You stay up until 11:59 pm, pacing your room, and waiting for the big hand on the clock to turn to 12 am for Taylor Swift’s new album to be released. As the clock turns 12 and you begin to listen to her songs, you wonder, was it worth staying up till 12 to listen to Swift’s Midnight album? Are the songs everything you pictured they would be? Let’s see what the people have to say about their top five favorite songs from her album.

#1 Anti Hero

Swift’s song, “Anti Hero,” was ranked first at 48% on the survey I made. Swift exclaims how this song is, “one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.” The meaning behind this song is about Swift and how she has been handling her insecurities along her journey of being an artist. Swift talks about how she felt a lot of self-hatred and how she, “struggles with the idea of not feeling like a person.” 

After I listened to this song, I looked closely at some of the important lines such as, “I wake up screaming from dreaming, one day I’ll watch as you’re leaving, ’cause you got tired of my scheming.” Swift is emphasizing the fact that she makes irrational decisions that affect others, and those people have still stayed for her. Yet, eventually, they will leave if she continues to hurt them.

The next line that I analyzed was, “ I’m the problem, it’s me, […] I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror.” Swift is trying to draw a visual to listeners that it is hard for her to look at herself because she does not recognize herself.

Sophomore Kat Valeri was super eager to share her opinion on this song. She says, “It has a catchy and pleasing beat to listen to. Some of the lyrics can resonate with different things and people’s lives like lines, ‘All of the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room and I wake up screaming from dreaming one day I’ll watch as you’re leaving.’ Overall, this is a really catchy song and people seem to like it a lot since I see it everywhere.”

#2 You’re On Your Own Kid

This song was ranked the second highest on a survey that I took for Taylor Swift’s new album. But why? This question made me want to analyze her song to find the deeper meaning behind the powerful words she uses. 

This song represents Swift and her journey on how she got to where she is today. If you are to look at a few different lines in her song such as, “I hosted parties and starved my body,” it relates to her old album “1989.” This was when she had gone to a party, making it easy for the listener to imply that she is talking from past experience. There have also been theories that Taylor made this song so it could represent all of her other albums that she has created and show many different times in her life. 

Let’s see what the Swifty fans have to say about this song.

Sophomore Neve Bonura-Learnard, Swift’s number-one fan says that “This song deeply resonates with many people because of its connection to growing up. The idea of going through life feeling you have to fend for yourself is a growth experience. It takes time but this song explains a lifelong journey from struggles to healing and accepting one’s inner child.” Although Bonura-Learnard did not resonate her life experience with Swift’s, she makes a great point in describing how the song is very well-liked by people who can and can not relate to this song from its catchy rhythm.

An anonymous Pentucket senior shared their opinion on this song; “hypothetically speaking about graduating and taking on your independence portrays the emotions that carry with these situations, like the excitement, nostalgia, fear, relief, and many more. It’s a concept as humans we all experience and is only the beginning of what’s to come and who you bloom to be in this world.”

#3 Maroon

The song “Maroon,” by Swift is talking about love and emotions. She uses colors to describe the emotions she feels and to reveal how she felt at the moment. 

This is not the first time that Swift has used colors to describe her emotions. Swift’s song, “Red,” also uses vivid colors to paint a visual for the listener. The song, “Maroon” in Swift’s new album is about her past relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal and the memories she has from it. 

She expresses her emotions through colors in the lines, “The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine into me, and how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was maroon.” Since Swift was blushing, she visibly felt strongly about this man. The color red can represent passion, and that is exactly what Swift is talking about in her song. 

After listening closely, I was able to improvise that Taylor Swift  had broken up with her boyfriend through the lyrics, “The lips I used to call home, and I wake with your memory over me, that’s a real legacy, legacy.” Swift reveals to the audience that she and her boyfriend are history and what once was between them is now nothing. Ultimately, the color hues that Swift describes in this song represent her feelings towards her ex and how they have altered over time.

This song has a very catchy beat that lures the listener to want to read more. When drums are added to the beat during the bridge of her song, the listener can improvise that the lyrics are going to be more important. Many people like this song because they say that it reminds them of her Red album, which was also about her ex Jake Gyllenhaal.

#4 Snow On The Beach

Everyone was so excited to hear that Swift and Lana Del Ray were going to be singing a song together. However, what society thought was going to be Ray and Swift singing together turned out to be Swift being the star and Ray singing the background. Even though many people were disappointed by Ray’s lack of an appearance in this song, the monotone sound and the vibe of this song lured many people in.

As you probably may have discovered by now, Swift writes a lot of her songs based on her past relationships. “Snow On The Beach,” was about a love interest as well. Swift’s lyrics, “You wanting me tonight feels impossible,” emphasize how Swift is feeling about her relationship. She has strong feelings for this guy and this feels too good to be true considering Swift’s past luck in her relationships.

Sophomore Kailyn Cray happens to love Swift’s new album, especially this song. Cray describes how she likes this song: “It is such a meaningful song with a slow essence, and I think what really captured my heart was how similar this song sounds like Taylor’s “Folklore” and “Evermore” albums, which are my favorite albums written by her.”

#5 Karma

Swift believes that Karma is real which is the main focus of her “Reputation” album. She exclaims how “Karma is about a state of mind.” 

She also expresses how she loved writing this song from a “perspective of feeling really happy, really proud of the way your life is, feeling like this must be a reward for doing stuff right.” 

 Swift’s song, “Karma,” is about her being genuinely happy and feeling rewarded for where you are in life. Rumor has it that this song is about Swift’s record deal with Scooter Braun. As many Swift fans know, she has recently re-recorded her “Fearless” album. This song is about how Braun sold her right to her music for his personal gain.

If the listener looks closely at this song, they can analyze that Swift is talking about someone who hurt her, and now she is getting her revenge.

The lyrics, “You’re talking shi*, for the he** of it, addicted to betrayal but you’re relevant,” emphasize the fact that this person had made a negative impact on Swift’s life, but she is now able to move on.

 She then proceeds to write, “Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend, karma’s a relaxing thought, aren’t you envious that for you it’s not?” Swift is able to accept what has happened with Braun and move on to being free-spirited and worry- less. 

The Importance of Swift’s Songs

Before I analyzed Swift’s lyrics, I just thought almost every song of hers is about her past relationships and her love life. Now that I took a deeper look into Swift’s songs I have realized that each and every song contains a different meaning, emotion, or event in her life that helped her become the person she is today. Whether Swift is feeling insecure, confident, or happy, she is able to be truthful with her audience, and most importantly, herself. Swift’s songs have positively impacted many generations and will continue to inspire others to accept the emotions that they are feeling.