Pop phenomenon Taylor swift has finally released her highly anticipated 10th studio album, Midnights, and emotions are running wild in the fanbase, and especially amongst Lancaster students.
Following Taylor Swift’s announcement of the new album Midnights on August 29th,fans have been waiting eagle-eyed as mysterious hints were dropped. Now the album is finally here, and it’s spectacular. Fans didn’t know what to expect as the album was released without a lead single but, now it’s here, we love Taylor’s return to pop, and how personal the album is.
Our hopes for these “13 stories of sleepless nights” to be like our own stories have come true. The album showcases Taylor’s achievements, and many students have been linking these songs to their own achievements of overcoming difficult times and enjoying the fun ones here at university. Good news to everyone with different tastes, as this record is the love child of every album the 11-time Grammy winner has ever released. A worldwide hit has just arrived!
This album is made in producer Jack Antonoff’s heartfelt style. Antonoff has also worked on producing Lana Del Rey’s music, who to my relief, is finally in collaboration with Taylor- featuring on “Snow on the Beach”, a sad-girl fan favourite.
This album seems to detail Taylor’s experiences with her insecurities, feelings of loneliness, and her battle to escape those thoughts as she continues to mature in the music industry. Perhaps because of these themes, many Lancaster University students feel that they can relate to the album, especially as “You’re on your Own, Kid” includes moving lyrics about loneliness and difficult friendships, things that appear to have appealed to students.
Members of Lancaster University’s Swift Society have claimed the album has “destroyed me in the best possible way”. Whilst the album becomes more uplifting, we can dance away initial feelings of loneliness through the fun of the new experiences that Taylor sings about- just like student life.
The new album suits all types of mega- Swifties and lesser-Swifties alike, the mixtures of genres fit all moods. This surprising cocktail of Taylor-Swift goodness is being celebrated across Twitter and even here on campus- where SwiftSoc are enjoying the album with cocktails of their own! The Midnights release party was in the works for a long time, and was a definite success, as 300 students attended Grizedale bar before painting the town with Swift-spirit.
Their opinions on this album are all- round high praise, where Sam “loved the dark synth pop vibes”, and Bethan was excited to see the return of pop-icon Taylor (which we have missed) and all of SwiftSoc agree that “every time we re-listen, we fall in love with a different song”. To celebrate, cocktails named after the song ‘Midnight Rain’ were on sale at Grizedale, and were as delicious as the album!
With everyone here on campus loving the album, Midnights is a milestone for Taylor and her progression into showing her true self whilst encouraging others to do the same- to be ‘Bejeweled’, and in response to this, SwiftSoc made sure to wear their most sparkly outfits for the event.
My top three songs are “Anti-Hero” “Question…?” and “Maroon”, each superb and backed by electronics and soothing guitars. Fans on Twitter are loving the rollercoaster of emotions on this album as it includes the iconic pop of 1989 and the revenge kick of Reputation. And the Twitter fans are certainly enjoying the variety of emotions that this album provides.
Within Taylor’s “Midnight Mayhem,” an event where she released the name of the album tracks one by one, she described the album as “personal stories of 13 sleepless nights, scattered throughout my life:” She went on to discuss how exciting it was to return to electronic pop following her previous two “Folklorian woods” albums, including the Grammy award-winning album, Folklore, and sister album, Evermore. This new synth- driven style smashes her previous stereotypes and I love it, hopefully the Grammys will too!
Midnights is available to stream now, so here’s to dancing, crying, having new experiences, and most importantly, happy listening! Thanks Taylor!
