Hello! I waited to write about Taylor Alison Swift’s tenth studio album, Midnights, until I was under in the ideal creative circumstances, which for me is post sinus surgery.
I like it! If you’d like to know more than that, here’s what I’ve been thinking about.
Listening to Midnights when you have more money than you usually do.
Great!
The way people talk about Taylor Swift’s wealth is weird to me. She’s not going to stop taking private jets, and I think that’s a good thing because it would really fucking annoying for flight attendants if Taylor Swift showed up on a commercial flight and they had to deal with that. Focus on structural change over individual actions cuties :)
When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter how many DSA meetings I attend. I am grateful that Taylor Swift’s parents made a lot of money and bought a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania (ps I wasn’t expecting it, but “Christmas Tree Farm” is a great karaoke sing if you have the opportunity.) I’m grateful Taylor was like, that’s the best you can do? and the family picked up and moved to Nashville. Rich people will continue to exist, and I’m glad one of them is talented enough to write “Mirrorball.”
But if there is one thing about Taylor that is under-examined, it’s the way money has affected her songwriting. I don’t have anything interesting to say about it yet, but I do know that last week, I got a confirmation that I’ll be in a much better financial situation soon. I also got sinus surgery, if you hadn’t heard. In that week, I listened to Midnights all the way through for the first time in a bit (minus “Vigilante Shit,” of course,) and to quote the phrase coined by Taylor Swift, it hits different.
I noticed so much I hadn’t thought of before I’m not ascribing cause and effect to anything but I began thinking of the album slightly differently. These are songs written by a rich, beautiful, talented woman in love with an impoverished, beautiful, talented man. (Shocking, I know) with a very solid foundation.
The whole what will Taylor write about when she’s happy? thing, which I wasn’t concerned about and anyway longterm monogamy comes with its own challenges that are mostly unexplored in pop music and I want people to try even though Lemonade already exists.
Now we have the answer. She’s going back unburdening herself of jealousy, shame, etc she’s kept inside. She’s writing songs about her songs! Taylor Swift…self referential? You don’t say!
Taylor Swift and I have a lot in common because we were both born in 1989 and soon, money will be something we can relate to each other about. Based on her lyrics, I think I will be richer than Joe Alwyn, so Taylor will finally have a rich person besides Blake Lively to talk to.
I won’t be going through periods living paycheck to paycheck, which is life changing. I will probably still write about Anwar Hadid, but maybe the space in my mind that worried about rent will be free for me to become better at writing about Anwar Hadid, if that’s even possible because I’m already so good.
I assume no one reading this newsletter has a despicable amount of money, but if you do, please reply to this email. I’d love to chat.
Vigilante Shit
A skip. I have no idea why they decided to put it in between “Question” and “Bejeweled,: but it really kills the vibe. I made this playlist without it for personal use, but I am here to help My People.
The Lana of It All
Respectfully, if you were hoping for some song where Lana gets a verse where she mentions some street in El Segundo and joins the chorus or whatever, you are stupid. I got what I wanted. Seems like Lana was just hanging our and they tried adding her on some vocals because I guess one or both of them must be with Jack Antonoff at all times. I think it sounds great! The “Now I’m All For You like Janet/Can this be a real thing? Can it?” does not work without Lana’s vocals.
“Snow on the Beach” is a highlight on Midnights for me and what matters about this song is that it is actually good and enhanced by Lana’s vocals, not that she gets 44% of the time on the mic or whatever people wanted. We’re talking about two of the most prolific songwriters in the past decade plus of pop who are each currently at the most productive stages of their career working primarily with the same producer. I hope it’s the first of many. Can this be a real thing? Can it?
Can you imagine a Taylor/Lana song about a dive bar? I’d be fascinated. I find it difficult to imagine what a conversation between Taylor and Lana would be, which I think is mostly due to Lana being a celebrity who is hard to plug into celebrity situations because she’s on her own planet, which is somehow both Tulsa and Los Angeles. I really do wonder if they’ve talked about when Lana sang at the Kimye rehearsal dinner at Versailles, though
Review of Joe and Taylor (copied and pasted from review of Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst.
I’m happy for these famous blonde people who do seem to really love each other as far as I can see.
xoxo trisssa