Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift's DJ ex Calvin Harris wasn't spared on her 'Midnights' album, it seems. Here's what 'High Infidelity' says about their relationship and ...

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). Taylor is used to being treated a certain way.” One more reason why it may not have been a shock for Swift? The breakup “wasn’t a shock” for Swift, a source said, noting their ongoing issues. On how he felt about Hiddleston, Swift’s new boyfriend at the time, Harris wrote, “not jealous, sir, FREE.” He notably agreed with [one fan’s comment](https://65.media.tumblr.com/d1557a77bb5bb7b1e3cdefe7b422e9cb/tumblr_o98wwpus4k1qd3quqo1_500.jpg) that “for all we know Taylor broke up with him to be with another man and that is quite upsetting. On April 29, 2016, Swift was in New York City rather than with Harris promoting their song “This Is What You Came For,” which had come out that day. Harris “Adam [Harris’ real name] has been bored for a while and was hoping the spark would come back but it hasn’t,” the source said. At the time of Swift and Harris’ breakup, sources made it clear that Harris had trouble with Swift’s level of fame and bigger career—perhaps what “your picket fences is sharp as knives” references. She felt like he wasn’t taking it seriously enough and wouldn’t come through for her when she needed him most.” Here, take them in with contextual annotations, and listen to the song below, too. [credited under a songwriter pseudonym](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a37769/calvin-harris-taylor-swift-this-is-what-you-came-for-tweets/), adding fuel to some controversy later. [DJ ex Calvin Harris](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a37769/calvin-harris-taylor-swift-this-is-what-you-came-for-tweets/) wasn’t spared on her Midnights album, it seems.

Picture of Taylor Swift greeting fans. Wesley Lapointe / Getty; The Atlantic. October 21, 2022. Share. Taylor ...

And the thing that got people excited in the music industry is more people saw him in Fortnite than would see him in a real-life concert. So it’s not a virtual world, but it’s a virtual community. And it’s not real time, in the sense of people hanging out in the same space. But because they don’t have avatars and they’re not meeting in a virtual space, it’s not technically a metaverse? Are Swifties actually living more of a true metaverse experience than the people using that platform? But the virtual community has to be as strong as the technology piece. In the book, Stephenson even mentions that it’s mostly just the wealthy who use VR headsets, and regular folks just use a regular computer. Au: Well, the fact that she’s created this kind of virtual office for herself, that’s—let’s call it metaverse-ish, especially if she ends up using it somehow in the future. It looks like it could be something out of The Sims or something. She has, in a way, created a virtual universe in which fans can experience the launch. That’s another thing that drives me crazy: the assumption that it has to be in VR. He is currently writing a book called [Why the Metaverse Matters](https://venturebeat.com/games/wagner-james-au-will-tell-us-why-the-metaverse-matters-in-a-book/).

The singer-songwriter's 10th studio album returns to the pop sound she left in 2019, and explores a familiar subject: how she is perceived, and how she ...

[rerecordings of her old albums](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/arts/music/taylor-swift-rerecord-albums.html), an offshoot of the ownership battles spurred by the sale of her old masters. There are songs on “Midnights” — “Midnight Rain,” “Lavender Haze” — that suggest an awareness of the ways Drake and the Weeknd have deployed overcast mood in their vocal and musical production, though she rarely commits. Of the new songs, only “Glitch” and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” aren’t subtractive.) Which all prompts the question of where Swift might go as a midcareer pop star, if she were to pivot once more. “Midnights” feels like a sonic place holder, with stadiums in mind. The fleet, breezy and lightly damp “Lavender Haze” includes some sweet singing, though it feels overly reminiscent of the thumping digital folk of Maggie Rogers’s [Jack Antonoff](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/arts/music/jack-antonoff-bleachers-lorde-interview.html), constrains her voice. Throughout the album, on songs like “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “Maroon,” Swift’s vocals are stacked together to the point of suffocation. “Snow on the Beach,” a collaboration with fellow Great American Songwriter Lana Del Rey, begins with light Christmas music energy and never really ascends. But she also thrives when writing about “Taylor Swift” — the idea, the metanarrative, the character. “Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism, like some kind of congressman?” Swift muses on “Anti-Hero,” an eerily shimmering Kate Bush-esque number that’s one of the album’s high points. [Taylor Swift](https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/taylor-swift) has always been at her best when writing about Taylor Swift — she is diaristically pinpoint, a ruthless excavator of her own internal tugs of war.

From “Anti-Hero” to “Snow On The Beach” to “Midnight Rain.”

Haters and skeptics still doubt the merits of Swift and Alwyn’s relationship, but “Sweet Nothing” enters like a gentle salve to the chatter. Though she’s “lost in the labyrinth of my mind,” Swift’s lover wants to pull her out of her late-night dark thoughts and into a happier place, if only she can surrender to the feeling. For the most wholesome song on Midnights, look to “Sweet Nothing,” the record’s penultimate song written jointly by Swift and Joe Alwyn. Like the album as a whole, "Could've, Should've, Would've" is a deep dive on Swift's psyche as a whole, rather than the immediacy of a fleeting feeling which she's done so expertly in the past (see: "Enchanted"). It’s all built around the core realization that “All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing,” a quality that’s invaluable when dallying in the arena of celebrity love and dating. On the opposite side of the “Anti-Hero” coin, “Bejeweled” is a self-love anthem in which Swift confidently takes her power back from someone (or someones) who either didn’t deserve it or took it for granted. Swift is a master at the slow build, and she executes a brilliant one on “Question…?,” a song that gently erupts in its own chaos. “Labyrinth” is a slow-burn ballad about the rush of falling in love quickly. It’s a marker that the “Red” singer has finally grown up, and that the red of her youth has finally crusted over into something darker. In some ways, it’s another callback to her earlier songs, as she reflects on the towns full of “pageant queens and big pretenders” she sang about on country albums like Fearless, and refers to the subject of the song as “my boy.” Now grown up, Swift is peering back in time at the “life [she] gave away,” and at the person she “never thinks of, except on midnights like this.” —CV What starts off as an innocent interrogation from a “good girl” to a “sad boy” quickly spins out of control as real intentions surface: “And what's that that I heard? “He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain/He wanted a bride, I was making my own name,” the chorus intones with distorted, pitched down vocals.

Vigilante Shit,” off Taylor Swift's new album 'Midnights,' is Swift once again wielding her pen to settle scores. This time, she targets Scooter Braun in a ...

[A half-hearted statement](https://www.vulture.com/2022/09/scooter-braun-taylor-swift-masters-regret.html) about his “regret” around the deal.) The fight over her masters had already been a winning issue: Swift came in exponentially more famous and beloved than Braun, [her rerecordings have only made her more so](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-rerecorded-albums-which-album-is-next.html), and the idea that an artist should own her music adds up logically and morally. [ she wrote alone](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-song-writers-credits-zoe-kravitz.html), Swift is at her venomous best. On “Vigilante Shit,” the only song on Midnights that She’s skeptical, almost mocking, when she sings, “Ladies always rise above,” in the bridge, but at the same time, that’s her attitude here. It’s a signature Swift earworm, but it’s also a motto for her celebrity. Elsewhere, she surveys the fallout from her claim on “mad woman” that [Braun, now divorced](https://www.vulture.com/2021/07/scooter-braun-divorcing-wife-yael-cohen.html), is a cheat. “Draw the cat eyes sharp enough to kill a man,” she sings, and then adds a few lines later, “They say looks can kill, and I might try.” She’s past the reflections of “mad woman” and onto throwing barbs. She’s not rising above the drama, but she is carrying herself as the winner. [Midnights, Swift’s tenth album](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-album-stream.html). “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace / ’Cause when I’d fight, you used to tell me I was brave,” Swift sang on “my tears ricochet,” seemingly to Scott Borchetta, her former champion who first signed a teenage Swift to his Big Machine label before later overseeing the sale of her catalogue to her chief nemesis, Scooter Braun. The provocatively titled “Vigilante Shit” seems to revisit [the Braun-Borchetta drama](https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/taylor-swift-scooter-braun-and-borchetta-feud-explained.html) head-on while also returning to the scorekeeping, revenge-seeking Swift we thought we might have seen the last of during folklore and evermore. Swift’s message to Braun, though, was even clearer: “I’m takin’ my time / Takin’ my time / ’Cause you took everything from me,” she sang on “mad woman.” Still, these songs were cloaked in the fictional haze of that era, far from a direct response.

Taylor Swift has released her 10th album, Midnights, after weeks of hints. The 13-track album includes “Snow On the Beach,” which features Lana del Rey, ...

Swift appears in the [songwriting credits](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-song-writers-credits-zoe-kravitz.html) for every song on Midnights and teamed up with [minion](https://www.vulture.com/2022/05/diana-ross-tame-impala-minions-soundtrack.html)/collaborator Jack Antonoff for most of the album. Swift has sorted her discography into [three different vibes](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-fountain-quill-glitter-gel-pen-playlists-apple-music.html): fountain pen, quill pen, and glitter-gel pen. Over the past two months, she revealed her track-list titles through [surprisingly straightforward TikToks](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-introducing-midnights-track-names-on-tiktok.html). [Midnights](http://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-theories-clues-tiktok.html) o’clock. [Described](https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1564100815069106176/photo/2) by the singer as “a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” Midnights was first [announced](https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/taylor-swift-new-album-release-date.html) during Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards in August. After a monthslong wait, [Taylor Swift](https://www.vulture.com/article/all-taylor-swift-songs-ranked-from-worst-to-best.html) has dropped her tenth studio album.

Taylor Swift revealed very little about her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” before it was released on Friday – she didn't sit for any interviews and just ...

In “Anti-Hero,” that honor went to the line, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby / And I’m a monster on the hill.” This was a new level of candor from an album that, as [multiple critics](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/taylor-swift-review-midnights-lyrics-b2207166.html) agreed in [early reviews](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/taylor-swift-midnights-1234611211/), was pretty dark music for Swift. “I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror. “Not to sound too dark, but, like, I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person.” But you know, this song really is a real guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself. [usual cryptic hints](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/10/20/taylor-swift-midnights-easter-eggs/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2) about what fans could expect.

Taylor Swift has released seven extra songs to coincide with a surprise special edition of her latest album 'Midnights'.

I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour. The pop icon shared a link to stream the special edition album and further explained the concept: "I'm calling them 3am tracks. The 'Anti-Hero' songstress wrote: "Surprise!

Critics praise the "fantastic songs" on Midnights, but some add there is "not a smash hit in sight".

On the twinkly Bejeweled she announces that she's "going out tonight", but the beats remain sleepy and sluggish. Swift's always as elusive as she is allusive." Swift is currently gearing up for a busy few months. Otherwise Midnights sounds ready for bed." All the while she keeps things just cryptic enough to keep the tension crackling and the speculation buzzing. But it also sees her re-engage her pop sensibilities, with lyrics that explore more personal subject matters. "As Swift has returned to her archive for to undertake the project of re-recording her previous albums, it's clear slipping back into her past self has unlocked something brilliant and fresh in her songwriting," she wrote. "The subtle melodies of Midnights take time to sink their claws in," she added. "But Swift's feline vocal stealth and assured lyrical control ensure she keeps your attention. [the Guardian's Alexis Petridis said](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/21/taylor-swift-midnights-review-small-hours-pop-rich-with-self-loathing-and-stereotype-smashing) Midnights "delivers her firmly from what she called the 'folklorian woods' of her last two albums back to electronic pop". Midnights is the 32-year-old's first original album in two years and sees her return to a more mainstream sound than the more muted, acoustic tone of her previous two albums. The Guardian said Midnights is a "cool, collected and mature" record which is "packed with fantastic songs".

Utah Governor Spencer Cox, pro soccer player Alex Morgan and others tweeted about Taylor Swift's “Midnights” album.

“do you and your loved ones have an emergency plan in case taylor surprise-announces a tour? do you and your loved ones have an emergency plan in case taylor surprise-announces a tour? “Liz Truss has just resigned so she can listen to midnights in full tomorrow without the pressure of being prime minister. [tweeted](https://twitter.com/emilyfavreau/status/1583288380237832192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1583288380237832192%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=about%3Asrcdoc). She didn’t need to capture those long nights, but that insomnia has made her discography, and legacy, all the richer.” [tweeted](https://twitter.com/sci_swiftie/status/1583074774648967168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1583074774648967168%7Ctwgr%5E6d3d3f4d6b1f5c70451c782417aee8a5c1d4d25a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fsci_swiftie2Fstatus2F1583074774648967168widget%3DTweet). Friday morning only saying “Special very chaotic surprise”. It offers a laid-back feel while still including catchy lines the artist has become known for. So it’s 3am and I’m giving them to you now. I’m calling them 3am tracks. It was more new music. Swift dominated social media discourse Thursday night landing the top spot for trending topics on Twitter and the No.

Thousands of users reported problems accessing Spotify, just minutes after pop star Taylor Swift's latest album Midnights was released.

“Spotify” was trending number two, with many users venting about the reported outage. In August, HBO Max was overwhelmed by users flocking to the service after the debut of the Game of Thrones prequel. As many as 7 844 outages were reported by users across the global monitoring service Downdetector at 1.10am New York time after Spotify tweeted about the new album.

This woman is such a huge Taylor Swift fan that she even mentioned the superstar in her vows during her wedding. She also banned any other music from being ...

"The only music allowed in my bridal suite was Taylor Swift and I'm not even joking with you. "I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. I was like, 'I'm sorry, back to Taylor Swift," she added. In my heart, I truly don't believe there's a more Taylor Swift date than August 13th 2022." In an interview with

U.S. music superstar Taylor Swift released her 10th studio album "Midnights" on Friday, as well as additional tracks made during the record making process.

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Ranking the swearist lines in Taylor Swift's new album Midnights which contains some of her strongest curse words including shit, fuck, damn, and cheap-ass.

The lean-back rhythm of her patter here is Taylor trying on her most world-weary “I’m washed” posture on the album. Taylor puts a “fuckin’” right in the center of this album’s biggest singsong pop chorus, pacing out words like a metronome so that she has to hit both syllables of “fuck-in” hard (and, yes, there’s no “g”). Okay, now we’re fucking — though, really, we’re only fuckin’ because Taylor is resistant to ever pronouncing the “g” at the end of the word. [inspired by Mad Men](https://www.nme.com/news/music/taylor-swift-reveals-mad-men-inspiration-behind-midnights-track-lavender-haze-3327307) (a show that is primarily set in the ’60s, but whatever), which puts Taylor in the position of a sort of Betty Draper raging against the feminist mystique or something. She’s easing up to the bolder swears later on in the album. And for all of her use of “fucking,” she tends to only use swears as intensifiers, not as descriptors of actually explicit acts.

Taylor Swift's brand new album Midnights was released today (October 21) and fans are obsessed with the eighth song Vigilant S**t.

This has to be one of her best works yet.” I don’t dress for friends And I don’t dress for villains Lately I’ve been dressing for revenge I don’t dress for men I don’t dress for women

The singer-songwriter's 10th studio album is a return to the pop pipeline, with production from her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff.

Target, which has had a long relationship with Swift, has its own exclusive LP version (on “lavender” vinyl) as well as a CD with three exclusive tracks. The most ingenious or shameless part — take your pick — of Swift’s vinyl strategy is what she has done with the back covers. In a sense, “Midnights” is Swift’s return to the pop pipeline after her digressions of the past couple of years. Swift is releasing four standard versions of “Midnights” on vinyl, each with its own disc color and cover art; they also correspond to four variant CD versions. Swift’s friendship with Kravitz, as fans know, is close enough that she once acted as an [uncredited assistant](https://wwd.com/business-news/media/nyt-great-performers-2020-list-tv-tiktok-michaela-coel-sarah-cooper-1234672957/) on a pandemic-era remote photo shoot of Kravitz for The New York Times Magazine. [kitschy videos](https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorswift/video/7147533441326648618?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1) on TikTok that revealed song titles, one at time, taken from Ping-Pong balls in a basket, as if on a decades-old local TV spot. [making an album with Antonoff](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a39035654/zoe-kravitz-interview-march-2022/), is listed as one of the six songwriters of the first track, “Lavender Haze,” alongside Swift, Antonoff, Mark Anthony Spears (a.k.a. But an important factor in the sales and chart prospects for “Midnights” may be Swift’s embrace of physical music formats like CDs and vinyl LPs, which, because of the way Billboard crunches data about how music is consumed, can have a major impact on chart positions. Swift’s marketing this time has involved a series of “I find myself running home to your sweet nothings.” “Folklore” won The marbled vinyl has been pressed and sorted into collectible variants.

In the lead-up to the release of “Midnights,” Taylor Swift herself said this 10th record of hers was inspired by haunting late-night thoughts and, ...

(Laura Dern, the Haim sisters and Swift wrote and directed the video, which follows a Swift tortured by monsters like ghosts, bathroom scales and judgey people at parties. There is a moment of silliness about midway through, after a verse in which Swift sings about a dream she had about a future daughter-in-law who kills her for money, but Swift left her out of her will.

The first of Taylor Swift's Midnights' music videos is here, just 8 hours after the album's release. True to her schedule, Swift released “Anti-Hero” at 8 ...

“When I was 15 and putting together my first album, I wanted to recreate the experience I used to have for my fans in a reimagined approach. “I thought that I was supposed to feel like I was going to pass out at the end of a show, or in the middle of it,” she said in the film. [said in her Miss Americana documentary](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a30652074/taylor-swift-overcoming-eating-disorder/), “[Although] it’s only happened a few times, and I’m not in any way proud of it,” there have been times in the past when Swift has seen “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or…someone said that I looked pregnant…and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit—just stop eating.” She added that the eating disorder affected her on her 1989 tour. True to [her schedule](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a41647575/taylor-swift-midnights-release-week-schedule-spoilers/), Swift released the [“Anti-Hero”](https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a41727143/taylor-swift-anti-hero-lyrics-meaning-joe-alwyn/) visuals at 8 A.M. The Chicks ‘Fly’ album was my favorite because their photos depicted all the meanings of the word ‘fly’ in very theatrical ways.” The song, which [explores one of the album's themes, “self-loathing,”](https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a41013043/taylor-swift-midnights-album-release-date-news-singles-tour/) pits Swift against her own dark side.

Her 10th album is a culmination of 16 years in the spotlight, and Taylor Swift leaves nothing unsaid.

Like a knife to the gut, “Anti-Hero” is an instant self-hate anthem for the ages. Swift is cut open, bleeding to the world in this song, proclaiming herself a “monster” in a sea of “sexy babies” (it makes sense, trust us). I’m the problem, it’s me”

On the heels of her highly anticipated album 'Midnights' and the world premiere of her new music video for “Anti-Hero,” fans around the world can now visit ...

Swift also has five music videos in YouTube’s Billion Views Club, two of which (“ [Shake It Off](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM)” and “ [Blank Space](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg)”) are part of a small group of videos to have crossed the 3 billion views mark. For the first time ever, Swift is inviting her fans around the world to share their anti-heroic traits to the soundtrack of the newly released track, “ [Anti-Hero](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1kbLwvqugk),” only on YouTube Shorts. Her music has charted on YouTube’s Top Songs chart in over 50 markets, and her recent release of [“All Too Well [10 Minute Version] (Taylor’s Version)”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tollGa3S0o8) peaked at #1 on the Global and US charts. Once you’re ready, head over to YouTube Shorts to start your own #TSAntiHeroChallenge creation and follow these simple steps: An anti-heroic trait could be as simple as always grabbing the last slice of pizza, clapping at the end of movies, always putting your feet on the car dashboard, using the same word to start your daily Wordle, leaving your clean laundry in the basket until the next time you do it, pretending you didn’t already watch the next episode of the series you watch with your pals, or even treating your cat like a human. The #TSAntiHeroChallenge is inspired by one of Swift’s favorite songs ever written, track #3 on her new album.

Swift has confirmed that each of the songs on her new album are inspired by her own life, leading some fans to interpret the track “Maroon” as a revisiting ...

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). The song also seems to touch on another theme Swift teased as inspiration for Midnights: “Wondering what might have been.” (This week marks the 10 year anniversary of the 2012 album, and maroon is a darker shade of red after all.)

The “3am tracks” are “songs [Swift] wrote on the journey” to Midnights, including three with Aaron Dessner.

Check out the “3am Edition” of Midnights below, with the added songs starting at track 14, “The Great War.” Among the additional batch are three songs prominently featuring [the National](https://pitchfork.com/artists/3006-the-national/)’s Aaron Dessner, who did not contribute to Midnights after being a big part of [Folklore](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-folklore/) and [Evermore](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-evermore/). The three new songs that feature Dessner are “The Great War,” “High Infidelity,” and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”; each credits the National member alongside Swift as the song’s producer, composer, and lyricist. [Midnights](https://pitchfork.com/news/taylor-swift-releases-new-album-midnights-listen-and-read-the-full-credits/), [Taylor Swift](https://pitchfork.com/artists/28495-taylor-swift/) has dropped seven more songs written during the album’s conception.

Taylor Swift released the music video for “Anti-Hero.” It also stars Mike Birbiglia, John Early, and Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Swift's sparring family at her ...

That vision comes to life in the “Anti-Hero” music video, with help from costars [Mary Elizabeth Ellis](https://www.vulture.com/2016/03/gilmore-girls-vulture-tv-podcast.html) (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), [John Early](https://www.vulture.com/2017/12/john-early-profile.html) (Search Party), and [Mike Birbiglia](https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/mike-birbiglia-new-one-netflix-comedy-review.html) (stand-up comedy) as Swift’s sparring family, left with nothing at her funeral. There is no secret encoded message that means something else.” It’s the first installment of [Swift’s star-studded visual album for Midnights](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-theories-clues-tiktok.html), which is also set to feature Laura Dern, Dita Von Teese, and the Haim sisters, among others. [As Taylor Swift told us on “Anti-Hero,”](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-album-stream.html) she has this pretty specific dream about her daughter-in-law killing her for the money, even though Swift didn’t even leave her any in the will. “Anti-Hero,” meanwhile, also stars a rowdy clone of Swift, a giant monster-on-a-hill version of Swift, and a bunch of ghosts. [Ranking Taylor Swift’s Swear-iest Midnights Lyrics](//www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-sweariest-midnights-lyrics.html) [Everything We Know About Taylor Swift’s Midnights](//www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-theories-clues-tiktok.html) [Taylor Swift Has Clocked In and Finally Released Midnights](//www.vulture.com/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-album-stream.html) [See All](//www.vulture.com/tags/midnights) “Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s what mom would always do,” Birbiglia’s Preston agrees, before reading the postscript to her will: “P.S.

Taylor Swift posted some behind-the-scenes photos with her 'Midnights' co-writers, including long-time pal Jack Antonoff and Zoe Kravitz.

Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows. She continued: “We’d been toying with ideas and had written a few things we loved, but Midnights actually really coalesced and flowed out of us when our partners (both actors) did a film together in Panama. [Taylor Swift's 'Chaotic Surprise' Is A 3 AM Edition Of 'Midnights'](/news/taylor-swift-midnights-3am-edition-bonus-tracks/)

John Mayer probably wishes he could “stop this train.” Twitter-using Swifties are going after the crooner thanks to Taylor Swift's new bonus track on ...

Her “Speak Now” song “Dear John” is widely assumed to be about him. She then apologized to the singer, writing, “i’m sorry.” Do you really hope that I die?” You can feel free to screen shot, share in any way you like if you want.” Last year, Mayer responded to a Swift fan who [told him to “die](https://pagesix.com/2021/11/16/john-mayer-responds-to-taylor-swift-fan-who-told-him-to-die/).”

Taylor Swift moves away from the experimental magic of folklore and evermore and delivers a giddy, self-reflective crusade with Midnights.

After multiple listens—and wishing that the 3 AM songs were part of the core album—it’s evident she embraces the chaos (what’s new, right?). The album illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of the Swift-Antonoff partnership—the duo tends to “regress” every so often but knows how to tap into their forte, too. As it turns out, Midnights is an eccentric blend of [Lover](https://www.avclub.com/taylor-swift-is-done-proving-herself-on-the-resonant-lo-1837578581) and [1989](https://www.avclub.com/with-1989-taylor-swift-finally-grows-up-1798181732), with a dose of [Reputation](https://www.avclub.com/taylor-swift-has-a-big-drunken-night-out-on-reputation-1820342108)’s retribution for good measure. There are more gems here like, “I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror / It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero,” and the polarizing line, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby.” ( On three of the tracks, she collaborates with The National’s Aaron Dessner yet again, including on “The Great War,” which features poetic imagery and lyrics about surviving the battlefield of a tumultuous bond and is enhanced by Dessner’s production. And then there’s “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” a fiery but tragic indictment of the older man she dated at 19 who took advantage of her naïveté. An early standout, it charts her exhaustion from giving in to her worst thoughts and impulses (“When my depression works the graveyard shift / All of the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room / I should not be left to my own devices”). The singer’s “sleepless nights” have spawned an odyssey that’s cutthroat and shimmery. Swift opens Midnights with “Lavender Haze,” a definite bop that celebrates her unperturbed love life (reminiscent of “Call It What You Want To).” And she closes the core album with a pair of tracks that cleverly confirm her relationship, starting with track 12, the amorous ballad “Sweet Nothing,” co-written by Swift and William Bowery (Joe Alwyn’s pseudonym). [Taylor Swift revealed she categorizes her lyrics](https://www.avclub.com/taylor-swift-new-insight-songwriting-process-1849562389) in three distinct ways: Quill, fountain pen, and glitter gel pen, conjuring the perfect weapon to rousingly convey her words. That’s immediately followed by track 13, “Mastermind,” in which a Machiavellian Swift confesses her schemes to secure his love. That’s not a complaint, of course, because Swift is the certified queen of serving up bangers.

The pop singer confronts her own flaws and calls everyone a “sexy baby” on the lead single from Midnights.

[1989](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-1989/), the neurotic image analysis of [reputation](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-reputation/), the dense lyricism of [folklore](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-folklore/) and [evermore](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-evermore/). But after so many years of defending the moral high ground—from ex-boyfriends, [rappers](https://pitchfork.com/news/66882-taylor-swift-kanye-and-kim-are-lying-committing-character-assassination/), [label executives](https://pitchfork.com/news/taylor-swifts-music-ownership-controversy-with-scooter-braun-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters)—Swift [started to admit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KpKc3C9V3w) her own fallibility. Swift and trusted collaborator [Jack Antonoff](https://pitchfork.com/artists/32408-bleachers/) keep the production simple—a methodical drum loop, simmering synths—focusing in on a series of vignettes in which Swift is haunted by past mistakes.

Taylor Swift's new concept album about 'that mystifying, mad hour' feels unsurprisingly expert and alert.

(If you missed the cheap thrill of reorganizing the paparazzi photos on your conspiracy whiteboard, “Midnights” has plenty of “is X song about Y guy?” games to play, too, you sicko.) Love is the result of that intentionality. “I picked the petals, he loves me not,” she sings on one of her new songs, “ [You’re On Your Own, Kid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cboN_o7CvU),” addressing an anonymous flame without a blink. Taylor Swift has this dream where “my daughter-in-law kills me for the money — she thinks I left them in the will. The family gathers around and reads it, and then someone screams out, ‘She’s laughing up at us from hell!’” Maybe that’s why Swift is the biggest pop star drawing breath in this waking world and the rest of us are not. You have this dream where you’re all alone, and you’re rolling a big doughnut, and there’s this snake wearing a vest.

Lyrically, Taylor Swift's new album, Midnights, is as Swiftian as ever, meaning sometimes it's hard to tell what the hell she's talking about through all ...

She’s had plenty of musician boyfriends (Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris), and this could be about any of them, though I sincerely hope it’s not Styles — he has [enough drama](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/olivia-wilde-jason-sudeikis-salad-dressing.html) for the time being. This is the chorus of “Maroon,” to which I say, Taylor, where are your shoes? This is on the song “Karma,” which, well, you can probably guess what it’s about. I appreciate that Taylor threw an encouraging little lyric into the album’s last song, “Mastermind,” even though it kind of sounds like something a Disney villain would say. There are too many specific references here for them to be random, but the studious Swifties on Reddit will have to decode it for me. Here, Taylor is threatening her rude boyfriend that she will go out and flirt with someone who appreciates her more, but I feel I must warn her that any dude talking about auras is not going to be a better option. You can really see the thesaurus coming in handy here. I strongly suspect Swift had a thesaurus on hand while writing, because the range of vocabulary on display is truly impressive. I hope she’s found some more uplifting parties where the guests support her dreams. Nowhere in New York is it safe or sanitary to stand, let alone dance, without shoes on. [history](https://thecut.com/2021/11/where-the-hell-is-taylor-swifts-scarf.html) that her songs almost always have specific reference points, many of them from her life. In its first 24 hours of existence, Taylor Swift’s new album, Midnights, has given us a lot to chew on.

A deep dive into Taylor Swift's new song 'Mastermind,' in which she pokes fun at her own public image of being overly controlling.

In this last chorus, Swift actually pokes a hole in her airtight and individualist scheming: while she had anticipated her success to be a one-woman job, the subject of the song was a willing accomplice the whole time. We love Swift precisely because she can so believably and fully embody both ends of the emotional spectrum: that she can be the scorned lover or the heartbreaker, the archer or the prey. This is a common thread in Midnights, with “Anti-Hero” focused on her many avenues of self-doubt. There’s so much sadness laced in this one quick and breathy line—a moment of vulnerability reminiscent of the storytelling from her folklore/evermore era. [vibe has shifted](https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/a-vibe-shift-is-coming.html), and Taylor Swift has retreated from the [woods](https://time.com/5871159/taylor-swift-folklore-explained/) to sulk in her city apartment in the [wee small hours of the morning](https://entertainment.time.com/2006/11/02/the-all-time-100-albums/slide/in-the-wee-small-hours/). [30 Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm-ZF9AfN40) and is a sly commentary on the long history of women being portrayed as little more than helpless sex objects in Hollywood monster movies. In “Mastermind,” Swift seems to argue that for women, being overly calculating is the only way to win in a cutthroat world. [Swift told the Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/10/20/taylor-swift-midnights-easter-eggs/). In “Dear John,” which she wrote near the start of her career, she’s a mere pawn: “I lived in your chess game, but you changed the rules every day,” she sings. (From her 2006 debut album: “He’s got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel/ The other on my heart.”) Then there’s the real-life room of it all: Swift and Alwyn are rumored to have met at the 2016 Met Gala, and there are many rooms there! So “once upon a time” is charged with suspense: it suggests a “happily ever after” on its surface, but anyone deeply familiar with Swift’s work would expect it to end instead on the “cold hard ground.”

A pop phenomenon and lyric wizard once said, “Karma is real.” That was Taylor Swift in 2016 when asked by Vogue what she believed to be the most important.

[“Karma”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1imWezhl2T0) is about an unbothered state of mind. “All I started thinking of was, ‘How do I hint at things, like how far is too far in advance?,” Swift said. After all, Swift [did say,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K0RzZGpyds) “The world moves on … (In The idea of “Karma” has an outsize place in the Taylor Swift universe, thanks to a prevalent fan theory. It’s just a question Swifties have been asking for years now. “Can I hint at something three years in advance? [initially revealed](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch1Ed_Su6Qw/) her 10th studio album would explore the subjects and thoughts of sleepless nights across her life. This album would have come between “1989” and “Reputation.” Instead, fans think it was replaced with “Reputation.” but not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma.” [“The Man” ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqAJLh9wuZ0)from her “Lover” album/ [Blake Lively re-creating “The Man” wall scene](https://www.instagram.com/p/CWUo4ayAnzd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) on the set of the “I Bet You Think About Me” music video to mischievously laughing when revealing the title of the track during her [“Midnights Mayhem With Me”](https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorswift/video/7151244297432665390?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7153338511659959854) series.

With the release of Taylor Swift's 'Midnights,' her sleuthing fans think there are veiled swipes at John Mayer, Scooter Braun and Kanye West.

West’s then-wife, Kim Kardashian, backed him, [claiming Swift was contacted](https://www.gq.com/story/kim-kardashian-west-gq-cover-story) and “totally gave the OK” for West to use that lyric. Another line says, “And she looks so pretty / Driving in your Benz.” We love, adore and respect a petty Taylor Swift.” [tweeted](https://twitter.com/TheTitanBaddie/status/1583362899468509184). That could be the “white-collar crimes” Swift references. [tweeted](https://twitter.com/sarahjenkinsxo/status/1583314452883001345). I made that b— famous.” It was a really lousy thing for her to do,” he said, adding, “As a songwriter ... Of the 20 tracks Swift just released, “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” is the 19th and released now that she is 32. She goes on to sing, “And if I was some paint, did it splatter on a promising grown man? [tweeted](https://twitter.com/letabknow/status/1583448097774239746). The latest objects of their speculation?

Taylor Swift invites fans into the darkest part of her psyche in the "Anti-Hero" music video, starring John Early, Mike Birbiglia, and Mary Elizabeth Ellis.

[Midnight Rain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MYZFOPgesg)”). In one scene of the video, her partying pop star alter ego gives a scolding shake of the head as she steps on a scale that reads “FAT.” Later, on the track “ [You’re On Your Own, Kid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cboN_o7CvU),” Swift sings, “I hosted parties and starved my body,” referencing the eating disorder she first disclosed in her documentary [Miss Americana](http://avclub.com/film/reviews/miss-americana-2020). On “Anti-Hero,” there’s something tragic about being too big to fail (“Pierced through the heart, but never killed”). “I wake up screaming from dreaming / One day, I’ll watch as you’re leaving / And life will lose all its meaning,” she sings. “I struggle with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized,” she says in that same Instagram video. [Anti-Hero](https://www.avclub.com/taylor-swift-mad-men-midnights-track-inspiration-1849642378?_ga=2.198626031.1966672911.1666014527-1488648406.1652714420)” it becomes clear that the person she’s really desperate to have stay by her side is us, the audience. “This song is a real guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself.” “I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person,” Swift admits in an [that make me, ](https://youtu.be/TjLVEs9LHpw?t=149) [me](https://youtu.be/TjLVEs9LHpw?t=149),” as Swift herself would say: glitter, cats, multiple Taylors, an elaborately staged funeral, lots of wine. Club’s Saloni Gajjar writes in her [B+ review](https://www.avclub.com/a-review-of-taylor-swifts-album-midnights-1849681836), “Midnights is a giddy, buoyant, somewhat messy return to pop; a heartbreaking confessional gift wrapped with confetti.” It includes “all the things [Taylor Swift](https://www.avclub.com/taylor-swift-underrated-songs-obscure-tracks-1849666689?_ga=2.128354380.1966672911.1666014527-1488648406.1652714420) album is upon us, and the world has descended into Midnights mayhem.

Swift's Midnights swiftly unseated Bad Bunny's Un Verano Sin Ti for most Spotify streams in 24 hours.

Truly, it’s (Taylor’s Version), and we’re just living in it. Spotify didn’t release specific numbers for Midnights and its one-day performance, but we do know who Swift unseated to score the honor: Bad Bunny, whose Un Verano Sin Ti posted its own record, with 183 million day-one streams, back in September of 2021. Guinness says Red scored 90.8 million streams during its first 24 hours on Spotify back in 2021, which means Midnights has blown way past that number today.)

New album makes it clear that Swift has taken a step forward in the indie-pop genre.

But Swift presents “Midnights” as something different: a collection of songs that don’t necessarily have to go together, but fit together because she has declared them products of late night inspiration. Track one, “Lavender Haze,” pairs a muffled club beat and high-pitched backing vocals from Antonoff with stand-out, beckoning melody from Swift. And like always, we’re just along for the thrilling late-night ride. [the 13 tracks of “Midnights,”](https://apnews.com/article/what-to-stream-October-2022-midnights-music-movies-TV-f70b362a01e904e5b23adeb62c822dd0) a self-aware Swift shows off her ability to evolve again. “Midnight Rain” could be a thesis statement for the project she’s described as songs written during “13 sleepless nights,” an appropriate approach to the concept album for someone who has long had a lyrical appreciation for late nights (think “Style”: “midnight, you come and pick me up, no headlights…”). The song’s chorus begins: “He was sunshine, I was midnight rain.” And continues: “He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain.

Her new record sees her turn away from the intimate indie songwriting of her two last albums, Folklore and Evermore, in favour of electronica, synth-pop and ...

[Spotify users reported a huge spike in outages](https://news.sky.com/story/spotify-users-report-huge-spike-in-outages-as-taylor-swifts-new-album-midnight-drops-12726142) after the new album landed on the platform. It sees her turn away from the intimate indie songwriting of her two last albums, Folklore and Evermore, in favour of electronica, synth-pop and sometimes even hip-hop influenced beats. Her new record sees her turn away from the intimate indie songwriting of her two last albums, Folklore and Evermore, in favour of electronica, synth-pop and sometimes even hip hop-influenced beats.

Taylor Swifts fans helped her set a single-day record for most album streams on Spotify.

The totals on Swift’s new [Midnights](https://deadline.com/tag/midnights/) didn’t even need a full 24 hours to attain that record, which Spotify refused to put a number to. In the wee, small hours, Swift released an additional seven songs in what was called a “chaotic surprise.” [Spotify](https://deadline.com/tag/spotify/) record for most streams of an album in a single day.

Indeed, Swift's tune "Vigilante Shit" seems to draw on some similar inspiration, with a verse featuring lyrics about delivering "cold hard proof" to another nameless character's ex-wife, saying, "Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride," ...

That's because the artist's latest album, Midnights, happens to include an homage to [revenge dressing](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/fashion-trends/g39128561/revenge-dress-meaning-history-princess-diana-julia-fox/)—an art perhaps most iconically associated with Princess Diana when the royal all but single-handedly brought the [concept of the revenge dress](https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/fashion-trends/a36120274/princess-diana-revenge-glamour-trend/) into our cultural lexicon in 1994, with the little black dress seen around the world. That infamous LBD—an off-the-shoulder Christina Stambolian gown that hugged the Princess of Wales flawlessly—was worn just days after Prince Charles admitted to infidelity on national television, and was seen by the public as a very pointed snub to Diana's then-husband. It's not the first time Swift has been linked in the public mind with Diana's famous dress—fans previously noticed a marked similarity between the gown and a dress that the singer-songwriter wore on a November 2021 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers when she was promoting her version of the album Red.

Taylor Swift sings about finding love after heartbreak in her new song "Labyrinth." Here's what the song really means.

You may be familiar with the lyrics from "Labyrinth." The tenth track on Taylor's tenth studio album, "Labyrinth," takes a trip through the singer's past relationships unveiling the apprehension and skepticism she feels about finding love. The Grammy award-winning singer opened up about the anxiety that comes with discovering newfound love after a breakup on "Labyrinth" a song on her new project, Midnights'.

Star thanks fans for helping new release, Midnights, break record for most-streamed album in a single day.

this is our first album we’ve done with just the two of us as main collaborators,” she wrote. In a post on her Instagram to mark the album’s release, she shared a photo of herself with her collaborators, and singled out Antonoff as her “co-pilot”. Taylor Swift has thanked her fans for “doing something mind blowing” as her new LP broke the Spotify record for most-streamed album in a single day.

Taylor Swift's 10th album Midnights, marking a gradual return to pop for the US singer-songwriter, sparked an online fan frenzy following its witching hour ...

It was warmly received by The Guardian which called it a "cool, collected and mature" compendium, "packed with fantastic songs". Swift also released her first music video for Midnights. - The 10th album from the singer is a "cool, collected and mature" compendium, "packed with fantastic songs," The Guardian says.

All coupled up: Taylor Swift strolled with boyfriend Joe Alwyn, Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake celebrated 10 years of marriage and Kanye made time for ...