Here’s today’s playlist. It is essentially Extended version of my own “Midnights”, Each of the 13 tracks is arranged as a response to previous Swift songs.
(Read while listening on Spotify, find the YouTube link below. )
Read on for 26 songs to discover how Swift’s songwriting, love affairs, vocal style, and aesthetic preferences have all evolved over time. G rated romantic “love story” I’m in my 30s and tired of the ’50s’ [expletive] “They Want Me” in the “Midnight” Opener “Lavender Haze” New York City, Swift’s adopted home, shifts from an idealized abstraction to a more tangible place of heartbreak. “Welcome to New York” To “Maroon” narrator “Tears fall on the guitar” I can feel the wrinkled woman singing in the distance “Midnight Rain” She realizes that love and marriage don’t solve all problems. In Swift’s long chronology, “Enchanted” Gradually, yes, you become disillusioned.
Instrumentation and production choices also show evolution, not only in how banjos and guitars morph into drum machines and synthesizers, but also in comparison to her first “official” pop album, 1989. Even though you can hear how dark much of “Midnights” sounds. Jack Antonoff produced both the bouncy “How You Get the Girl” and the subsequent “Question…?” It feels like
But by losing illusion, Swift gains strength, perspective, and resilience. This isn’t a bad tradeoff.of “Nothing new” Written when she was 22 and re-recorded with Phoebe Bridgers in 2021 for the re-release of her 2012 album Red, she worries about her future. Ten years later, she wields her wisdom in her edgy “You’re on Your Own Kid,” telling her younger self, “You can face this.” .
In the spirit of the Eras Tour, we hope this playlist is a testament to the depth and emotional edge of Swift’s catalog. If you’re a Swiftie of hers who already has the card, it’s a little easier to see the tangible connections between these songs, but if you only know one side of Swift, this playlist is for her various It can also serve as a crash course in change. .
