Taylor Swift - Midnights

I don't remember the last time someone of Taylor's stature announced an album with not a single note of music released this far into the campaign, like even Beyoncé released "Break My Soul"

there are some leaked bits & pieces floating around & they sound pretty promising

midnight snacks

Is it “70s singer-songwriter” sounding?

xp - yeah, I'm surprised that there still hasn't been a single yet. I mean, I guess when you reach this kind of superstar level and you've already got x100000 pre-saves and pre-orders, you don't have to worry about the hype but still feels odd.

she wants us to experience this all at once, in order, at midnight

probably

Joke's on her - that'll be 9pm PDT

evermore aside she has shown, to an almost political degree imo, a loyalty to the old school idea of putting out a big dumb pop single to lead a record and promoting it like your life depends on it. showing up at the NFL draft to make sure middle america streamed "me!" and such like. even "cardigan" she flogged in a really unnecessary and inescapable capitol one commercial. my bet would be on her still running that playbook once the album drops w/ whatever single they've chosen for this

the single being "anti-hero"

On Thursday (October 20), a teaser trailer will be shown in the third quarter of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video, while a “special very chaotic surprise” is also set to take place at 3am EST (8am BST) on Friday. Lyric videos will then follow later that evening.

this is simply what she does

hahaha

also there were these peeks at some LYRICS

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-spotify-lyric-reveal-billboard-1234611644/

usually, the single comes out before the album release though

it didn't with the last two albums

looks like the whole thing has leaked now

in pretty bad quality lol

It already turned back into a pumpkin!

(happy to preemptively make that joke)

she really baited everyone with the 70s stuff lol

So it doesn't sound like a Cardigans album?

it's just pop taylor but without the sort of baffling decisions that have been a regular presence on her pop albums

it's pretty easily her most consistent pop album but idk if there's going to be any big hits from this, it's a bit moodier and she's not really trying to force a big single

it's just pop taylor but without the sort of baffling decisions that have been a regular presence on her pop albums

Taylor Swift - At Her Very Best

well there's still one in "vigilante shit" but that's pretty minor

;_;

"sometimes i feel like everybody is a sexy baby and i’m a monster on a hill" holy fucking shit

"you're on your own kid" is taylor swift finally writing a rilo kiley song

i have to lol at lana getting a feature just for backing vocals

reading tea leaves here but getting “false god”: the
album from the cover

― flamenco drop (BradNelson)

i mean it's not quite the sophisti-taylor album we dreamed of but this was pretty close

def not listening to a shoddy leak days before release. cmon people

it's out tomorrow and even with a shoddy leak i think it's possibly her best, at minimum top 2

reactions elsewhere seem to be all over the place though lol

it's me
hi
i'm the problem, it's me

Would love if this opened with some “Reelin’ in the Years”-type riff.

Seems fitting that both Taylor and Liz Truss had to bring forward their release dates.

IDGI

Blonde zillionaire libertarians who'll shoot you without blinking?

How did Taylor “bring forward her release date”?

(I’d ask why you think she’s a libertarian, but don’t really care to know…)

it's me
hi
i'm the problem, it's me

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, October 20, 2022 8:01 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

know nothing about this but if this is a lyric from the new album i wonder if it's a response to that last billie eilish song

https://www.vulture.com/article/taylor-swift-midnights-into-it.html

^^^ I really like this piece, it takes seriously Taylor's work as craft rather than just as a reflection of her inner self (even if the overall frame is "who is Taylor really?"). Powers' suggestion that Carole King (or at least 'Tapestry') provides the better point of comparison for Taylor's work than Joni Mitchell seems pretty canny to me, though less because Taylor is more like King than Mitchell and more because the popular understanding of Mitchell-circa-Blue itself gets a lot of stuff wrong.

Laura Dern is credited in her video teaser…

Video to be released in a few hours. Listening now but won't get through more than a few songs tonight.

Damn, love how spare this is.

It’s basically “1989 pt. 2” so far, in terms of sonics…

it's distinctively moodier & doesn't have duds like "welcome to new york" and "bad blood" or anything as corny as "shake it off"

I wish there was at least one track like that to shake off the same-y tempos. I’m also hearing various melodic bits that sound recycled from other songs of hers. Overall, a little underwhelmed by the aesthetic retreat, and nothing super catches my ear, but maybe it’ll grow on me

sonically it's closest to the good half of lover but the production is richer

That is how I feel about the new 1975 album.

Xpost

I think the production on Lover was more distinctive, fwiw… going back now and listening to a track like “I Think He Knows” feels like a breath of fresh air.

(I mention that song specifically, because you can hear its chorus in “Lavender Haze,” and its bridge in “Question…”)

Man, if you don't like the way Taylor Swift writes a melody, you're just never going to like Taylor Swift I guess. Why? Because she keeps revisiting the same few tricks again and again and again for close to 20 years.

*you = me

She does that thing a lot where she quickly raises the pitch of a vocal line

To abuse a trendy phase – this kind of sounds like if you asked an AI to make a Taylor Swift pop album. (I do like “Anti-Hero”…)

Anti-Hero and Vigilante Shit are highlights for me so far.

lover was more upbeat but the production was a bit chintzy, i just much prefer how all the synth textures sound here