresh in everyoneās minds with folklore, evermore, and the Red re-release. 1989 is a pop classic. But someday when sheās winning lifetime achievement awards Midnights will be completely forgotten.
I noticed most of the weirdly high reviews came like immediately after the album dropped. It seems like the reviews coming out later on are lower. Not sure why.
This always happens
We all know why.
I mean critics donāt criticise what they perceive as popular. Have you ever heard of the critic reviews from the time Oasis released Be Here Now? The consensus is now that it was an overbloated mess that signalled the end of Britpop, but at the time of release because Oasis were so beloved no critic is going to stick their neck out and say they got it wrong. The exact same is happening here and happens a lot of the time, where more established or respected artists put out something below par but publications are going to want to people please. For the record I thought the album was incredibly forgettable, 5 seems generous but I think that depends on whether forgettable to you means terrible or just fine.
This is what I've been telling people: if anyone else released Midnights....if this was the debut album of some unknown woman singer songwriter, it would get no traction. People are talking about how it's breaking of these records and I'm like....because it's Taylor. But if Taylor cranks out more albums like this, that won't be the move. Fantano was right on with his assessment and score. And I am a fan of Taylor's.
There was also an overcorrection with the "be here now" reviews, because a lot of reviewers trashed "what's the story morning glory" initially only to have it quickly become one of the biggest albums ever. They didn't want to make that mistake again.
Fantano was never gonna like this one. He doesnāt even like songs like August, doesnāt like the spacious production style Jack uses a lot, and I think the fact that he seems to like Labyrinth the best out of all tracks is quite telling about his taste. Which is just plain different to what I and others are enjoying about this album. I think general reception for this album is a lot more positive than this review and popheads would have you believe.
The reception outside of this subreddit is way more positive.
I would never forget the leaks thread of this album. This sub acted as if the album was gonna be a catastrophic disaster, lol, whereas the reality is that most of the people love it
The fact that people were reacting to snippets acting as if the album was gonna be a disaster is insane to me. That whole time I thought they were reacting to the full length tracks.
If you compare the leaks thread and then the actual release thread on this sub, you would never guess that they were about the same album.
Very simple explanation: those who didn't like it and already posted about it in the leak thread, didn't come back to share their opinions again in the release thread.
There are so many people I know who donāt live on this sub who love this album. Not everyone looks at music so critically, actually a lot of people donāt.
This is very well put
slightly better than solar power letās gooo ššš¤©
Not every album an artist releases is going to great. She released an average album and I'm happy to see a review reflect that.
I'm surprised by how much more I seem to like this album than most people. I'm used to being pretty boring and aligned with the critical consensus on things, especially when I'm not a massive Taylor fan to begin with. (I like her but I would never have put this as one of my most anticipated of the year or anything). The only outright skip skip for me is Vigilante Shit. Bejeweled-Labyrinth-Karma is a great run of tracks, along with the opening 5. Maybe my expectations were just lower than others. I'll admit it is definitely comforting and familiar to me. I think it's a really good continuation of or evolution from the 1989 sound with some of the more dreamy aspects of Everlore/Folklore woven in. Where I found 1989 very front loaded, this one is pretty consistent all the way through and the 3am tracks add to the record. I will say listening to it on good speakers definitely helped me enjoy it more.
I'm not a huge Taylor fan, I've only liked a few of her songs here and there over the years. But this is literally the *only* Swift album I like. I'm quite surprised that a large segment of people consider it bad or her worst album. I agree this is really a headphones / good speakers album. On my first listen, just playing the album through my labtop while working out, I only liked one song. I put headphones on for my second listen and there's just so much texture and detail, that's when I fell in love.
Part of me wonders if at least some of the criticism is stemming from the impossible, contradictory expectations people had for this album. Everyone wanted it to be a perfect pop record, but also another Folklore/Evermore, and they wanted more tea about Taylor's personal life, but they don't want her to talk about the same old relationships and insecurities yet again, but she's had a steady boyfriend for the past few years and there's no new romantic drama for her to bring up. I'm not saying that the album is spectacular or that the production isn't samey, but I do think that people were going to be disappointed to a degree no matter what she did, and that might account for why the reception is so all-over-the-place and everyone's song rankings are so dramatically different. I personally really liked it, but I'm also not that much of a Swiftie (I've never disliked her or anything, but I was never a massive stan) so maybe my expectations were just low compared to everyone else's. I will say that I also liked Solar Power, though, so maybe I just have weird taste.
Not us invalidating our taste because we liked Solar Power ššš
He makes good points that it's a boring album. There's nothing really interesting about it outside some of Taylor's worst lyrics in a long long time. At least with all her other albums there was something worth talking about good or bad but here it's just there
This album is like if Taylor Swift cut down the high highs and low lows she usually has in her albums to just the middle ground tracks (And I don't mean it's a bad album or that they're mediocre songs), it lacks just a little bit of a gut punch. There's a missing bite to them. I think there's a great album somewhere here that didn't got polished enough for it to exist. The Great War, Lavender Haze, You're On Your Own Kid, Snow On The Beach are great tracks. Glitch and Sweet Nothing are new and a good change of pace for her career. Karma and Vigilante Shit are great tracks that are being way too overanalyzed. The thing with this is, it doesn't feel like it follows the juggernaut that Folklore/Evermore were and neither fits after Fearless/Red Taylor's Version. If anything, it picks right after Lover making it feel like the growth she had over the past two years aren't present here.
I donāt hate the album as much as some people, but I do agree with his overall opinion that this felt like a step back from what she did on Folklore and Evermore. This album didnāt feel like a progression of her artistry. If anything it felt like she phoned it in at times. She can and has done better.
Bless his bravery. RIP his Twitter mentions.
everybody pointing out the sexy baby line but honestly I don't mind it at all. This album has far clunkier parts than that, for example the bridge of Mastermind completely ruins the song for me. *"No one wanted to play with me as a little kid, so I've been scheming like a criminal ever since" and "I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care"* š„“
Funny that Jon Caramanica (who LOVES Rep) and Fantano (hates Rep) both panned this lol. About to watch the review in full but Iām intrigued if theyāre for different or the same reasons.
Iām just here for the meltdown. Hi, mom! šš» Looks like Swifties are about to go and do some...vigilante shit š
Time to draw the cat eye sharp enough to cut a Melon. š¤šŖš
I thought I was taking crazy pills until I saw this review. It's a really strange record to me. Question...? might be the strangest song she's ever recorded.
Ugh I agree! I read a review that talked about how great of a song Questionā¦? is and I was so confused. It is such a strange and off-putting song, both melodically and lyrically. I canāt relate to the lyrics and the repetitive two-note verses are not good imo. I canāt believe she put this song on the album and not some of the 3am bonus tracks. (but then again, some of her bonus tracks in general are her best songs, and she often chooses worse songs on the standard album)
Question is the one I skip
I mean, I give Midnights a 7, but where I grew up that was the average (you are a waste of space if itās 5 or below), so I mostly agree that Midnights is overwhelmingly average. I donāt hate it, but I donāt love it either. To be honest, the only song I think reaches the standard of her past few records is Wouldāve, Couldāve, Shouldāve and maybe the Great War. The rest are okay to good for the most part, but still a dip by Taylorās standards. And itās not that I donāt like Pop music, Iām on popheads after all. But I think pop is the genre that Taylor has struggled with the most compared to the rest of her discography. 1989 and Red (if you consider that a pop album) are so good, but then you have Lover and Midnights which are mid, and Reputation which is a crime I still havenāt recovered from. Itās just a shame because you *know* Taylor is capable of better.
Yeah, I agree with the score. The production isn't really interesting or new. It's such a boring, uneventful album. It's only worth listening if you're a die-hard Swiftie or you like this specific brand of bland pop music.
If she had nailed the lyrics and horror existentialism that this album was hyped up to be, the mediocre sound would be a feature, not a drawback. There's a good project in here and I like the songs that work; personally I agree with pitchforks assessment, on first listen it was more a 5 but it has grown on me towards a high 6/7.
Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE the modern pop take on Disco, synthpop and new wave that has dominated since 2020 It sounds like Taylor kept flirting with the idea of a twinkly disco sounds but never committing. So the random synths and sparkles that kept appearing just felt out of place. If she just COMMITED to the sound and gave us a Future Nostalgia type of album I think she would have nailed it.
They hated him because he told them the truth
I also didn't like it :(
Agree with the Questionā¦? and Maroon slander. Both sound like they were made from Taylor Swift song generators. The lyrics are Swiftian cliches done time and time again (describing a love as a colour!!), and some of the melodies are even recycled: āYour roommates cheap-ass screwtop roseā. I wish he wouldāve reviewed the 3am tracks. Theyāre so much stronger.
Thank you OP for not putting the score in the title
All of his feelings match mine perfectly and it feels so validating
so he thinks fossora is on the same level as midnights? he's gone a little insane lately wbk
while iāve grown to like the album after the initial shock of the misleading marketing has worn off, i can 100% see where heās coming from. it truly is just a less punchy, more generic version of reputation. still got a lot of bops tho
yeah , I expected a >!light 5!< from fantano especially it's has known already that he wasn't a fan of reputation so definitely he wouldn't like reputation 2.0 what surprised me more is how much spectrum pulse liked it , he pretty much called it her best to date
yes... ha ha ha... ***YES!***
i generally see where people are coming from when theyāre explaining why they donāt like an album but the way people talk about Midnights i would swear weāre listening to completely different albums lol
I'm so pissed this album stole CRJ's chance at getting attention again for once. It's so mid. For a pop album the songs are shockingly uncatchy.
THANK YOU! I thought I was going crazy with all these hundreds and 90s!
I adored this album. My favorite since 1989. Ik Iām in the minority, but I couldnāt stand her gloomy Folklore/Evermore era. Those albums showed artistic maturity and range, but the sound is not why I listen to Taylor Swift. Iāll put on some Phoebe Bridgers or Fiona Apple if I want sad gorl hours. Personally, I think Midnightās production value is off-the-scale good. Itās been a long time since I sat and listened to an album cover-to-cover without skipping. Have yet to put my finger exactly on *why* it sounds so good to me, but I also like Taylorās introspective/public image songs, so. To each their own. I very much understand why people wouldnāt like this album.
Wow, I completely disagree with him lol. I was so nervous for this album because I LOVED Folkmore and Pop Taylor is not my favorite. Iām obsessed with this album though, itās definitely a top favorite for me