By: Briana Taylor and Ekite Lew

At 12:00 a.m. on October 21st, Taylor Swift made her “return to pop” by releasing her 10th studio album, Midnights. Taylor has always thrived when writing about “her past experiences and her own internal tugs of war” (New York TImes). She is known for her songs on raw love and break ups, but in this album, Taylor enters into a new era of sound and intertwines complicated feelings with encouraging sayings into her lyrics. Rebelling against everything she’s ever created, she flashbacks to past romantic indignities, as well as pointedly and effectively reflecting on what it feels like to live as a deeply observed figure, constantly narrated by the world watching her.

Taylor’s Midnights has already earned more than 1.3 million in the U.S. the first four days of its release. Vinyl LP sales for the title have also surpassed 500,000. The album’s twenty songs have generated more than 357 million on-demand official streams, and three hours later, Taylor surprised everyone with an additional seven tracks, which can be found on her 3am. version. Now the biggest streaming week ever for a female artist’s album, Midnights has the largest sales week for any album, since her own Reputation album debuted, with 1.216 million copies sold. 

Since Taylor first started writing and singing songs, she has had a big influence on pop culture and the people who listen to her. With the anticipation leading up to her album release, many people had high expectations and were ready for a new and unique sound. After interviewing Apex High students, there were many mixed feelings. One ninth grader said, “I really like it… [the new album]; I like some of her old music better, but I feel like once I start to memorize the lyrics and hear it a lot, I will enjoy it.” After being asked if they had any expectations for the album, two eleventh grade girls responded, “I kind of expected it to be more hype then it was, a lot of the songs were much more chill. In her previous albums she had some more upbeat songs.” Antehea Phan, a junior, shares her opinions on the album saying, “I love it. I love it, I have been a Swiftie forever.” When asked if she had any expectations for the album, Phan responds, “No because she didn’t release a single, so I didn’t know what kind of music it was going to be. I saw it might be pop or rock and especially coming straight from evermore, it took me a while to get in to.” Hudson Magnani, ninth grade, says of the album, “I thought it was kind of basic; it sounds like every other Taylor Swift album.” 

Overall, Midnights, like every other Taylor Swift album, is both controversial and iconic. Taylor experiments with her sound using dark, cloudy, electrifying, lonely, and romantic emotions to captivate her audience. While her music doesn’t appeal to all audiences, everyone can agree that she is a musical genius.  Be sure to check out Midnights on all streaming platforms, including Spotify, iTunes, and Apple music.