The atmosphericSnow on the Beach,featuring Lana Del Rey,bridges the worlds between electronica and Swift’s more recent folk-driven sound.
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The key track here,tapping into the same synth-pop aesthetic,is the infectiousAnti-Hero,which is the frankest Swift has ever been,lyrically,about her insecurities and mental health struggles,explicitly naming depression and describing depersonalisation. There are some odd lyrics (bafflingly,“sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby”),but it’s a plunge into a state of mind we’ve previously not been wholly privy to. The closest she’s gotten before is the hugely underratedAfterglow.
As the song continues,Swift sounds more and more exhausted each time she repeats the chorus’ main line – “it’s me,hi,I’m the problem,it’s me” – and her stark confessions verge on paranoia (“I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money”). That line draws to mindevermore’s cringey murder fantasyNo Body No Crime,but it’s executed much more successfully here as Swift draws upon hallucinations and anxieties that are born from fear.
While the darkness works a treat here,it doesn’t always land as evenly across the record – while musically interesting,Vigilante Shit lyrically tries too hard,harking back to Swift’s best-forgottenReputation era.
But there’s also a hefty (and welcome) dose of attitude and humour throughout,from the relatable “How’d we end up on the floor anyway?”/ “Your roommate’s cheap-ass screw top rosé,that’s how” to singing about “some dickhead guy” or “f---ing politics and gender roles” (Question…?).
Swift challenges misogynistic mores,too. OnLavender Haze she acidly observes,“The only kinda girl they see/is a one night or a wife”.
Ever since dropping her first F-bomb onfolklore,Swift is letting them fly thick and fast,adding a righteous sense of fury and passion.
There’s a real sense of pushback that can only really come with the wisdom of age and experience.
A great strength of this record is the way in which it shows different sides of Swift’s songwriting and her willingness to continue to try new things over a decade into her storied career. A particular highlight isSweet Nothing,which Swift co-wrote with her romantic partner Joe Alwyn (credited as William Bowery).
It’s a change of tack for Swift,tapping more into a bedroom pop aesthetic as she speak-sings over a simple Moog synthesiser,a gentle saxophone line intermittently cutting through.
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OnMidnight Rain, she pitches her own voice down and autotunes it to create another,unrecognisable layer,dancing with herself;the dreamyLabyrinth, which comes from the same school asfolklore highlightMirrorball, sees her leap up in the other direction,showing off the purity of her higher register.
Swift promised thatMidnights was “for all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe,when the clock strikes 12 ... we’ll meet ourselves”. There’s a self-discovery within this record that feels incredibly satisfying to bear witness to,and it doesn’t hurt that the songs,clever and eclectic,get more addictive with each listen.
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