Considering The Lobster with 'Midnights'

by Colin Doherty

Taylor Swift is just okay and that’s okay with me. She isn’t Emily Dickinson nor is she Joni Mitchell, she’s a pop star who plays stadiums, makes fun music, and seems like a nice person to grab a quick lunch with. Is that not enough? 

Since folklore was released two years ago, the general consensus of “Taylor Swift just writes pop songs about boys” has somehow advanced to “Taylor Swift is one of the greatest singer-songwriters of our time.” Of course, that first statement is ignorant; Brushing off Taylor Swift’s body of work as “songs about boys” is rooted in hostile prejudice and incomprehension. However, claiming that Taylor Swift, the woman who wrote “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood,” is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation is like claiming a devil dog

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is on par with a lobster. Obviously, a lobster has greater nutrients, a level of class, and is possibly accompanied by a waterfront view. Meanwhile, a devil dog is packed with sugar, mindlessly eaten, and is far from the “high society” that lobster exists in. Both are delicious, yet exist in completely different lanes. Understood? Basically, Taylor Swift is a devil dog and Emily Dickinson is a lobster. 

To be clear, I love Taylor Swift. “Our Song” was the first song bought on my iPod Nano, “Ronan” was the first song I ever cried to, and one of my proudest moments was trying to get my third grade classmates to wear the color red on the day Red was released. (No, I did not get many participants and yes, I still have a hard time interacting with men.) However, I am puzzled by the belief that Taylor Swift is anything more than an entertaining pop star. Even folklore, a consistently well-written and thematically-beautiful record, is hardly near the pedestal that music critics and musicians have stuck it up on. Just in the last month, The Times claimed she was “the Bob Dylan of our age.” Raising anybody up like that, only promises one thing: disappointment. 

On Midnights, it’s not only evident that Taylor Swift is not the elite poet that many claim her to be, but it also suggests that she has given up on the one thing that made her stand out: her ability to evolve. With each Taylor Swift record, there is something new to be excited about. Whether it was the shift from country to pop on 2012’s Red or the shift from “good girl” to “bad girl” on 2019’s Reputation, Taylor Swift has never made the same album twice. Midnights does nothing interesting to push the needle and even goes so far to show a digression in her ability to create something compelling.

Midnights is an album that takes influence from the music the artist has influenced herself. Particularly, the themes and vocal inflections of Swift-disciples like Billie Eilish and Lorde creep throughout the overdramatic tracklist. For instance, “Vigilante Shit,” a lazy and unconvincing track where Taylor Swift learns how to say a swear word, sounds like a Billie Eilish outtake from 2019 that was never finished. There is nothing wrong with taking advice from your own students, but when it comes off as so forced, it becomes unfashionable and extremely “How do you do, fellow kids?”

By no means am I trying to claim this album is bad because it certainly isn’t. My problem with Midnights is not with Taylor Swift, it’s with the audience of music journalists who have gotten so bored that they need to believe pop is anything more than what it really is. Whether it’s the evolved consumer culture or the shift of politics in culture, turning something small into something larger than necessary is a common theme in the new 20’s. We do it with practical accessories, stand-up comedy, and even horror movies. If it’s not expensive or political, it has to at least be intelligent.

Folklore had Taylor Swift telling stories, building fantasies, and creating an interesting cast of characters. It’s a beautiful record that proves that every once in a while she really has it in her. If there’s one thing that Midnights does well is it's reminder that sometimes she doesn’t have it. Is this her fault? No. Midnights is still an enjoyable record, that has its highs and its lows. It’s a pop record and that’s good enough. It isn’t genius, it isn’t revelatory, and it sure isn’t a lobster.

1. It’s come to my attention that the “devil dog” is primarily consumed in the northeast and readers outside of the region (remember, Jock’s reach is so unbeatable that we speak to many state lines and international borders) are unaware of the treat.

A devil dog is a snack that consists of two layers of chocolate cake type things with cream in between. No, it’s not a whoopie pie. It’s very different.

I like devil dogs. I used to steal them from my mother’s secret stash of snacks that were intended for school snacks. I love my mother and respect her confidence but I don’t understand why she thought she could get away with such a thing. If there was a devil dog in the house, I was going to find it. What’s hard to understand?

Now, could I have changed this choice of snack to a more recognized treat? Here’s the thing: I wrote this extremely thoughtful write-up in the span of 40ish minutes, had very little interest in editing, and felt that there was no substitute for such a well-crafted metaphor.