As noted by the album’s Apple Music page: ‘Alongside long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, she’s set out here to tell “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life”’.

‘Midnight’ follows the current trend of 80s influenced projects with a unique Taylor Swift flavour and emotional resonance. The ‘3AM edition‘ adds an additional seven tracks, removing fan favourite ‘Meet Me At Midnight‘ and filling the track list with gems such as ‘The Great War‘, ‘Bigger than The Whole Sky’, ‘High Infidelity‘, ‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve‘ and ‘Dear Reader‘. Creating a robust repertoire to walk her into this new era of her career.

Song-writing being Swift’s forte, ‘Midnight’ sees Taylor Swift at her strongest, as she delves into her craft to unveil a vulnerable recollection of emotional turmoil, late-night introspective reflections and insight into momentary life encounters that pass instantaneously yet last a lifetime. 

‘You’re On Your Own, Kid‘ is the track that brings Taylor’s penmanship to the forefront, a recollection of a young woman deeply devoted to a summer lover who pays no care, in a town she wishes to escape but feels too alone to do so. On the surface the track produced by Antonoff delivers itself as a simple back-runner for Swift’s vocal presence and story-telling – a subtly growing synth chord-progression that never seems to reach a climax, as if restrained. As the track progresses the drums progressively get louder and take centre stage. Elevating the emotional tension as Taylor starts breaking through and realising ‘You’ve got no reason to be afraid; You’re on your own, kid; Yeah, you can face this’ – A midnight power ballad.

Taylor Swift seemingly takes a page from Lana Del Rey’s musical book for this album; the influences clear in the warm, low-tempo sound that forms a hauntingly beautiful world of memories. A glimpse of this world shown on ‘Snow on The Beach‘ which features the iconic Lana Del Rey. The outstanding production by Jack Antonoff creates a beautiful blend between both the power-house artists’ styles and musical language. As Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey harmonise, a real connection is achieved through delivering a singular message of reflection, as if the two shared the exact same moment – magical. The lyrics; ‘Now it’s like snow at the beach; Weird, but it was beautiful‘,  coupled with the subtle movement of the violins serenade the listener into a midnight dream of a past lover.

‘Labyrinth’, ‘Midnight Rain‘ and ‘Dear Reader‘ stand out as in-depth messages embedded into simplistically delicate production. Creating space for the listener to stare into the depths of the dark midnight sky, grapple with their innermost troubles or daily situations and know that they are not facing them alone – someone else has been through this, and got through it.

‘Midnight’ proves exactly why Taylor Swift is a prominent figure in the musical world – from a cohesive project that creates its own atmosphere, each track adding elements never detracting from the core aesthetic or memoir scribblings, to the pin-point near-perfect production by Jack Antonoff, this project will be hailed as a modern-classic in the Swift repertoire.