Taylor Swift released her highly anticipated 10th studio album “Midnights” on Friday, Oct. 21. “Midnights” is Swift’s fifth album in just two and a half years following “Folklore” and “Evermore,” the sister albums that were surprise releases in July and December of 2020 and Swift’s first two rerecorded albums “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version),” released in April and November of 2021. 

The album was released at midnight EST just like many of Swift’s past releases but this time with a special surprise. Swift released a calendar that included all of the exciting events that were coming along with “Midnights” including music videos and talk show appearances.

Listed on the calendar for 3 a.m. EST on Oct. 21, was a “special very chaotic surprise” with no further details. Hundreds of fans stayed up late to see what the surprise was and they were not disappointed. At 3 a.m. fans were met with “Midnights (3 a.m. Edition)” which included seveb brand new tracks making “Midnights” go from a 13-track album to a 20-track album.

After listening to the album for just under two months the track that still has a place in my heart is track 13 titled “Mastermind.” The song perfectly encapsulated Swift’s talent for songwriting and being able to really relate to her listeners.

The song tells the story of someone who considers themselves a mastermind, someone who laid the groundwork for the perfect plan, designed to get the attention of the person they wanted to be with and watched as “the dominoes cascaded in a line.” The song is written with jaw-dropping lyrics such as “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” “strategy sets the scene for the tale” and even uses the word “Machiavellian” in the line “I’m only cryptic and Machiavellian ‘cause I care.” The bridge of the song truly tops the whole song off as it follows the character through their childhood and how they became so clever. The bridge starts with “No one wanted to play with me as a little kid,” and follows how it was all designed from the start to make people love them and make it seem effortless with none of it ever being accidental. The end of the song reveals the truth, that the mastermind’s subject knew the entire time.

The track has resonated with so many people that the song has 56.6k videos posted underneath it on TikTok, with tens of thousands of people describing their “Mastermind” moments throughout their lives.

“Midnights (3 a.m. Edition)” brings seven brand new songs to the table and they do not disappoint including the titles “The Great War,” “Paris,” “High Infidelity,” and “Dear Reader.” The song that most sticks out to me is track 19 “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” it truly shows Swift’s ability to keep fans encapsulated in her music and her way of storytelling in her words using just the right amount of detail where fans can make connections to her previous works.

In “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” Swift says, “And I d*mn sure never would’ve danced with the devil at 19, and the god honest truth is that the pain was heaven” as well as “Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.”

In using 19, it references the song “Dear John” from her 2010 album “Speak Now.” The story in “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” tells the story of one of Swift’s relationships she had when she was 19 and how that truly made her feel and how it still haunts her even 13 years later.

My personal favorite song from the album is “Mastermind” but it is closely followed by the 3 a.m. track “Glitch.” “Glitch” is a song that follows the love story of two people who were supposed to be just friends and how the lover telling the story thinks there’s been a glitch in the system. The beat and melody along with the stunning vocals from Swift encapsulated me in the song making it one of my favorites on the album.

The album is an absolute rollercoaster, housing songs that rip your heart out as well as songs that make you wanna get up and dance. Coming at just the right time for the winter season, ‘Midnights” is now available on all streaming services.