By Kara Thompson

Taylor Swift set the stage for a fun-girl fall — and a healthy dose of self-loathing — with the  release of her tenth studio album, “Midnights.” 

“Midnights,” which dropped at midnight on Oct. 21, is a 13-track album about “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life,” according to the artist’s Instagram. 

“I love it so much, I have not stopped listening to it since it came out,” said Ananyaa Malhotra, a junior English and communications double major.

Sophomore biology major Emma Flint agreed. 

“I’m really happy with the way it turned out,” she said. “I think it might be my new favorite album that she’s produced.”

In a departure from the indie theme of her past two albums, Swift’s new album returned to a more familiar pop sound from the mid-2010s. The indie, fictional story-telling feel of “Folklore” and “Evermore” is gone, replaced by a more personal look at her life and experiences. 

“My favorite type of songs are sad songs that sound happy, which is this whole album,” she said. “I’m just dancing and then you listen to the song and you’re like wait, Taylor Swift hates herself too.” 

Flint also said she relates to many of the lyrics and themes of this album’s songs.

“The whole idea of not expecting love to come and then it just kind of shows up, and you don’t really know what’s gonna happen…that kind of speaks to me,” she said. “There’s gonna be something that comes in your life that you’re not prepared for, and it could be the best thing that happens.”

Malhotra tried to listen to the lyrics on a deeper-than-surface level as well.

“The lyrics are really strong and tell a really interesting story of what keeps you up at night,” she said. “As an English major, I have been [doing a] literary analysis of the whole thing, and I think it’s an interesting critique on her whole career and this perfect Miss America or America’s sweetheart image that she’s been putting out throughout her entire career.”

“I feel like this whole album is kind of supposed to subvert that,” Malhotra continued, “and be like, ‘these are the things that were actually going on in my life, but I couldn’t tell you because they didn’t fit that image I was putting out.’” 

At 3 a.m. on the 21st, just three hours after “Midnights” had dropped, Swift made a special announcement. There were rumors that she would announce a tour or a double album. In actuality, Swift released seven more songs, titling the release “Midnights: 3 AM Edition.” 

Some fans, including Flint, stayed up to see what Swift’s announcement would be and were happy with the additional songs she dropped. 

“I thought the way she split the album kind of worked out perfectly because the seven songs are completely different [from] the rest of the album and how it feels,” Flint said. 

Some fans were upset at the seven new songs though. On iTunes, there were complaints from those who had pre-ordered the album, who then had to either re-purchase the 3AM edition or purchase the new songs separately in order to own them. 

So far, Swift has two music videos that have been released from the album: Anti-Hero, which dropped the same day the album was released, and Bejeweled, which dropped on Oct. 24. 

“I really liked the Bejeweled music video because there [were] a lot of “Speak Now” hints in it, like Easter eggs,” Flint said. “That was really cool to see as a fan who’s been with her for a while, seeing how she was introducing old stuff into these new music videos.”

Malhotra also liked the “Anti-Hero” music video, because it helps to break down Swift’s perfect image and show her demons. 

The “Midnights” release broke several records, including the most-streamed album in a single day on Spotify and the all-time biggest album released globally on Apple Music. “Midnights” also had the single-largest sales week for a vinyl album since 1991 when that data started being collected, according to Entertainment Weekly. 

Swift is on track to have her biggest debut ever, with the album also being her most-streamed on Spotify. 

“I’m very excited for this era,” Malhotra said.

Featured photo: Flint listens to Swift’s album Midnights” in her dorm on Nov. 3. Photo by Eliana Kindred.