It’s no surprise that the artist’s latest album was a smashing success. She’s Taylor Swift after all. On October 21, the singer and songwriter dropped Midnights, her first pop album since 2019. In its first week of release, 1,578,000 sales were made in the United States, which is the highest weekly total for an album in seven years. The records don’t stop just at sales. Billboard has stated that Midnights, which had 357 million authorized on-demand streams, has the highest streaming week of the year thus far.

According to Swift herself, the album captures “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life”. She revealed that five primary themes—self-loathing, fantasizing about revenge, wondering what might have been, falling in love, and falling apart—were what kept her up at night and served as the inspiration for her songs. She describes the collection of songs as “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams”. In my opinion, she couldn’t have described late nights any more perfectly. Our mind is a big empty space at night. When we’re exhausted and our minds are free to wander, we’re far more vulnerable to intrusive, bothersome thoughts. No matter if it’s positive or negative, we are too busy to think too deeply about it during the day. It’s only natural that we become more self-aware at night. Universally, it’s an experience all of us face. Swift has always been lyrically talented as she never fails to bring to light her raw intimate moments to her listeners.

One of my personal favorites is Snow on the Beach featuring Lana Del Rey. Swift describes it as a song about “falling in love with someone at the same time as they’re falling in love with you, sort of in this sort of cataclysmic, fated moment where you realize someone feels exactly the same way that you feel.” She explains that it’s similar to wondering whether it is truly reality or just a dream. She uses the paradox of snow falling on a beach to symbolically express the sensation. Only Swift could pull that off. I find it admirable that she was able to compare the feelings two lovers share to the absurdity of the idea of snow falling on a beach. I also absolutely adore the instrumentals. The addition further accentuates the hazy, dreamlike feeling. Though the only downside is that Lana Del Ray barely has a presence in the song, her vocals in the background supports Swift’s in a whimsical way.

I hope that was enough to persuade you to check out her album. Midnights is one of my all-time favorite albums by her. Even if you’re not a huge Taylor Swift fan, it won’t hurt you to give one of her songs a listen. Until you give it a shot, you won’t ever know. And to my fellow Swifties out there, how are her lyrics making you feel?