Taylor Swift goes dark on new album ‘Midnights’

Taylor Swift's "Midnights" arrived on Friday with out the singer having launched any singles from the album.
Beth Garrabrant

When you thought Taylor Swift was going to shake off the moody melancholy of “Folklore” and “Evermore” — the double dose of alluring alt-folkiness that she gave us in 2020 — suppose once more.

“Midnights” — the pop famous person’s much-anticipated new album that, after arriving on the stroke of midnight on Friday, will likely be protecting Swifties up all evening — is designed for the quiet of the darkish. Certainly, Swift’s tenth album — which comes virtually precisely 10 years after she started to make her play for pop dominance with 2012’s “Pink” — is a far grayer shade of the 32-year-old singer-songwriter.

And with much more subtleties than you would possibly count on from the artist who a decade in the past was singing “We Are By no means Ever Getting Again Collectively,” it’s an album that sneaks up on you somewhat than hitting you with the peppy punch that made her a pop powerhouse.

It’s a grower, not a bathe.

Taylor Swift’s tenth studio album, “Midnights,” arrived on Friday morning.

And absolutely solely an artist of Swift’s stature might count on her viewers to patiently await the payoffs right here. Now it is smart why she didn’t launch any singles from “Midnights” earlier than the LP. There's nothing approaching the type of slam-dunk singles that launched lots of her albums. And a few of it's downright downbeat.

“Meet me at midnight,” she begins on the opener “Lavender Haze,” which pulses with electro.

However issues get darker on tracks similar to “Maroon,” which finds Swift reflecting concerning the “the lips I used to name residence.”

Lana Del Rey seems on “Snow on the Seaside,” with its low-key magnificence, however you possibly can hear her affect all through the LP. In the meantime, there’s a Bon Iver-esque eeriness to “Midnight Rain.”

Taylor Swift can get downright downbeat on her new album “Midnights.”

“Midnights” positively will get a bit too sleepy at instances. However issues perk up some on “Karma,” one of many few immediately catchy cuts. 

“’Trigger karma is my boyfriend/Karma is a god,” Swift sings concerning the sweetest type of revenge.

And positively “Vigilante S—t” could have you questioning which considered one of her exes Swift is speaking about when she sings “Don’t get unhappy, get even.”