Taylor Swift returned to pop on Friday with the debut of her 10th studio album, a record called “Midnights” inspired by her late-night thoughts, and she also released a video of her “nightmare scenarios” in the genre of a horror flick.
The 32-year-old singer-songwriter described the 13-track “Midnights” as “a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows.“
“Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights,” Swift wrote on Instagram.
The pop record followed folk albums “Folklore” and “Evermore,” which Swift recorded while quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Folklore” was named album of the year at the Grammys in 2021.
The first single from “Midnights,” called “Anti-Hero,” was released with a video starring Swift as a woman alone at night in a 1970s home invaded by ghosts. She later appears in a coffin at her own funeral.
“Watch my nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time,” Swift said about the video.
Another song, “Snow On The Beach,” featured backing vocals by Lana Del Rey, a singer Swift said she had long admired. “Lavender Haze,” was inspired by a term Swift said she first heard on television series “Mad Men” about being in love.
The “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood” singer, who has won 11 Grammys during her career, also revealed on Instagram overnight that she was releasing seven additional songs that did not make it onto the new record.
Initial reviews from critics were positive.
“Her tenth album returns to the dazzling synth-pop of records like ‘1989’ and ‘Reputation,’ with lyrics caught between a love story and a revenge plot,” Rolling Stone magazine said.
In the Los Angeles Times, pop music critic Mikael Wood said the “Midnights” album “heralds the return of a pop music mastermind.”
—Reporting by Sarah Mills, Mae-Louise Gumuchian and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and David Gregorio
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