Foggy like a poppy meadow
She is the most influential singer in the world
Quelle: Universal Music
Taylor Swift has released her new album, Midnights. It should be about sleepless nights and tormenting thoughts. But it doesn’t sound like that at all – fortunately. She got inspiration from a well-known singer.
WWhen Taylor Swift releases a new album, success is almost certain. The artist has won prizes almost every time at the MTV Awards in recent years. This year three for their music videos. Her new album “Midnights” is now available on Spotify. It was released in the US at midnight, of course. But a few hours later, the artist surprised with a second version. She put songs online that didn’t make it onto the album. This “3am Edition” is also available for streaming.
In the 13 songs released first, Taylor Swift sings, as she says herself, about 13 sleepless nights that run through her life. The advance notice spoke of night terrors and sweaty dreams. Of the demons we face when we can’t sleep. But after this torment, this uneasy struggle, the songs don’t listen. On the contrary. As always, Taylor Swift sounds like a flowery childhood memory to hide in. Except that this time it’s more poppies from which opiates are fuming. The album sounds a bit more muted than usual, but still reminds of a fairy tale. Like when she says “meet me at midnight”.
The album pulls right in. Taylor Swift is a master of pop catchy tunes. It starts with a blurry sound in “Lavender Haze”. Lavender, soothing like chamomile or valerian. But the song is not soporific. Rather, it flatters you. Like dancing in a steam bath. A feeling that also runs through the other songs. The sounds don’t seem threatening, like a nightmare. At most the lyrics when Swift sings in “Anti-Hero”:
„I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money / She thinks I left them in the will / The family gathers ‚round and reads it / And then someone screams out / ‚She‘s laughing up at us from hell!‘“
In German:
“I have this dream that my daughter-in-law is killing me for the money / She thinks I left them something in the will / The family gathers and reads it / And then someone yells out / ‘She’s laughing up at us from hell !’”
Matching the sound and the bedroom theme, Taylor Swift teams up with the queen of melancholic sounds. She sings the song “Snow on the Beach” together with Lana Del Rey. And that’s how it sounds. Like floating on an air mattress in a large bathtub against which very gentle waves are beating. Lulled in, you drift on through the whole album. A sound that also starts the first of the additional tracks. The beginning of “The Great War” sounds just as opium-drunk as the songs of the “Summertime Sadness” singer. But in the catchy pop chorus it sounds like Swift again.
Swift gets personal
Some songs are reminiscent of the young Taylor Swift. Who sang about Romeo and Juliet and white horses. For example, when she strings together keywords for love stories in melodic staccato. In “Question…?” she sings: “Good Girl, Sad Boy, Big City, Wrong Choices.”
Taylor Swift is a good storyteller. She writes her lyrics and the screenplays for her music videos herself. It’s part of her success. Especially since it is often their own stories that affect their love life. Swifties know, as her followers call themselves, that she sings about her ex-boyfriend Harry Styles in “Out of Style”. In “Midnights” she now takes up a childhood trauma that she already talked about on stage. When she was little nobody wanted to play with her. She started writing songs.
The Mastermind reads: “No one wanted to play with me as a little kid / So I’ve been schemed like a criminal eversince / To make them love me and make it seem effortless.” nobody wanted to play with me / So I’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since / To get her to love me and make it seem effortless.”
This accessibility has garnered her millions of fans. 91.3 million people follow her on Twitter. The reach and power of the Taylor Swift became clear at the latest in the Netflix documentary “Miss Americana”. At one point, she wrestles with herself, her family, and her management when she tweets against Donald Trump. Everyone advises her against it, she had never been political before. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why so many can agree on them. But she tweets. Donald Trump, until then also a fan of hers, made a statement to the press that he liked her music a little less now.
The 32-year-old knows what she’s doing. “Midnights” will probably bring her more awards. The release date is well chosen. It’s the right soundtrack to rock through the fall.