"Midnights" is Taylor Swift's perfect storm - Album Review

Two years after the astonishing release of 'evermore', the natural extension of its counterpart 'folklore' and the result of a long series of writing sessions between Taylor Swift and her collaborators, the West Reading singer-songwriter returns with her new studio effort.
Her latest LP, 'Midnights', isn't exactly groundbreaking in terms of content or sound, but it's certainly Swift's perfect storm. After the indie-folk interlude of 2020, which saw the American singer-songwriter collaborate with mega-producer Jack Antonoff and The National's Aaron Dessner, her new project mixes the sounds of at least three of her previous musical eras: there are the synths and eighties vibes of '1989', a Billie Eilish-like aftertaste that's pretty much a sonic reflection of 'Reputation', and the catchy pop choruses of 'Lover'. 
The artist's writing remains completely authentic, at times biting and romantic, capable of hitting you straight in the chest and transporting you into her mind with ease.

The album is a collection of thirteen tracks written amid those suffocating post-pandemic years. It's primarily about love, doubts, turmoil, fears, deep desires, drives, and even monsters.
'Anti-Hero', the first single off the LP, becomes the manifesto of the Millenial woman, whose real gems include 'Question…?', 'Lavander Haze' - co-written with Zoë Kravitz, a duet with Lana Del Rey on 'Snow On The Beach' and the syncopated 'Vigilante Shit'. 'Midnights' may not be the musician's most ambitious work, but it is certainly her most introspective, analytical, and mature.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift continues to break records. In Italy, she has recently topped the FIMI weekly best-selling Album and Vinyl Charts for the first time, making her the only international artist to top the Italian sales charts this year.

The album has already broken sales and streaming records worldwide. It became the most-played album of all time in its first twenty-four hours on Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music. The same goes for the video clips for the LP's first two singles, 'Anti-Hero' and 'Bejeweled', which have 35 million and 15 million views respectively on YouTube.
According to Billboard, the musician's tenth project - which has inevitably marked a decade of pop music - will be the best-selling album in the United States in 2022, where it has sold 1 million copies. It has also won the title of the best first week of sales for an album on American soil since 2017.
Impressive, isn't it? When it comes to Miss Taylor Swift, it's more a matter of certainty than anything else.



Words: Alessia Bisini 

Disclaimer: The original version of this album review appeared on the Italian publication HeyJude Magazine on Oct. 30th 2022.