Taylor Swift – Midnights

Taylor Swift and her people know how to put together an enjoyable pop album of good quality. "1989", "Reputation" and "Lover" were all well-produced and well-executed, and so is "Midnights". The recorded sound is excellent. The vocals and song structure don't differ too much from the previous albums, although I would say in general this one is more low-key. As with the previous albums, there is often an intricate interplay between the lead and background vocals, which contributes to the "ear candy" quality. The overall production is limited and relaxed, nothing very loud or intense in an obvious way, but there are undercurrents provided by subtle synth arrangements. The production is tight. No wasted space. Only 2 tracks end in fadeouts, and some end rather abruptly. One thing missing is a rocking dance-pop track with the rousing enthusiasm of "Shake It Off" or "ME!". The feeling is mostly moody and reflective, in of the themes in the lyrics. "Snow On The Beach" stands out by being a collaboration with Lana Del Rey; but when you think about it, Lana's sound and Taylor's are not so different.

In the album's photos, Taylor reminds me of chanteuse Marianne Faithfull as she looked in the 60's. Perhaps some of Marianne's later tell-all candor rubbed off on Taylor, because she certainly does open up on this album. In the notes, Taylor asks, "What keeps you up at night?" and then answers her own question: "...a momentary glimmer of distraction. The tiniest notion of reminiscent thought that wanders off into wondering...". The first track, "Lavender Haze", illustrates this sometimes uncontrolled thought-streaming by placing the foreground lead vocals against a background of nebulous voices that flit to and fro without solid meaning. In this song she declares independence from "The 1950's #### they want from me", meaning a conventional life as a conventional wife. Then she's thinking about fun she had the night before, as she asks in "Maroon", "How'd we end up on the floor anyway?", and it turns out that it was from some "cheap-___ screw top rosé". In "Anti-Hero" she has this cynical thought: "Did you hear my covert narcissism/I disguise as altruism like some kind of congressman." The songs go on to describe a memorable night that was "like snow on the beach/Weird but ******' beautiful", a disappointment ("I picked the petals, he loves me not"), her hometown ("a wasteland full of cages, full of fences/Pageant queens and big pretenders"), a feeling of confidence ("Best believe I'm still bejeweled/When I walk in the room/I can still make the whole place shimmer"), a feeling of distress ("I hate that everybody just expects me to bounce back, just like that"), revenge ("Karma's gonna track you down/Step by step from town to town"), and a safe harbor ("They said the end is coming...I find myself running home to your sweet nothings.") Taylor sums it all up in the notes as "a journey through terrors and sweet dreams."

Actually this album is mainstream not extraordinary often the same tsch- bum Synthesizer sound - for me boring - but not really bad
an album to for month - maybe 2022 not for centuries

Can someone add the boxset as one of the editions? Or does that not count since the CD is the Moonstone Blue?

Don't really know any TS music, but gotta say that 4 album clock thing is pretty cool. Surprised even someone like beastie boys or alice cooper, jack white, didn't do it earlier.. Unless they did??

There are no specific US pressings I guess? I got 4 copies of each cover variant and they're either pressend in or Czech Republic.

I really like the old-school Republic logo in use here!

Which one is the better pressing for all versions : GZ (Czech Republic) or MPO () ?

Sad news for Canada - shipment to retail delayed to early week of the 23rd. If only Taylor were on a powerful label that knows about how to get product to stores on release day! Target exclusive with the three bonus tracks is exclusively available in Canada at Sunrise Records. There is a clean version of Midnights. For example, in Maroon, instead of singing "that's a real fucking legacy", Taylor sings that's a real LASTING legacy".

Big news: the artist has unveiled a bonus tracks version of the album twelve hours after the album dropped at midnight but these tracks are excluded from the vinyl pressing. Will we see a bonus disc surface eventually?

Waiting until the 3 am version will get the 3 additional tracks added 20+3=23. I refuse to buy duplicate albums.