Taylor Swift has released her first studio album since her two re-recordings, and the album will have you staying up listening ’til midnight.

If you’re like me, you stayed up waiting for the release and listened right then and there; if you haven’t listened yet, here’s a look into what the album holds throughout. 

“Midnights”, Swift’s tenth album released, tells the story of Swift’s “midnights”, looking at things such as past and current romances, confidence, personal battles and advice to those listening. 

The album has many different vibes throughout, sounding like a combination of pop and alternative at the same time.

It brings in some of Swift’s old music, with songs sounding similar to her previous albums such as “Reputation”, “Lover” and “1989”. 

While there is no solid evidence other than theories on Twitter and TikTok, that doesn’t mean that the album takes inspiration from or references past ones. 

In fact, when releasing the album, early in the morning at 3 a.m., Swift even references her rereleases “Taylor’s Version” by releasing seven more songs and referring to them as “Midnights” (“3 a.m. Version”).

To dig into the songs of the album, let’s start with those that reference romances, as that is a majority of the songs.

“Lavender Haze” and “Maroon” are the first two tracks, and both reference the realization of love and how it looks.

Swift is known to make metaphors throughout her songs, and in these, both the colors are referenced as describers of love.

Realizing you’re “in a lavender haze” or “looking up and the sky was maroon” are both references to how Swift felt while in love.

Though they don’t fully give the details of a relationship, they give an idea that the love was magical, which is a fun start to the album. 

Confidence and personal battles are both referenced on the album, for example in the songs “Anti-Hero” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid”.

“Anti-Hero” digs into Swift and her own insecurities with herself, finding herself as the issue and reason for everything going wrong. 

The song brings up the thought of never being able to fully face oneself, which is something that many may struggle with. 

This one is one of the more popular songs already, with a TikTok trend forming around using the song to describe moments when one felt the realization they were wrong in a scenario. 

It gives light to realizing one’s struggles with themselves, and that it’s okay to admit one may be in the wrong and have some things they need to work through.

Now for the last song I plan to talk about (I want to leave some mystery to those who haven’t listened yet).

“You’re on Your Own, Kid” is a personal favorite of mine off the album, and it ties into the idea of having to go off and live for one’s self growing up.

It references doing things for others, regretting that, continuing to do it, hating oneself, loving oneself and everything in between. 

“Midnights” is an album for everyone who has loved everything Swift in the past, and for new listeners, it provides a look into many different ideas and thoughts found throughout her songs.