“Midnights” is the tenth studio album by Taylor Swift. It was released on October 21st, 2022 through Republic Records. The album was originally released as 13 tracks but later extended to 20 tracks following the release of “Midnights (3am Edition)” released at 3 AM on the same day. It includes the highly anticipated feature “Snow On The Beach” with Lana Del Rey and co-writing and co-producing with Jack Antonoff. On release, the album broke dozens of records. It became the most streamed female album ever in a week and sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone after a week. The album marked the highest sales week for an album in 7 years and is Swift’s fifth album to sell over a million copies in one week alone. It was highly praised by fans and critics for being Swift’s authentic comeback to the pop music scene.

The album opens up with “Lavender Haze”, which can easily be argued as the best song on the album and potentially the best song of her career. It’s a banger that’s full of energy and such a feel-good song. The third track of the album is titled “Anti-Hero”, which is the first single from the album. Swift called it one of her favorite songs she’s ever written. It explores the insecurities she faces and her struggle with “being the problem.” Jumping to track eleven, “Karma,” it’s yet another strong highlight from this album. It personifies karma, with the lyric ‘”Cause karma is my boyfriend, Karma is a god, Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend.” While many believe this song is about her complications with Kanye West and Scooter Braun, the song can be interpreted in anyway. Throughout this album, Swift explores themes like self-loathing and insecurity, insomnia, and fantasizing about revenge. She manages to blend in the best production of her career with lyrics discussing these themes and has us confused on whether we want to relax, cry, or dance. The dreaminess of songs like “Labyrinth”, “Snow On The Beach”, and “Bigger Than The Whole Sky” is something that feels like Taylor has been seeking for years and is only perfecting it as she goes. A good bit of the deluxe tracks on this album might just be better than some of the standard tracks. These include “The Great War”, “Glitch”, and “Paris”. What’s so lovable about these three songs is that they all feel like a mixture of her previous albums lyrically and sonically, so they create such a nostalgic feel while actually being so great at the same time.

As an entire body of work, “Midnights” is so, so good. Not a single track on this album exists where it doesn’t deserve to be listened all the way through without being skipped. And with each listen, this album becomes better and better. This album just might be the best record Swift has ever come out with during her 16-year-long career. Unlike many artists who are 16 or even less years into their career, Taylor constantly evolves as an artist and does it flawlessly in which some of her peers just can’t relate to.