Taylor Swift's Midnights one of the best releases of 2022

Posted Dec. 17, 2022

By Lily Beckham

Cub Reporter

Midnights (2022), Taylor Swift’s new album (co-written and produced by Jack Antonoff), has broken numerous records and is one of the best albums to be released this year. 

It features incredible lyricism, strong vocals, and catchy melodies. Because of this, it pushed Taylor Swift to be the first female artist to reach 35 billion streams. Within 24 hours of releasing the album, she broke the record for most streams of an album in a day, coming in at 228 million streams. Not only that, but the album took up 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 for more than a week after being released.

The album follows, according to Taylor, “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.” It’s about her struggles with anxiety and depression, her relationships, and her femininity. 

The record-breaking album did have its controversy, however. She released a music video for her song Anti Hero and it wasn’t well recieved, because of one scene. The scandalous scene was Taylor Swift in a bathroom, on a scale. When she steps on the scale, it reads, “fat.” People were outraged, calling her fatphobic and problematic. She never made a statement, and only took out the scene from the video. 

The album, other than that, has been met with overwhelming positivity. Many of its songs are trends on tiktok, and Anti Hero has been on the billboard top ten for 6 weeks since the release of the album. 

The impeccable lyricism of the album is a huge contributor to its popularity. Taylor’s lyrics are relatable and beautiful, filled with metaphors and references that make the listener think and process her songs. 

Taylor’s vocals stand out especially in the extended version of her album, in the song Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve. It’s a passionate piece about her anger towards the man she was in a relationship with as a young woman, and her voice conveys her emotion in such a way that conveys strength as well. Her voice shines in other songs on the album, such as Sweet Nothing, where her voice is soft and affectionate. Her ability to convey tone is remarkable.

Vigilante ****, another song on the album, isn’t as good as the other songs on the album. Taylor expresses her femininity and the song itself isn’t bad, it’s just not as good as the others. It’s a little too slow for what it was going for. The song is more for millennials than her teenage audience, which is probably why it wasn’t received well by some on social media. 

Taylor Swift announced her “Eras Tour” soon after the album was released. Tickets sold fast, and many fans didn’t get them. Tickets have gone for as much as $93,000 on resale sites.

Nonetheless, Midnights is an incredible album. It’s catchy and fresh, but most importantly it’s good music. Taylor swift raises the bar for lyricism in pop with everything she releases, as well as making fun, relatable music for everyone to enjoy.