Taylor Swift Has Mentioned ‘Midnight’ in 6 of Her Other Songs
At the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift announced that she will be releasing a new album. She later revealed her next album is titled Midnights. This will be Swift’s 10th studio album, and her first album of entirely new music since her 2020 album Evermore.
As an album, Midnights is foreshadowed to be an autobiographical recounting of multiple nights at midnight that are significant to Swift. Fans of Swift know that the singer-songwriter loves writing about things that happen late at night, and she already has six songs that mention the word “midnight.”
Taylor Swift will release an album called ‘Midnights’
While Swift announced a new album is coming at the 2022 MTV VMAs, she did not release specific details about the upcoming LP until midnight on Aug. 29.
On social media, Swift revealed the album’s title, cover art, and released a description of the album’s concept.
The album cover features Swift igniting a lighter while wearing bright blue eye shadow. Another image shows Swift holding her face in one hand and a black landline phone in another hand with the album’s summary written above Swift.
In the album’s description, Swift wrote:
“This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves.
Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out on October 21. Meet me at midnight.”
Taylor Swift first used the word ‘midnight’ in her album ‘Red’
In Swift’s entire discography, events that happen late at night or in the early hours of the morning appear frequently.
Swift’s first three albums Taylor Swift, Fearless, and Speak Now do not specifically reference “midnight.” She references the time of day for the first time in the song “22” on her 2012 album Red.
In the song’s opening verse, Swift sings, “It feels like a perfect night/ For breakfast at midnight.”
Swift references “midnight” twice in her 2014 album 1989, first in the song “Style” and then again in one of the album’s bonus tracks, “You Are in Love.”
In “Style,” Swift opens the song with “Midnight/ You come and pick me up, no headlights/ Long drive/ Could end in burning flames or paradise.”
“You Are in Love” incorporates the word in a similar way as “22,” with Swift singing, “Small talk, he drives/ Coffee at midnight.”
The singer’s recent albums feature the popular word
Swift released the album Reputation in 2017, and the word “midnights” is used repeatedly in one song. “New Year’s Day” is the last song on the tracklist, and “midnights” is referenced in the song’s chorus.
“I want your midnights/ But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day,” Swift sings in “New Year’s Day.”
The singer’s next album Lover was released in 2019 and does not feature the word “midnight.” She uses the word next in her 2020 album Folklore on the song “The Last Great American Dynasty.”
In the song’s bridge, Swift describes the song’s subject, socialite Rebekah Harkness, singing, “They say she was seen on occasion/ Pacing the rocks, staring out at the midnight sea.”
Swift once again uses the word “midnight” on her 2020 album Evermore in the song’s seventh track, “Happiness.”
Before the song’s bridge, Swift sings, “There is a glorious sunrise/ Dappled with the flickers of light/ From the dress I wore at midnight, leave it all behind/ And there is happiness.”
These six songs do not encompass all the times Swift has referenced “middle of the night,” “2 a.m.,” and other late-at-night elements. However, based on these six songs, it is clear that “midnight” has been a running motif throughout Swift’s music for quite some time.
