Taylor Swift - Midnights

poor CRJ, gotta share a release date with the pop juggernaut

Are Taylor semioticians catching any clues from the promo photo? (e.g., the odds and ends on the desk)

This longer description makes it sound VERY dark / confessional:

Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.

Pre-order now: https://t.co/jjqUNkphuG pic.twitter.com/Fh96zK8vro

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 29, 2022

The longer description is in one of the pics in the tweet

Like I said on twitter, I absolutely LOVE the concept she's developed for this album. What a rich place to take inspiration from. However, I expect I still won't like it very much because of the way she writes lyrics and melodies. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Oh, she actually announced the album at the end of her VMA speech! I totally missed that, lol

During her acceptance speech for video of the year at the #VMAs, Taylor Swift announces a new album out October 21. https://t.co/K3f4GrgiuJ pic.twitter.com/9q2jGVDoPl

— Variety (@Variety) August 29, 2022

poor CRJ, gotta share a release date with the pop juggernaut

― Murgatroid

Midnights, The Loneliest Time. Some kind of zeitgeist perhaps?

Exciting news

glad she's putting out new music - when she announced she was re-recording her old albums, I was a bit worried that it would occupy all her time and we wouldn't get any new material from her for awhile but clearly my worries were unfounded

I guess she just lives in recording studios now

i'm not really sure what's happening with the remakes because she already put out a few tracks from 1989, i would have thought she'd want to get them out quicker idk

Carly Rae Jepsen, Arctic Monkeys and this all on the same day, going to be a good day to be alive

Huh, didn't even know Arctic Monkeys were still around.

I'll check out Taylor and CRJ but will def skip AM.

I looked it up. Tegan and Sara and Dry Cleaning too

Huh, didn't even know Arctic Monkeys were still around

They're better than ever

I’m trying to imagine what this will sound like based off the destruction/album cover and the first band that comes to mind is Chromatics. Like I can’t picture this being a full blown pop return but I can’t imagine it being very guitar based?

Is it confirmed those track titles will be renamed? Because that would be cool if they were all just named “Track One,” Track Two” etc

Is it confirmed those track titles will be renamed? Because that would be cool if they were all just named “Track One,” Track Two” etc

Yeah my probably way-off-base prediction is that this could be a good opportunity to be explore a more moody noir version of the synth pop ballad vibes Taylor explored on stuff like “You Are In Love” and “Delicate” and the live version of “Love Story” she was performing on the 1989 tour.

I also thought “Renegade” was excellent and that that and “Long Story Short” suggested a pathway for merging the directions taken on the last two albums with a more propulsion pop sound - almost both tunes are very upbeat in presentation, which may not be the vibe she goes for here.

*albeit both tunes…

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

no complaints if we get an album of sophisti-taylor

i just hope she hasn't like, been listening to the weeknd too much or something lol

"all too well (10 minute version)" did have a bunch of tasteful sax in the background, if we get a vibe anything like that i'll be quite happy

any word on whether Dessner is involved again?

No word on collaborators so far.

I get late 90s indie vibes from the album cover. Not that I necessarily think this is going to be Taylor's Modest Mouse album or whatever.

Analyzing the cover art reminds me of the (traumatic) whiplash that was "Lover" cover reveal -> "ME!" released as lead single

Ha ha. Yeah, ouch, important warning. Anyway, I think what I was thinking was that it might fit in The Great Millennial Colour Drought

"... and when I'm up all night, I call Max and say, 'Let's make a banger about how boys are poopyheads!'"

"me!" came before the album cover, iirc the whiplash was just from the teasers for it?

I don’t predict anything like synthpop, but we’ll see…

Yeah the whiplash came from the various teaser images on Instagram and the mural that was painted to promote the release of "Me!", which all happened in April 2019. It wasn't till June that she announced the album Lover, its August release date and shared its cover art, and then a day later released "You Need to Calm Down".

Carly Rae Jepsen, Arctic Monkeys and this all on the same day, going to be a good day to be alive

― Bee OK, Monday, August 29, 2022 1:59 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Huh, didn't even know Arctic Monkeys were still around.

I'll check out Taylor and CRJ but will def skip AM.

― The Ghost Club, Monday, August 29, 2022 2:05 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I looked it up. Tegan and Sara and Dry Cleaning too

― Bee OK, Monday, August 29, 2022 2:05 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

What is this Meghan Trainor erasure?

Ok I was mistaking cover art for teaser images - regardless I remember similar Lana del Rey-vibes being predicted before ME! destroyed such notion.

Though the album itself did strike various poses

I got a “Taylor Nation” email promoting the pre-orders, complete with flickering flame and new “TS” monogram in the blue Helvetica.

"a journey through terrors and sweet dreams" sounds like its describing a david lynch movie imo

hear me out, what if this is her house album like Drake and Beyonce

Seems pretty unlikely to me, given the midcentury aesthetic of the photos

If folklore is for everyone who needs to go to therapy and evermore is everyone who is finally going to therapy then midnights is for everyone still going to therapy even when it feels like it isn't helping

— Rita (@ritalara) August 29, 2022

"Is it confirmed those track titles will be renamed? Because that would be cool if they were all just named “Track One,” Track Two” etc"

It's unlikely, but I hope she goes full-on Scott Walker circa Climate of Hunter and writes a song suite about kicking locusts in the bollocks. Or something. With half the tracks given names and the other half given numbers.

And if you compare the covers they both look as if there was originally a cigarette, but it was airbrushed out. I want to hear Taylor Swift punching meat.

"Babe, I just can't see
if you're the one for me
will it all work out?
Or will we kick locusts in the bollocks until
the black-blood spittle
fills the sliced eye-holes
of the fetid pig mulch"

This is her 5th "Lead single in August, album in October."

Guessing she purposely sticks with this schedule because the grammys new years day is Sept 1.

she released a single? where?

Yeah, you had me looking!

(I believe the Grammy eligibility period ends Sept. 30 – so Midnights won't be eligible until the 2024 awards, but if she releases a single in the next month I guess that will be eligible at next Feb.'s ceremony)

Oh my bad I didn't pay attention to whether a new song came out.

Also weird to make an observation like that when the last time she did the August single, October album strategy was 5 albums ago with 1989.

last two albums obviously did not have a leading single as they were surprise releases

xp i think it's a good and interesting observation regardless of when it happened last

Taylor Swift unveils all four variations of the cover for her 10th studio album, ‘Midnights.’ pic.twitter.com/N10AbwBLvR

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 1, 2022

alt covers are clarifying, there's clear 70s vibes

i've probably brought him up as a point of comparison before but that's the main guy i think of in terms of being able to spin new songs out of the same old chord progressions

i'm not surprised a taylor swift piano book doesn't have much chordal intrigue bc i can't think of a single song of hers that's anchored by a sick piano part, the ones that come to mind are "cardigan," "exile," and "champagne problems," all of which do not seem complex at all, though "exile" sounds fun to play, idk

Yeah I was thinking the same thing (and wondered if it’s disfavored for being a duet).

Now Springsteen, there's a piano book for you. The guitar is the easy part!

My fav quote from a one man show I saw once

"What's wrong with G? Just play G! If your chord has a number in it, you're an asshole!"

Ha. I think I saw somebody joke once that nothing good ever happened above the 7th fret. Might have just been talking about bass, though.

Just because, as you said, they're no less complex than most pop music, so you don't really need a piano book or teacher at all, you just need to know those handful of chords and you're more or less all set. You don't really need either for, say, the Ramones, either. But books and lessons are for sure more helpful for, I dunno, the Beatles, or the Stones, or ABBA or whatever, which can be more complex or involved without going full Joni.

Gotcha. I play piano but am mostly self-taught and rarely do much more than plunk out chords and melodies. I can play melodies by ear, so I usually just need to figure out or track daown chord progressions, and then I can play something that's sort of rudimentary but nonetheless satisfying to me. So I forget that people use sheet music for more than just fake-book chord symbols.

lol I was just listening to LP5 by Autechre, and my daughter came in and asked what year the track was from. I said 1998, why? And she said it reminded her of "Midnights." And ... I didn't know what to say.

Xp “going full Joni”

Once you learn the open tunings Joni uses, the songs aren’t too hard to play on guitar.

But there are like 30 tunings, right?

I've often wondered about people trying to play Stones songs in the '70s, not knowing they're often open G, sometimes with a capo, too. Once you know, the songs aren't that bad, but you need to know!

Joni puts the number at 51.

High enough to play a dumbass looking guitar synth.

I’ve already seen kids dressed as S/T, Red, and Midnights (…and trick-or-treating hasn’t even officially started yet).

I saw a Speak Now purple dress/hat and multiple Red costumes (block letter tees w/black hats). What other musicians have recently inspired Halloween costumes?

Too cold out for someone dressing like a lot of other pop stars, lol ...

Put on a cardigan

xxpost https://www.vogue.com/article/doja-cat-transformation-halloween

omg. Also, this is wild!

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/meet-the-argentine-taylor-swift-fans-who-have-been-camping-out-for-the-eras-tour-since-june/

you know it smell crazy in there, etc.

Was listening to the Wedding Present and it struck me how funny it would have been had Taylor Swift not collaborated with Aaron Dessner but with David Gedge. And then I kept thinking of other people she could collaborate with, from Johnny Marr to Dave Mustaine, and I found it really amusing. For about two minutes.

There should be a general Taylor Swift thread. But anyway, this is very important:

Gannett’s Taylor Swift Reporter, Revealed: Meet Bryan West, the First Full-Time Swiftie Journalist (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/tRxld7ySjs via @variety

— Nick Penzenstadler (@npenzenstadler) November 6, 2023

How many days until a Swiftie murders this guy?

https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-rio-fan-dies-water-b69ad355301a7ae6edebd3255c94a167

Taylor's instagram post says the fan died before the show, which is untrue (maybe she didn't have all the info when she wrote it)

and people are asking for the 2nd concert to be postponed, as today has also a huge heatwave affecting temperatures in Rio, higher than yesterday even

https://gshow.globo.com/tudo-mais/pop/noticia/fas-pedem-adiamento-do-segundo-dia-de-show-da-taylor-swift-no-rio-de-janeiro.ghtml

Swift is handling the tragedy right. And Christ the Redeemer is wearing a Swift shirt for charity.

"Cristo Redentor (Taylor's Version)"

She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts
She's Cheer Captain, and I'm the Redeemer

"You're Losing Me" is a pretty good song; probably better than anything else on Midnights. But it still has that dull, flat sound and vocal affectations (which I don't care for) that are typical of the album...

chubble chubble chubble

'state of grace' is such an incredible opener, honestly. discovered the acoustic version this week. those bass notes, god damn.