Taylor Swift’s 10th studio album Midnights was released on Oct. 21, 2022. Produced by artists like Jack Antinof (who has produced on over half of Swift’s discography including 1989, arguably her previous top pop album until Midnights) and Aaron Desner, who produced the bonus tracks on the 3am Edition of Midnights. Both men take writing credits on the album alongside Swift; she claims a writing credit on every song she owns. One writing credit that fans were especially excited to see again was the pen name “William Bowery” who wrote the song “Sweet Nothing” with Swift. “Bowery” has created songs with Swift in the past like “Exile”, “Betty”, “Champaign Problems”, and others. The pen name belongs to Swift’s boyfriend of six years: Joe Alwyn.

Midnights‘ visual aesthetic balances perfectly between 70s retro and old Hollywood glam. Musically, the album is sonically cohesive, and I would categorize it as synth pop. Midnights has easily reached a unique level of iconicism surpassing all expectations — as Taylor Swift always does — by breaking physical sales, digital sales, streaming, and Billboard chart records. Swift has made history (once again) by claiming all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a new high for her career.

Not only is Midnights amazing sonically but also lyrically. A consistency in Swift’s discography has been her poetic lyricism with very little contemporary references —Nothing New (wink wink) in this album. My top three favorites from Midnights include: “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”, “You’re On Your Own, Kid”, and “High Infidelity”.

As much as I’ve tried to go listen to other songs or playlists, the brilliance of Midnights has kept me coming back.

Midnights gets an easy 5/5 sleepless nights.