That is the experience I have had with Taylor. I own copies of "1989" and "Folklore", but I was not moved in any way by "Reputation" or "Lover" in between. Taylor is a bit of an enigma in that way, and with "Midnights" coming our way without a single being released to preview where Taylor's sights are set, it makes for a rather nervous listen. Without knowing if this record is more indie-folk, or a return to pop, or maybe dream pop instead, it feels like the needle on my anticipation gauge got rusted in place. The spring has tension, but nothing is moving. We're sort of stuck in place.
Taylor is not, however, as the late night meditations that led to the genesis of this album have brought her in yet another new direction. This record is a return to pop music, but not the bright and shiny kind that makes people feel good and dance. This is pop music filtered through the midnight moonlight, glimmering with a silvery hue that highlights the shadows and makes every shape look like a demon creeping in for your soul.
There's something fascinating about cold pop music. Taylor is merely the biggest name to venture down this path, but modern times have been filled with music that plays (hopefully) sticky hooks against the bleak cynicism of a hopeless generation. Every generation has its own sound, defined by the trials and tribulations that forge them. The 80s were the synth age, as the computing revolution brought synthetic reality into our consciousness. The 90s had teen-pop, because things were peaceful and happy, and we wanted to have a good time.
That isn't possible anymore. From economic crashes to the bubbling rise of fascism, the world is not a happy place. There is little reason to have hope in our fellow man, not when we see the ugly side not just being more obvious, but being a source of pride. There is so much cruelty now in the world, and it is being rewarded as we mistake it for strength.
Writing an album that is downbeat and dour fits that like an opera glove, but it's one we can't dramatically strip off to reveal porcelain skin and vividly painted nails. This feeling is one that burrows inside, infecting our hearts and lungs, billowing out like a cloud of poisoned air when we try to explain this all away as a phase.
"Midnights" fits the tone and tenor of the times, but there is something missing from it. When you're making darker music, you still need to find a connection to the audience. Whether that is an air of depression that makes people not feel so alone in their own, or a melancholy that focuses on those moonlit silver linings, it's an emotional sound at heart. That is what "Midnights" doesn't do for me. Between just how artificial the production is, and Taylor's strengths as a singer, the album doesn't sound sad enough for what I think it should be.
In a year where I have been attracted to music that can well be described as 'emo', Taylor Swift making an emo-pop album should be right up my alley. There are moments here and there she hits the mark, and I can't help but be won over, but it doesn't last long enough, or come as consistently as I need. The record is certainly growing on me, and I like it more with each passing listen, but it isn't in the visceral way where I feel my own black clouds as a climate Taylor and I are sharing.
Taylor Swift is still the most interesting figure in pop music right now, and she's too good a songwriter to not have a few gems on a record. "Anti-Hero" is glorious, "Snow On The Beach" is a sad bop, and I love the forlorn "Maroon". On the expanded edition, "The Great War" is maybe the best song of this whole style experiment. I'm not sure how this record is going to sit once the weather gets colder, and my mood turns even darker. Perhaps then it will hit me full-force in the chest. Right now, I'm intrigued and impressed, but not yet ready for all her "Vigilante Shit". Check in with my in December, and perhaps we'll see if a disappointment can still be one of the best albums of the year.
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