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Years after being ‘canceled’ following her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift has experienced a revival: Phase one was Lover, revealing a renewal of optimism for the singer-songwriter. Phase two was Folklore/Evermore, the two-album, folksy drop that felt right in line with our need for pandemic escapism. And, on the heels of the MTV Video Music Awards—the first relevant one in years, where more than TikTik influencers showed up—Swift announced a new album, Midnights, dropping on October 21st.
The thrills and fanfare surrounding the announcement in the 24 hours afterward felt like she had finally eclipsed the cancellation six years. Suddenly, feeds were rejoicing at the aspect of new music, rather than snarking at it. At the same time, colleges are offering courses analyzing her music, all leading me to wonder: What makes it so infectious, particularly when every album is a sonic departure from the last?
They’re a Mirror and a Portal
The beauty of Swift’s songwriting lies in its specificity; she doesn’t tell you she’s heartbroken, she shows it, with confessional-style lines that paint a picture of the exact scene, taking you there. (Just look at how that old scarf from “All Too Well” has taken on a life of its own.) It invokes empathy, putting you in the scene and serving as a portal to her world; a level of vulnerability that isn’t offered all that regularly in our Instagram-polished lives.
In that sense, it’s a portal, as is the melody itself. Anyone who listened to Folklore or Evermore can attest to how those haunting tunes gave people a sense of reality, while also transporting them far away from their masked, socially distanced, quarantined lives during the pandemic. The videos and imagery leaned into a cozy escape into the woods, far away from sterile hospitals and the scenes we were seeing play out on TV.
Through the lyrics, though, you’re taken someplace new, but you can related to the feelings being shared, be they heartbreak, longing, betrayal, hopefulness, excitement. The specificity of those one-liners triggers your own experiences, and in doing so, Swift holds a mirror up to listeners. She’s at once relatable—and a source of escape from the everyday.
Each Album Appeals to Our Inner Investigator
We can’t resist an all-in-good-fun mystery. Just look at how popular scavenger hunts have become on the site. And Swift’s albums are scavenger hunts in and of themselves; loaded with Easter eggs, as people try to determine which stories reflect her own life—and what, exactly, they could be about—and which are fiction. Not to mention the music videos themselves often feature nods to Swift’s favorite things and things fans rave about.
Every detail is purposefully considered, down to what clothes she wears and how she styles her hair with each launch, hence why we referred to them earlier as phases of an evolution, though in Swift parlance, they’re more commonly considered eras, and they existed long before the Kimye drama. She’s fully aware that people will speculate, and so she directs them, with little clues sprinkled everywhere. It adds a sense of fun and whimsy, but it also shows a songwriter who’s taken control of her life, and that’s empowering too.
The Songs Are Catchy
Plain and simple: If the songs dragged on or failed to have effective hooks, they wouldn’t have quite the widespread appeal. Similarly, her song structure often contains subconscious Easter eggs, it would seem—a 2013 study found that we’re drawn to music that has recognizable features that help us predict what may happen next, and the reward centers of our brains light up when those expectations are confirmed…or destroyed. There’s a giddiness in the anticipation, and Swift’s songs often establish a pattern, only to subvert it by the end. (Find more than a dozen examples in this Reddit thread.)
We haven’t heard a single song on Midnights yet, though it’s racking up the presales (across digital, vinyl, CD and, uh, remember cassettes?). And yet, ever the storyteller, Swift’s words set the stage, as she shared via Instagram that it comprises stories of 13 sleepless nights she’s had over the years. Relatable, mysterious—and packaged with a fiery cover and a sparkly-glam vibe that’s transporting.
You don’t know exactly where you’re headed, but you have a good enough idea to trust the singer, so naturally, you’re in for the ride.
You can preorder Midnights ahead of its October 21 launch now.
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