At midnight on October 21st, Taylor Swift released her tenth studio album, Midnights. The singer told the world to “meet [her] at midnight” and boy did they ever! Surpassing over 184 million streams on Spotify within 24 hours, Midnights quickly became the most streamed album on Spotify ever. 

Despite being the most hyped album of the year and breaking three Spotify records in a day, Midnights fell flat when it came to the listening experience. While there are notable songs on the album, the rest did not deliver. Although fun and flirty, Midnights lacks the lyrical depth of Swift’s previous albums, falling short of masterpieces like Folklore and Evermore.

Perhaps the most anticipated song on the album due to its Lana Del Rey feature, Snow On The Beach, may as well not have had Del Rey as a singing credit at all, as her part is little more than background vocalization. However, Snow On The Beach still manages to capture all the floaty, light weighted feeling of falling in love with the same person over and over. 

For all its shortcomings, Midnights is still catchy enough to dance to. Karma is a light-hearted, upbeat number that “feels like a breeze in your hair on the weekend,” as sung by Swift, while Bejeweled thrusts the audience into a club, dancing and at the center of attention. 

Overall, it is not a bad album, but not outstanding in the context of Swift’s previous work. Midnights, for all its triumphs, is still just mid.