Midnights by Taylor Swift Release: Lyric Interpretation and Recent Drama 

After Taylor Swift won the 2022 MTV Music Award for her short film "All Too Well," she announced in her acceptance speech that her new album would be released October 21, at midnight. The words that her fans, Swifities, around the world dream of. After her most recent album release, a rendition of her original 2012 album Red, we haven't gotten any new content from Taylor since. Although we can't complain after the albums Folklore and Evermore in 2020 that gave us plenty of Taylor content to survive off of. Taylor later revealed that along with the drop of her new album Midnights (at midnight) there would be a surprise release at 3 a.m. 

Midnights contains 13 songs including “Lavender Haze”, “Maroon”, “Anti-Hero”, “Snow on the Beach” (Feat. Lana Del Ray), “You’re on Your Own, Kid”, “Midnight Rain”, “Question…?”, “Vigilante S**t”, “Bejeweled”, “Labyrinth”, “Karma”, “Sweet Nothing”, and “Mastermind”. Then, at 3 a.m., she surprised fans with the release of Midnights: 3am Edition which included 7 new tracks including, “The Great War'', “Bigger Than The Whole Sky”, “Paris”, “High Infidelity”, “Glitch”, “Would’ve, Could've, Should’ve”, and “Dear Reader”. If you were barely staying afloat before with Taylor content, you're officially drowning. 

Every album release by Taylor marks an “era” in Taylor's life/career and hints found in lyrics revolving around recent drama that includes Taylor can be found in each album. This is prevalent in albums such as “Red” after her public breakup with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, “Reputation” after fans turned against her, and “Lover” after getting together with Joe Alwyn, her current finance. So what era is Midnights?

Her Happiness with Joe 

In songs such as “Lavender Haze”, “Sweet Nothing”, and “Mastermind” it is clear the lyrics are revolving around her love for her recent fiance, Joe Alwyn. For example in “Lavender Haze” she sings, “I was under scrutiny / You handle it beautifully / All of this is new to me”. This can represent Taylor dealing with hate or drama from the press and Joe providing comfort and support towards her. Then the lyric “All of this is new to me” can stand for the fact this is the first healthy relationship she's been in, or the fact that their romance is fairly new. 

In “Sweet Nothing” Taylor sings, “They said the end was coming / Everyone's up to Something / I Find myself running home to your / Sweet nothings”. This beautifully represents, once again, Taylor dealing with the stress of her life and current events in the media, but how around Joe she seems to forget all of this and surrounds herself in his “Nothings". Lastly in “Mastermind” Taylor sings, “What if I told you I'm a mastermind? / And now your mine / It was all by design / ‘Cause im a mastermind”. These lyrics simply represent how she was the first one to be interested in Joe, and she made sure they would get together. Her happiness with Joe stands for a huge part in the era that is Midnights. 

Past Drama

Going from happy-in-love-Taylor to tracks such as “Vigilante S**t”  and ''Karma” is a drastic jump. So if we know they're not about Joe, who are they about? It is commonly believed among Swifties that when Taylor sings lyrics such as “Don't get sad / Get even” and “Lately I've been dressing for revenge” she's referring to drama with entertainment executive Scooter Braun.

Since the beginning of her career, Taylor has had a record deal with a company called Big Machine Records. However, after Big Machine Records sold their company to Scooter Braun, this gave  him the rights to all of Taylor's early albums for a price of 300 million dollars. Because of his “incessant, manipulative bullying” as Taylor on Good Morning America, she re-recorded her albums so she maintains the rights of them. She also stated that because he owns the rights to the music, this prevented Taylor from being able to perform any of the music from her own back catalog. These Reputation-ish songs on Midnights represent Taylor standing up for herself among the men trying to control her and her music. 

Recent Drama 

In today's “cancel culture'' society, it's almost assumed that with the release of new content, the media will find something to complain about. Taylor's album was highly anticipated among fans and after Taylor's groundbreaking previous success, expectations are naturally very high. 

Immediately after the release of the track featuring beloved artist Lana Del Ray, fans became extremely disappointed with the inability to even hear Lana in the song. Some fans believe that Lana being faintly in the background is the perfect amount, and some think that you can't hear Lana because her voice blends so well with Taylor's. However, Lana’s part in the song is undeniably small, and this was very disappointing to many fans. 

After the release of the track “Anti-Hero” Taylor came out with a music video rendition including stars such as Mike Birbiglia, John Early, and Mary Elizabeth Ellis. Unlike her songs about Joe and Scooter Braun, “Anti-Hero” is about Taylor's insecurities and own self-hatred. This is represented in lyrics such as, “It's me, hi / I'm the problem it's me” in the chorus. In the music video, she had a version of herself tormenting her throughout it. She tackles issues such as depression and an eating disorder, issues Taylor came out about her struggle with in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana. Controversy ensues when Taylor steps on a scale in her music video and the evil version of herself looks at the scale reading the word “fat” and shakes her head towards Taylor. Major backlash came out in the media with fans saying she gave the word “fat” a negative context and made it clear it's not okay to be overweight. Even though some fans took Taylor’s side stating she was simply representing her own struggles with an eating disorder, Taylor removed the clip from the music video. 

Taylor Swift's Midnights  has already shattered records and received an immense amount of success. It marks the era of her transitioning into the chapter of her life with Joe, highlights issues she still struggles with that people around the world can relate to, and stands for her taking control of her music career. Taylor matches expectations with every album release and even exceeds them time and time again. 

Now that you're finally swimming in the Taylor drama and content, she has just released dates for her new tour she's calling her “Eras” tour celebrating her journey through every musical era she's been through. This monumental event will come to stadiums around the U.S. March 18, 2023. Here's a life jacket to save you from drowning!