Midnights Mayhem with Swift

Rory Garofalo, 12th grade

On October 21^st 2022 Taylor Swift released her 10^th studio album “Midnights”. Following her announcement of it at this year’s VMAs back in late August. Dropping the dim lit album cover which pictures a closeup of the singer-songwriter holding a lighter with a flame illuminating her face, detailing her smudged blue eyeshadow and classic red lip. The picture was bordered with white, on the left of the picture tracks were listed 1-13 although unnamed. This was a launch to the “Midnights” era.

On Tik Tok throughout October, Swift began her series “Midnights Mayhem with Me”. Without a pattern, throughout the nights leading up to the release date, at midnight Swift posted a video on her Tik Tok. These videos consisted of her in front of a maroon curtain sitting in a chair as she rolled a golden bingo cage. Every night she would roll the cage, pull out a number 1-13 and announce a track. Each night, various fan theories and chaos ensued. The last track announced was Track 4 “Snow on the Beach”. The chaos that came from that last track announcement was the final four words she uttered: “Featuring Lana Del Rey”. Swifties and Lana Del Rey fans alike’s excitement went through the roof. This collab has been long awaited due to fan theories arising earlier in the year from a picture of the two hanging out posted on Del Rey’s private Instagram.

On October 21^st the album came out. Along with an additional treat of the music video for the lead single “Anti-Hero”. The first thing to note is this album marked the singer-songwriter’s return to pop music for the first time since 2019. During the pandemic Swift ventured into a more alternative sound with more of a focus on the lyrics.

The album was met with immediate success. Debuted at the top of the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. This release made HISTORY as Swift was the first artist in history to occupy all top 10 spots of the billboard top 10 for songs/singles. This was also the first time in HISTORY that no male artists were present on the Top 10. The album also broke Spotify’s streaming record for most streamed album in a day. The previous record was held by Drake with his 2021 album “Certified Lover Boy” which had 153 million global streams in a day. Swift’s album overtook this record by having 184.6 million global streams on release day.

The hype around Swift continues. On October 25^th Swift dropped the video for the 9^th track on her album, “Bejeweled”. This video was a take on the classic Cinderella story.

The most exciting thing to be announced so far was Taylor Swift’s plans for 2023. On November 1^st, Swift announced on Good Morning America that starting in March of next year she would embark on her “The Eras Tour”. This tour is described to explore all albums and years of Swift’s career. On June 16^th and June 17^th of 2023 Taylor Swift will be here in Pittsburgh at Acrisure Stadium. Meet her at midnight.