Taylor Swift, the popular singer/songwriter, has just released her tenth album Midnights.  This collection takes us on a journey that Taylor Swift describes on her most recent Instagram post as, “… a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour.”

This album is a mixture of all different types of music, with stories that truly encapsulate the experiences of the artist. From her prior relationships, hardships she has gone through in her past, and the empowering messages beneath the surface; Midnights is unlike anything we have ever seen before. 

Midnights was first announced at the 2022 MTV Music Awards and fans were ecstatic, thus began the search for clues.                                                                                                                   

Swift is notorious for leaving hidden messages and meanings in everything she does. For example the prediction of the album Lover hidden amidst a music video, hiding different song lyrics in CD booklets, and so on. Swift’s fanbase, or designated “Swifties”, are no strangers to a good egg hunt. While featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Swift said, “there is a PDF for the easter eggs in the “Anti-hero” music video” which was released at 8 am on the 21st. 

The various easter eggs that inhabit “Anti-hero” relate past through future for Swift. One shot in the video portrays two ghosts dressed in cowboy hats, reflecting her past as a country singer. Along with this, Swift has someone shoot an arrow at her, a reference to her song ‘The Archer’. The most classic easter egg left by Swift is the methodical incorporation of her favorite number, 13, throughout the video. 

Hours before ‘Midnights’ was released she announced that she would be on during Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football Game to show a sneak peek of her future projects. Millions of fans tuned into the game in anticipation for the star’s surprise; which featured a 90 second clip of her music video ‘Anti-Hero’ along with glimpses of other projects to come.

Excitement about Swifts new release also took over UNE’s Yik Yak, an anonymous messaging app used by college students. At midnight on the 21st Yik Yak was flooded with Swifties talking about the album and discussing their opinions with one another following the release. It all began with the anonymous message, “Taylor Swift’s album just dropped, the world has instantly gotten better.”

Recently, she became the first person ever to occupy the entire top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. Not only did she accomplish this, but she is the female artist with the most top 10 hits in Billboard history. Swift has broken history with both Midnights, and her entire music career.

On November 1st, Swift announced a new tour and fans are ecstatic. She’ll be performing in states from California to Massachusetts through the dates of March 13th to August 5th. Swift hasn’t done a tour since the world renowned “Reputation Tour” in 2018. Since then she has released 4 new albums, Lover, Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights, and 2 re-recorded albums which she calls Taylor’s Version. 

Taylor’s Version is the re-recording of an album so she can legally owns their masters, the song’s original recordings, which are currently owned by her old label. So far she has released Red (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version), but will hopefully be releasing the other 4 soon. This is truly an inspiring and important move for her. Swift said on February 11th 2021 in an Instagram post regarding the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), “Artists should own their own work for so many reasons.”

Taylor Swift encapsulates the role model for anyone who wishes to make history and inspire many. She will persevere in the fight to own her work and create pieces of music that the world undoubtedly needs to hear. For not only is she a singer, but the true embodiment of an artist.

My Ranking of Midnights:

1. “Mastermind”                                11.  “Bejeweled”   
2. “You’re On Your Own Kid”         12.  “Snow On The Beach”
3. “Vigilante Shit”                              13.  “Glitch”
4. “Question…?”                                 14.  “High Infidelity”   
5. “Anti-Hero”                                    15.  “Paris”
6. “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve”  16.  “The Great War”
7. “Midnight Rain”                             17.  “Sweet Nothing”
8. “Maroon”                                         18.  “Karma”
9. “Dear Reader”                                 19.  “Labyrinth”
10. “Bigger Than The Whole Sky”     20.  “Lavender Haze”