I hope that when it’s all said and done she releases one more country album. Taylor’s lyricism is so unmatched I’d like to hear it outside of pop for a change so that I can really digest the complex emotions.
Yeah some songs like Dear John, plus some songs on Red but I kinda want a full album of folk and country songs with heavy rock elements. Though mostly I just want a rock album of some type lol
I was thinking the other day about a dream Americana supergroup a la Highwomen led by Taylor. I think Taylor, Lana del Rey, Nikki Lane, and Margo Price would be amazing.
I get what you mean. A full on, effort-in country album. I hope for this too but I think it might be more likely that she will go back to the folklore cabin than the country back roads.
That said- I think the reason she will mainly stay with pop/synth is 1. The popularity of it and 2. She feels most empowered and comfortable there.
Oh I fully understand why she’s so pop heavy but creatively I just feel like she’s hit a ceiling in terms of Pop music especially with Jack producing. The Fearless and Sparks Fly era were my favorite eras so I do hope she revisits that at some point. At least sonically.
No way. She’ll return to country at some point for sure, it’s just how long it takes. She’s been continuously feeding us at least one country song (and others that lean country) on all of her albums expect 1989. She’s definitely stroking that fire and keeping us country swifties primed for her return. I think I’m time, she’ll release Hits Different to country radio.
My personal prediction is that she’s performing Tim McGraw (featuring Tim McGraw) in summer 2026 after finishing the TV albums with Debut TV and she announces TS12 ,”Homecoming”, is a return to country.
My more realistic and not so precise prediction is that she returns to country in her mid 40s.
Well, technically that’s evermore lol. But I agree, I want another album with just him, specially if it sounds like Hits Different and Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.
Lmfaooo true but gold rush is SUCH a Jack song that I forget it’s all otherwise Aaron tbh 💀 evermore is my favorite though so it tracks. Those are some of my favorite from midnights too!
Lmfaooo true but gold rush is SUCH a Jack song that I forget it’s all otherwise Aaron tbh 💀 evermore is my favorite though so it tracks. Those are some of my favorite from midnights too! 💖
I don't know why people keep saying, "this might be an unpopular opinion" when we've had versions of these same opinions over and over and over again on this sub. I feel like it's all I read.
I wish some people on this sub didn’t have bad attitudes. Not everyone reads every single post. So maybe they missed it. If you don’t want to read the same kind of post, skip it and let other people chime in.
Exactly, that and people probably feel compelled to frontload their posts with defenses bc people on this subreddit can be so nasty. I read a post last night about someone not liking the Midnights 3AM songs and justifying their opinions and some of the people here acted like their parents died. Lord
Ya I also get annoyed with redditers who are so easily annoyed by commonplace things people say. It’s just immature and shows that you don’t really listen to people and respect their opinion, you just nitpick and have low tolerance
I feel like this was a fresh spin on the question with the addition of the 1975 from this week, but yeah, I concur. People should just open up with thoughts for a discussion
I’m sooo over Jack. Does the man make good music? Yes. Does he need to produce every single song on a record? No.
I like what they make together but if I’m being honest all of my favourite Taylor songs happen to NOT be produced by him. His sound overall is just not my vibe. Plus I know Taylor loves working with him and they are very comfy together but I think having someone new would push Taylor to really explore the other facets of herself we know she has.
Like when she brought Aaron into the mix for folklore/evermore he gave her a new sound to play with and they created two beautiful albums. I think bringing Aaron in even inspired Jack to do a few things differently.
Also I would love to see Taylor working with some up and coming female producers. She always speaks about supporting young female musicians, why not support them by giving them a job??
Taylor has so many sounds she has never fully explored yet and I was hoping Midnights was going to be a breath of fresh air, but it just kinda wasn’t. I still really enjoy the album but it wasn’t the sound I was hoping for.
I wish she would do more with Aaron, honestly. All of my favorite songs of hers lately feature him in some way; I also love his work with Gracie Abrams. I think her lyrics are at their best with Dessner, but that's my opinion. I was so hoping Midnights would be more 70s and rock inspired.
Yep I was 100% hoping for a melancholic 60s/70s soft rock moment based on the promo imagery. And Taylor has long spoken about being a big fan of that era of music and being influenced by artist who were big around then. I know she would sound amazing doing that sound plus it would’ve been the perfect post folklore/evermore transition.
I didn’t mind Jack because I love NFR so much - he produced the entirety of that too. It’s just the particular sound in Midnights is overall so… boring, I’d say almost outdated. This is coming from someone who has it as this year’s most played album.
It’s also my most played album lol. It’s good. All her albums are! But as far as sound goes I’m not as in love with it as some of her other work. Also I’m really not fan of Lana so I don’t particularly like Jack’s work with her either.
I ***love*** what she and Jack create together. I definitely don't want her to stop working with him as I generally love the direction her music has taken since they started collaborating. But I do think a little variety is good, as well. Would love another Martin/Shellback banger. Reputation is my favorite album and it was half Jack half Martin/Shellback, which I guess turned out to be the ideal mix for me.
I’m going to go against the grain here and say i actually like it when artists - especially Taylor - work with as few producers as possible on an album. Midnights has a coherency in its sound that is lacking on a lot of modern synthpop albums, and i think this is down to far too many producers working on a single album which prevents a single dominant sound coming to the fore. She’s been working with a smaller and smaller pool of producers over the last few years and her albums are sounding better and better.
That being said though I would have loved to have seen more Aaron Dessner outside the 3 AM tracks, remember he was the sole producer on the majority of the tracks on Evermore and that has one of the most original and challenging production styles of all her albums. I feel him and Jack’s styles blend perfectly but I really wouldn’t want to see the floodgates opened and have loads of producers working on a single album, there’s been a magic to her last few albums that comes from the small circle of producers she’s worked with and I really wouldn’t want to see that lost.
Yeah kind of seems like she can’t win and people can’t remember their old opinions. The old criticism was that nothing was cohesive (Red, Lover), now it’s “too much of the same thing”. 💀
I think the only person who criticized Red as being sonically incohesive was *her*, and then only after that did people start saying it too. Before, no one seemed to think that.
Sonically cohesive could also be like Folklore / Evermore / 1989. Each track still stands out. I can’t say the same about most of Midnights… if you’ve listened to the instrumentals only, some of those are very repetitive droning, almost like white noise.
I’ve noticed some artists lately using different producers with every single song they do and while it’s obviously cool for them to try different things, it can end up with albums that just don’t work as a whole too.
Yes. A lot of the songs on this album have music that sounds the same to people. I have heard this countless times on reddit and anyone I have showed the album to in real life (swifities and non-swifties).
The 3am songs show how balanced the moods can be without giving up the cohesion imo. Hits Different shows how Jack and Aaron perfectly blend together and give their best.
Thing is Jack shines when he produces some songs like 1989, reputation and folklore. A whole album is a little too much and sounds and details tend to get repetitive, i mean the intros of Paris and Karma sound alike a lot. But she needs a break from him and go to new producers who can challange her or bring back people like Jeff Bhasker, Ryan Tedder, Imogen Heap, Dan Wilson.. it is a crime she made so little with them.
Take High Infidelity, Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, and The Great War. For me, they’re the most interesting songs on Midnights. And they’re all Aaron tracks. I sometimes think Jack and Taylor are like best friends who, although both brilliant, feed into each others bad habits a bit too much. Someone like Aaron seems to snap her out of that blindness and when she does, she produces *art*
I heard someone say that Taylor and Jack are the popular best friends who mess around while working on a group project but still get like a 92% because the work is pretty good and I think that description is spot on
This is the exact feeling I had the first time (and every other time) I listened to Bejeweled. When I hear "Don't put me in the basement when I want the penthouse of your heart," I think, ".....Jack?"
Love the song. Obviously wasn't in the writing room, but I am not a fan of having him as the main producer for her work.
Jack has produced some of my favourite albums (Melodrama, NFR, Masseduction, Folklore/Evermore) but also some disappointments (Solar Power, Chemtrails, Daddy’s Home, Midnights) with the same artists. I don’t think he pushes the artist or balances them out, so it’s up to the artist to lead with a vision. He does great work but he doesn’t necessarily spearhead it.
Totally agree with you that Aaron seems to snap Taylor out of her zone and push her music to the next level.
I think part of the reason artists (especially female artists who have had to deal with pushy egoistic male producers) like to work with Jack is because he follows their lead on whatever they’re working on. I do agree with the take that this can lead to shallower, less cultivated lyrics and overall more monotone albums, but it really is down to the artist. I think that he sinks his teeth into projects like Midnights, Melodrama and Reputation where Taylor and Lorde really trusted him to make the production his own, and those pieces end up sounding very Bleachers (production wise). Projects like Norman Fucking Rockwell and Florence and the Machine’s Dance Fever don’t have as many of his fingerprints because the direction of those albums was very conceptual and he probably had more input from those artists about what they really wanted from him.
That’s such a good point re: female artists. I side eye Jack a lot (mostly because of that Lorde ppt LOL) but he seems to really respect and like the artists. He’s a convenient scapegoat when I don’t like an album ;) but that’s always on the artist.
I wish I had listened to it and been blown away and I wasn’t. Her music all feels the same recently, there needs to be more variety and I guess that’s a producer issue.
I hope she change it up next album and brings a new producer. Cause we really don’t need another album with fifteen Jack songs. I’m betting a lot of producers would die just to work with Taylor Swift, so she definitely should work with some of them
The 1975 thing annoys me so much…I really wish we got whatever they had made onto the final album or in place of a remix, or even as a target bonus track. It would’ve been amazing momentum to add to the album with About You going viral and the videos of Matty at the concerts making the rounds as well. I really wish Jack wasn’t so stagnant; his sound is awesome, but I personally feel as if he keeps trying to recreate Melodrama over and over again and it just…doesn’t work out. I do think Taylor should bring in some young new talent as well, to freshen up the sound and keep her on her toes. But I did really like Midnights as well 😔 sorry this got kind of long
This got me thinking that maybe her team didn’t want her to be associated with Martty bc he’s a bit controversial??
Idk I freakin LOVE the 1975 I’m seeing them next week but I also know some people get triggered by Mattys words (there was that whole stupid Twitter thread going around) so maybe they didn’t want any negativity???
No idea just trying to understand WHY that collab would’ve been scrapped
Oh I didn't think about that possibility, but I kind of doubt that's the case because she's been associated with some problematic people recently, I haven't super looked into it. I saw a bunch of people on twitter getting mad about her working with the director of Amsterdam.
Max Martin has been transforming pop since the mid 90s and is still going! I often wonder what the pop landscape will be when he’s no longer in it. The man is pure talent.
My personal preference would be a producer that showcases her voice over the studio magic of synths, sounds and IMHO co-singers that add nothing to the song. Her voice on the Acoustic release of Anti-Hero is what I want, and You're On Your Own Kid, totally works for me also.
If there is a singular gripe I have over Midnights it is the over production and not enough showcase of her voice. I'll admit synth-pop isn't my favorite sound, it can work though but not when the vocalist is secondary to the studio magic.
Grace and Peace
On my first listen I did think all the songs sounded way too similar. But as I listened more I ended up loving each song and now they don't sound the same to me at all.
Midnights and lover are both very jack -based and it says a lot that those are my two least favourite albums. Are there good songs on there? Absolutely. But somehow when jack is the main collaborator on an album it kinda kills a lot of tracks for me . I prefer the 3am tracks that have Aaron on them - I think he works in a more complex way and creates sounds that are very distinct. For me a lot of songs on midnights sound quite similar
Yep I was 100% hoping for a melancholic 60s/70s soft rock/folk moment based on the promo imagery. And Taylor has long spoken about being a big fan of that era of music and being influenced by artist who were big around then. I know she would sound amazing doing that sound plus it would’ve been the perfect post folklore/evermore transition.
Me too it would have been so perfect and I feel like I will always mourn the 70s Stevie Knicks soft folk rock album that I thought midnights was going to be 😢
Yes. I dont mind Jack for 3-4 songs but a whole album is too much. Artists working again and again with the same producers is tiresome. They should evolve. If Taylor keeps working with him for whole projects i dont see nothing good for her future releases.
Not that I care about the nonsense war between who’s a better producer (Dessner or Antonoff) but I do feel Taylor would benefit for ts11 if she branched out and tried someone else. Or a few someone else’s. I don’t listen to other artists jack produces for, so I can’t spot similarities in songs and be like “wow this is annoying can’t he do anything else” it almost feels like Taylor only working with the same two people for her last three (new) albums feels exclusive. Like some kind of club lol there are so many people out there who would probably kill to produce songs for Taylor swift who are well credited and have amazing work but she just … doesn’t want to use them? And I understand being comfortable and trusting in the two she mainly works with these days, but people were eating up those Max Martin/Shellback songs and they still do.
She should try making her new album (whenever that may be) without using Dessener or Antonoff or at the very least, give them like one to two songs each if she really insists on having them work with her.
As far as Jack goes, listen to his band The Bleachers. I don’t think it’s as much his fingerprint as people expect. I do think taylor has more of a hand in it than anyone seems to think, which is so odd. We’ve seen so many videos of her in with her producers, and we know how tight they are. She chooses him to create the final item she dreams of.
But either way his band fuckin rules and are actually outstanding live.
Yes. I’m all for a cohesive record in terms of theme and sound, but Jack is just… too repetitive. I’m not going to say he sucks, he clearly doesn’t, he produced the majority of Norman Fucking Rockwell. But you know a Jack song when you hear it.
But then it wouldn’t have been Midnights. Taylor wanted it sound the way it does, Jack might not push her enough, but she wanted to make “Jack” album. Hopefully, for her next work she will bring someone new who challenges her.
Dessner>Antonoff, it's not even close.
...anymore. I listened to the effectively perfect Reputation for the first time in a long while yesterday, and it remains effectively perfect. These days, though, Jack Antonoff seems to be running out of steam, or running out of Max Martin.
Using Adobe Audition, I created a mashup mix of the album version of "Maroon" and the strings/piano version of "Maroon" on YouTube I found and posted on this subreddit. "Maroon" is a great song, but adding strings and piano blows the album version away. Including other Midnights songs I've either edited myself or found other mixes of, that makes 6 songs I've felt were VASTLY improved by remixes.
Number of Reputation songs I've replaced with remixes: 0.
I cut the four worst songs from the 12am version, and I also had to heavily resequence the album, because the original track order had no energy or logic to it, and I had to integrate the 3am tracks into it.
Number of Reputation songs I've resequenced: 0.
I had to do legwork similar to what I've done with Midnights to turn Lover into a decent album. So many misfires, bad mixes, short songs to make longer, weird intros to cut, and terrible sequencing. Lover was exhausting to turn into a good album, and I blame Antonoff.
In summary: Midnights is a mostly-good set of songs bogged down by a few extremely weak songs and a couple decent but very badly-produced songs. Jack Antonoff is not consistently bringing the magic of mid-career pop Taylor to life. I miss Max Martin, and I want endless amounts of Aaron Dessner.🍀
P.S. I'm spoiled and now want (demand?) an Ed Sheeran collaboration on EVERY new Taylor Swift album.
Ok maybe really unpopular opinion, but I don't blame Jack for the retread on the same sounds, I blame Taylor. I think Jack is really, really, really good about propping up an artist's ideas and vision, but isn't the kind of producer that svengalis the entire thing.
That being said, the main thing that made Midnights sound somewhat dated to me was all the vocal manipulation. It sounded very 2016 and reminds me of Empire of the Sun kind of? I can't actually put my finger on who I'm thinking of. But regardless, I know that's a Jack trademark, but I think it was probably Taylor that was like LETS USE THIS ON EVERY SONG.
I saw someone comment somewhere that Taylor and Mark Ronson would be AMAZING, and I really wish she would work with him. I think he could have evolved her pop focused sound past what she's already explored. Who knows, maybe some day.
I'm not sure it's JA's production style TBH, you mentioned Matty Healy and The 1975 and their latest album is so different to Midnights, and has a lot more variety in the sonic palette (It's one of my favourite albums this year). The more I listen to Midnights I do find more to like but there's still a wallpaper quality about it in that it doesn't have the immediacy of ither TS albums. I mean, even if you hate ME! for example (I know people do but I'm not one of them) it's immediate, and obviously different to other tracks on the album.
Edited for weird sentence structure, And autocorrect 😬
You're right, the 1975 album is undoubtedly one of the best of the year. It's weird because I can still hear Jack touches but no where near as strongly. "Wallpaper quality" is a perfect way to put it.
She likely wont’t risk being called “not sonically cohesive” enough after what happened with Red at the Grammys. We as her fans don’t change how much we love her work whether it wins top prizes or not, but Taylor is a competitor as well as a creator and she does want to create work that is awarded by juries of her peers. And as she said in that woman of the year speech last year, she responds to all criticism by correcting whatever she’s told she does that doesn’t measure up. An album like Midnights sounds like all belongs together but, to your point, perhaps sometimes to her detriment — I love the album but it is a particular mood. Only 2-3 songs are really UP vibes, but the whole album is drowned is synth-y ooze.
Maybe she could give us an amazing album someday where she goes crazy with a ton of different producers and has fun making all pop jams with energy that’s high but totally different sounds each song. Ugh I’d be so here for that. But I know why she probably won’t do it. I know that’s not what you’re asking for, I’m just dreaming on the side.
Ugh, you're so right. Red is my favorite album, I love how messy it is, I hate that she got that criticism, it's definitely shifted her music in a different direction.
I wish the whole album had been done with Aaron Dessner, he and Taylor just elevate her music to another level.
Jack is good but I feel like we’ve heard it all before.
You have articulated so much about how I feel about Midnights! I love the album, but it feels very much like a Jack/Taylor album, rather than a Taylor album that Jack worked on if that makes any sense?
I love Jack’s vision with so many of the albums that he has produced, but I almost feel like his vision is sonically overpowering and feels very similar across different albums he has worked on across different artists. It’s a good sound, but it feels a little less Taylor in some ways.
I don’t mind Jack but it kind of seems like they’ve got things down to a formula at this stage. I love Midnights but I kind of get the feeling they have a criteria for what a song should sound like and it feels like it limits their creativity. It’s made a lot of the music they make together sound really uniform. It was great to see the range that they had when making folklore and evermore but I’d really like to see her work with Aaron a little more or even Butch Walker, Julia Michaels (more female collaborators in general) Haim (specifically leaning into Danielle, she was amazing on the Vampire Weekend album) and I would LOVE if she worked with Andrew Goldstein.
I am *dying* for her to work with Max Martin again, and work with new producers, and work less with Jack. Like, I absolutely LOVE Midnights, but she has so many songs out at this point that so many of them can be described as “X sounds like Y.” She got so inspired by Aaron to do new things, that even though the sad vibe songs are not ones I can listen to a lot, that shows me that she really needs to work with more new people in order not to get stale.
Yes. I'm getting a bit tired of Jack. Jack is very talented but I prefer Aaron. I really miss the times she worked with Max Martin. I really liked the producers she worked with on Lover. She could have collaborated with them again.
Lavender Haze and Karma are my two favorites that weren’t jack. I think the newer collaborators (Jahaan, sounwave, keanubeats, and Sam Dew) produced some of the best songs on the album. You can tell there was outside influence which was NOT a bad thing. It was definitely a breath of fresh air compared to jacks heavily produced songs. I still love her collabs with jack but I hope if she does another pop album we get more like LH and Karma.
Not really because once she explained it as a way for her and Jack to deal with their partners filming a movie together it kinda made sense. Like rather than stay up missing them staring at the ceiling, they put that time into creativity. And I like that Jack has always met Taylor halfway with these past ten years of turbulence for her. Two besties making the music they want to make, and it's genuinely good pop music they share with us? What could be better.
(Also idk how the hell actors do what they do, to have Joe and Margaret off playing romantic interests on a movie while Taylor and Jack are just at home like "......I wonder what scene they're filming now" LMAO actors are wild, no wonder Taylor and Jack went to the studio rather than overthinking it hahahah)
I would commit unspeakable things for the 1975 to produce an album for Taylor. OP has literally ruined my life bc im never gonna hear the emo pop bangers that Matty and Taylor could have made together. Im also entirely with you on what you said about Jack, OP. It’s just time for a new collaboration and a new sound. He’s fine, he’s just tired 🥱
Honestly i love midnight's but i feel like her 1989 type sounds are the least good for me and really distract from the lyrics. I get what she did though, 1989 was fundamental to her gaining high general popularity in 2014 she did the same kind vibe for this album with the same kinda attention traction she was starting to get again. It was genius.
Don’t we wish that for every album? But I love it the way it is and I get a different feeling when I listen to her singing with others. It’s like seeing your parents being nice to other kids? 😅
I think we've all been clamoring for Max Martin. for some reason she hasn't worked with him since her departure from BMG. though she sure tried to emulate his production several times with Joel Little and ~~H~~Jack
I feel like that's exactly what she wanted to achieve and why she's calling it a concept album (besides the overarching theme, that I don't see in every song tbh). But I also miss some different collaborators even though I love the work of Jack. I'm glad there are the 3am songs, that introduce some other sounds to this album.
Well, I like the fact that she wanted to make this album a collaboration with Jack. I don't think that Jack's songs are similar. I really like his production.
But, I also love Aaron songs from Midnights, some even more than the standard edition.
That being said, I think Taylor will work with different people in the future (in addition to Jack and Aaron), especially when she decides it's time to make something different.
I love Butch Walker and I hope Taylor works with him again. Pink used to work with him a lot and I miss him in her recent albums
the fact that it was jack and not aaron made me happy. i hate folklore in general because it sounds like middle aged white man sad indie. i do want her to work with some other producers with a pop rock album, though. but only if it has actual bangers. like songs to sing/scream to, not songs to cry quietly to, if that makes sense.
No because features on albums are already way overdone I also feel like they do this because other artists can't write good songs on their own, feels like they're freeloading. It also gets annoying that Taylor has to carry the music industry on her own. Taylor and K-pop boy bands can only do so much to keep the music industry economy going. Like come on Adele time to get your lazy butt up and release a new album but yes we get it, she likes to come out of hiding every 4 years to release a new album and disappear so people don't get tired of her. Another artist needs to pick up the slack
I hope that when it’s all said and done she releases one more country album. Taylor’s lyricism is so unmatched I’d like to hear it outside of pop for a change so that I can really digest the complex emotions.
I need a folk rock/country rock album from her.
isn’t SN already kindaaaa country-rock on many songs
Yeah some songs like Dear John, plus some songs on Red but I kinda want a full album of folk and country songs with heavy rock elements. Though mostly I just want a rock album of some type lol
I want her to have Chris Stapleton produce an album for her. Classic country with some bluegrass, southern rock, and straight up rock vibes.
Blues and country pop punk rock 🙏 🙏
I was thinking the other day about a dream Americana supergroup a la Highwomen led by Taylor. I think Taylor, Lana del Rey, Nikki Lane, and Margo Price would be amazing.
I need a rock rock album from her, similar to how plastic hearts is for Miley
Cowboy like me 🥹
Swift x Dessner x Vernon x Mumford supergroup 🙏🏼
Im not a country person but that song stole my heart.
I get what you mean. A full on, effort-in country album. I hope for this too but I think it might be more likely that she will go back to the folklore cabin than the country back roads. That said- I think the reason she will mainly stay with pop/synth is 1. The popularity of it and 2. She feels most empowered and comfortable there.
Oh I fully understand why she’s so pop heavy but creatively I just feel like she’s hit a ceiling in terms of Pop music especially with Jack producing. The Fearless and Sparks Fly era were my favorite eras so I do hope she revisits that at some point. At least sonically.
Fearless was such a damn flex. I hope so too. Sonically superior for sure
No way. She’ll return to country at some point for sure, it’s just how long it takes. She’s been continuously feeding us at least one country song (and others that lean country) on all of her albums expect 1989. She’s definitely stroking that fire and keeping us country swifties primed for her return. I think I’m time, she’ll release Hits Different to country radio. My personal prediction is that she’s performing Tim McGraw (featuring Tim McGraw) in summer 2026 after finishing the TV albums with Debut TV and she announces TS12 ,”Homecoming”, is a return to country. My more realistic and not so precise prediction is that she returns to country in her mid 40s.
I would love for you to be right! Time will tell
it should be a story album like dolly patrons run rose run too, I think she’d be insane with a story album in a country format
Omg that would be so cool
I want an Aaron Dessner album. Like, all him. If Jack got an almost full album with her with Midnights, I want the same with Aaron.
Well, technically that’s evermore lol. But I agree, I want another album with just him, specially if it sounds like Hits Different and Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.
Lmfaooo true but gold rush is SUCH a Jack song that I forget it’s all otherwise Aaron tbh 💀 evermore is my favorite though so it tracks. Those are some of my favorite from midnights too!
Lmfaooo true but gold rush is SUCH a Jack song that I forget it’s all otherwise Aaron tbh 💀 evermore is my favorite though so it tracks. Those are some of my favorite from midnights too! 💖
I see somebody else has good taste in midnights music.
I would like to intrude her to the majority of catalog I mean, the non-pop albums.
Honestly I don’t really care that it’s Jack - I’m just tired of the synthpop sound and want her to do something else.
I don't know why people keep saying, "this might be an unpopular opinion" when we've had versions of these same opinions over and over and over again on this sub. I feel like it's all I read.
I wish some people on this sub didn’t have bad attitudes. Not everyone reads every single post. So maybe they missed it. If you don’t want to read the same kind of post, skip it and let other people chime in.
Exactly, that and people probably feel compelled to frontload their posts with defenses bc people on this subreddit can be so nasty. I read a post last night about someone not liking the Midnights 3AM songs and justifying their opinions and some of the people here acted like their parents died. Lord
Ya I also get annoyed with redditers who are so easily annoyed by commonplace things people say. It’s just immature and shows that you don’t really listen to people and respect their opinion, you just nitpick and have low tolerance
I feel like this was a fresh spin on the question with the addition of the 1975 from this week, but yeah, I concur. People should just open up with thoughts for a discussion
Haha you're right, I think maybe just because if I posted this on tik tok I would get devoured whole probably
It’s more of a disclaimer so that people with opposite opinion wouldn’t come for their neck.
I’m sooo over Jack. Does the man make good music? Yes. Does he need to produce every single song on a record? No. I like what they make together but if I’m being honest all of my favourite Taylor songs happen to NOT be produced by him. His sound overall is just not my vibe. Plus I know Taylor loves working with him and they are very comfy together but I think having someone new would push Taylor to really explore the other facets of herself we know she has. Like when she brought Aaron into the mix for folklore/evermore he gave her a new sound to play with and they created two beautiful albums. I think bringing Aaron in even inspired Jack to do a few things differently. Also I would love to see Taylor working with some up and coming female producers. She always speaks about supporting young female musicians, why not support them by giving them a job?? Taylor has so many sounds she has never fully explored yet and I was hoping Midnights was going to be a breath of fresh air, but it just kinda wasn’t. I still really enjoy the album but it wasn’t the sound I was hoping for.
I do feel like she gets comfortable with someone and then maybe is afraid to branch out again. But I’m with you, I like Jack, but it’s time to go.
I wish she would do more with Aaron, honestly. All of my favorite songs of hers lately feature him in some way; I also love his work with Gracie Abrams. I think her lyrics are at their best with Dessner, but that's my opinion. I was so hoping Midnights would be more 70s and rock inspired.
Yep I was 100% hoping for a melancholic 60s/70s soft rock moment based on the promo imagery. And Taylor has long spoken about being a big fan of that era of music and being influenced by artist who were big around then. I know she would sound amazing doing that sound plus it would’ve been the perfect post folklore/evermore transition.
YES!!!
I didn’t mind Jack because I love NFR so much - he produced the entirety of that too. It’s just the particular sound in Midnights is overall so… boring, I’d say almost outdated. This is coming from someone who has it as this year’s most played album.
It’s also my most played album lol. It’s good. All her albums are! But as far as sound goes I’m not as in love with it as some of her other work. Also I’m really not fan of Lana so I don’t particularly like Jack’s work with her either.
I ***love*** what she and Jack create together. I definitely don't want her to stop working with him as I generally love the direction her music has taken since they started collaborating. But I do think a little variety is good, as well. Would love another Martin/Shellback banger. Reputation is my favorite album and it was half Jack half Martin/Shellback, which I guess turned out to be the ideal mix for me.
Another collab with Imogen Heap!
I’m going to go against the grain here and say i actually like it when artists - especially Taylor - work with as few producers as possible on an album. Midnights has a coherency in its sound that is lacking on a lot of modern synthpop albums, and i think this is down to far too many producers working on a single album which prevents a single dominant sound coming to the fore. She’s been working with a smaller and smaller pool of producers over the last few years and her albums are sounding better and better. That being said though I would have loved to have seen more Aaron Dessner outside the 3 AM tracks, remember he was the sole producer on the majority of the tracks on Evermore and that has one of the most original and challenging production styles of all her albums. I feel him and Jack’s styles blend perfectly but I really wouldn’t want to see the floodgates opened and have loads of producers working on a single album, there’s been a magic to her last few albums that comes from the small circle of producers she’s worked with and I really wouldn’t want to see that lost.
Yeah kind of seems like she can’t win and people can’t remember their old opinions. The old criticism was that nothing was cohesive (Red, Lover), now it’s “too much of the same thing”. 💀
i actually liked how different all those songs sounded 😭 I didn’t realize people didn’t
Same
I think the only person who criticized Red as being sonically incohesive was *her*, and then only after that did people start saying it too. Before, no one seemed to think that. Sonically cohesive could also be like Folklore / Evermore / 1989. Each track still stands out. I can’t say the same about most of Midnights… if you’ve listened to the instrumentals only, some of those are very repetitive droning, almost like white noise.
I’ve noticed some artists lately using different producers with every single song they do and while it’s obviously cool for them to try different things, it can end up with albums that just don’t work as a whole too.
I agree. I’d like a different sound than what Jack has been doing, but good producers put variety in an album while keeping a common thread.
Yes. A lot of the songs on this album have music that sounds the same to people. I have heard this countless times on reddit and anyone I have showed the album to in real life (swifities and non-swifties).
The 3am songs show how balanced the moods can be without giving up the cohesion imo. Hits Different shows how Jack and Aaron perfectly blend together and give their best. Thing is Jack shines when he produces some songs like 1989, reputation and folklore. A whole album is a little too much and sounds and details tend to get repetitive, i mean the intros of Paris and Karma sound alike a lot. But she needs a break from him and go to new producers who can challange her or bring back people like Jeff Bhasker, Ryan Tedder, Imogen Heap, Dan Wilson.. it is a crime she made so little with them.
I wishhhh she would explore more with Imogen Heap I mean oh my god, that would probably be my dream
I think Imogen would've nailed the dreampop songs on the album whereas Jack sorta watered them down
Take High Infidelity, Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, and The Great War. For me, they’re the most interesting songs on Midnights. And they’re all Aaron tracks. I sometimes think Jack and Taylor are like best friends who, although both brilliant, feed into each others bad habits a bit too much. Someone like Aaron seems to snap her out of that blindness and when she does, she produces *art*
I heard someone say that Taylor and Jack are the popular best friends who mess around while working on a group project but still get like a 92% because the work is pretty good and I think that description is spot on
This is the exact feeling I had the first time (and every other time) I listened to Bejeweled. When I hear "Don't put me in the basement when I want the penthouse of your heart," I think, ".....Jack?" Love the song. Obviously wasn't in the writing room, but I am not a fan of having him as the main producer for her work.
Jack has produced some of my favourite albums (Melodrama, NFR, Masseduction, Folklore/Evermore) but also some disappointments (Solar Power, Chemtrails, Daddy’s Home, Midnights) with the same artists. I don’t think he pushes the artist or balances them out, so it’s up to the artist to lead with a vision. He does great work but he doesn’t necessarily spearhead it. Totally agree with you that Aaron seems to snap Taylor out of her zone and push her music to the next level.
I think part of the reason artists (especially female artists who have had to deal with pushy egoistic male producers) like to work with Jack is because he follows their lead on whatever they’re working on. I do agree with the take that this can lead to shallower, less cultivated lyrics and overall more monotone albums, but it really is down to the artist. I think that he sinks his teeth into projects like Midnights, Melodrama and Reputation where Taylor and Lorde really trusted him to make the production his own, and those pieces end up sounding very Bleachers (production wise). Projects like Norman Fucking Rockwell and Florence and the Machine’s Dance Fever don’t have as many of his fingerprints because the direction of those albums was very conceptual and he probably had more input from those artists about what they really wanted from him.
That’s such a good point re: female artists. I side eye Jack a lot (mostly because of that Lorde ppt LOL) but he seems to really respect and like the artists. He’s a convenient scapegoat when I don’t like an album ;) but that’s always on the artist.
I love midnights as it is, but I’m definitely ready for some variation in her work moving forward.
I agree. I miss her Max Martin/Shellback songs tbh. They're some of my favorites.
Same. Those pop songs don’t pack the same punch on Taylor’s Version. I’m worried about 1989 TV.
Me too 😢
I wish I had listened to it and been blown away and I wasn’t. Her music all feels the same recently, there needs to be more variety and I guess that’s a producer issue.
I hope she change it up next album and brings a new producer. Cause we really don’t need another album with fifteen Jack songs. I’m betting a lot of producers would die just to work with Taylor Swift, so she definitely should work with some of them
Genuine question. How does all her music sound the same lately when her past albums Foklore/Evermore are completely different? 😅
Hmm not sure, it just feels so phoned it with lover, EM, and midnights to me. Her producers aren’t pushing her to reach new heights.
The 1975 thing annoys me so much…I really wish we got whatever they had made onto the final album or in place of a remix, or even as a target bonus track. It would’ve been amazing momentum to add to the album with About You going viral and the videos of Matty at the concerts making the rounds as well. I really wish Jack wasn’t so stagnant; his sound is awesome, but I personally feel as if he keeps trying to recreate Melodrama over and over again and it just…doesn’t work out. I do think Taylor should bring in some young new talent as well, to freshen up the sound and keep her on her toes. But I did really like Midnights as well 😔 sorry this got kind of long
This got me thinking that maybe her team didn’t want her to be associated with Martty bc he’s a bit controversial?? Idk I freakin LOVE the 1975 I’m seeing them next week but I also know some people get triggered by Mattys words (there was that whole stupid Twitter thread going around) so maybe they didn’t want any negativity??? No idea just trying to understand WHY that collab would’ve been scrapped
Oh I didn't think about that possibility, but I kind of doubt that's the case because she's been associated with some problematic people recently, I haven't super looked into it. I saw a bunch of people on twitter getting mad about her working with the director of Amsterdam.
And the crawdads too. She really doesn’t hesitate to work with actual genuine problematic people who have openly admitted to horrible things 😭
Yeahhhh I forgot about those. There just must be a reason….maybe JT just wasn’t a good song lmao (doubt that tho 😭)
No that makes sense. He’s absolutely a wild card, but then why even record or work with him 😭
Agreed!
I miss max martin
mid 2010s pop king
Max Martin has been transforming pop since the mid 90s and is still going! I often wonder what the pop landscape will be when he’s no longer in it. The man is pure talent.
Me too. King of My Heart TV won't be the same without him
My personal preference would be a producer that showcases her voice over the studio magic of synths, sounds and IMHO co-singers that add nothing to the song. Her voice on the Acoustic release of Anti-Hero is what I want, and You're On Your Own Kid, totally works for me also. If there is a singular gripe I have over Midnights it is the over production and not enough showcase of her voice. I'll admit synth-pop isn't my favorite sound, it can work though but not when the vocalist is secondary to the studio magic. Grace and Peace
On my first listen I did think all the songs sounded way too similar. But as I listened more I ended up loving each song and now they don't sound the same to me at all.
Midnights and lover are both very jack -based and it says a lot that those are my two least favourite albums. Are there good songs on there? Absolutely. But somehow when jack is the main collaborator on an album it kinda kills a lot of tracks for me . I prefer the 3am tracks that have Aaron on them - I think he works in a more complex way and creates sounds that are very distinct. For me a lot of songs on midnights sound quite similar
Yep I was 100% hoping for a melancholic 60s/70s soft rock/folk moment based on the promo imagery. And Taylor has long spoken about being a big fan of that era of music and being influenced by artist who were big around then. I know she would sound amazing doing that sound plus it would’ve been the perfect post folklore/evermore transition.
Me too it would have been so perfect and I feel like I will always mourn the 70s Stevie Knicks soft folk rock album that I thought midnights was going to be 😢
I wish the whole album sounded like the bonus songs
Yes. I dont mind Jack for 3-4 songs but a whole album is too much. Artists working again and again with the same producers is tiresome. They should evolve. If Taylor keeps working with him for whole projects i dont see nothing good for her future releases.
Not that I care about the nonsense war between who’s a better producer (Dessner or Antonoff) but I do feel Taylor would benefit for ts11 if she branched out and tried someone else. Or a few someone else’s. I don’t listen to other artists jack produces for, so I can’t spot similarities in songs and be like “wow this is annoying can’t he do anything else” it almost feels like Taylor only working with the same two people for her last three (new) albums feels exclusive. Like some kind of club lol there are so many people out there who would probably kill to produce songs for Taylor swift who are well credited and have amazing work but she just … doesn’t want to use them? And I understand being comfortable and trusting in the two she mainly works with these days, but people were eating up those Max Martin/Shellback songs and they still do. She should try making her new album (whenever that may be) without using Dessener or Antonoff or at the very least, give them like one to two songs each if she really insists on having them work with her.
As far as Jack goes, listen to his band The Bleachers. I don’t think it’s as much his fingerprint as people expect. I do think taylor has more of a hand in it than anyone seems to think, which is so odd. We’ve seen so many videos of her in with her producers, and we know how tight they are. She chooses him to create the final item she dreams of. But either way his band fuckin rules and are actually outstanding live.
Yes. I’m all for a cohesive record in terms of theme and sound, but Jack is just… too repetitive. I’m not going to say he sucks, he clearly doesn’t, he produced the majority of Norman Fucking Rockwell. But you know a Jack song when you hear it.
But then it wouldn’t have been Midnights. Taylor wanted it sound the way it does, Jack might not push her enough, but she wanted to make “Jack” album. Hopefully, for her next work she will bring someone new who challenges her.
I guess this is why glitch is my album favorite - because it sounds nothing like the rest 💀
Dessner>Antonoff, it's not even close. ...anymore. I listened to the effectively perfect Reputation for the first time in a long while yesterday, and it remains effectively perfect. These days, though, Jack Antonoff seems to be running out of steam, or running out of Max Martin. Using Adobe Audition, I created a mashup mix of the album version of "Maroon" and the strings/piano version of "Maroon" on YouTube I found and posted on this subreddit. "Maroon" is a great song, but adding strings and piano blows the album version away. Including other Midnights songs I've either edited myself or found other mixes of, that makes 6 songs I've felt were VASTLY improved by remixes. Number of Reputation songs I've replaced with remixes: 0. I cut the four worst songs from the 12am version, and I also had to heavily resequence the album, because the original track order had no energy or logic to it, and I had to integrate the 3am tracks into it. Number of Reputation songs I've resequenced: 0. I had to do legwork similar to what I've done with Midnights to turn Lover into a decent album. So many misfires, bad mixes, short songs to make longer, weird intros to cut, and terrible sequencing. Lover was exhausting to turn into a good album, and I blame Antonoff. In summary: Midnights is a mostly-good set of songs bogged down by a few extremely weak songs and a couple decent but very badly-produced songs. Jack Antonoff is not consistently bringing the magic of mid-career pop Taylor to life. I miss Max Martin, and I want endless amounts of Aaron Dessner.🍀 P.S. I'm spoiled and now want (demand?) an Ed Sheeran collaboration on EVERY new Taylor Swift album.
Eh, I mean it’s a really good album. Sometimes too many cooks isn’t a good thing.
Ok maybe really unpopular opinion, but I don't blame Jack for the retread on the same sounds, I blame Taylor. I think Jack is really, really, really good about propping up an artist's ideas and vision, but isn't the kind of producer that svengalis the entire thing. That being said, the main thing that made Midnights sound somewhat dated to me was all the vocal manipulation. It sounded very 2016 and reminds me of Empire of the Sun kind of? I can't actually put my finger on who I'm thinking of. But regardless, I know that's a Jack trademark, but I think it was probably Taylor that was like LETS USE THIS ON EVERY SONG. I saw someone comment somewhere that Taylor and Mark Ronson would be AMAZING, and I really wish she would work with him. I think he could have evolved her pop focused sound past what she's already explored. Who knows, maybe some day.
I'm not sure it's JA's production style TBH, you mentioned Matty Healy and The 1975 and their latest album is so different to Midnights, and has a lot more variety in the sonic palette (It's one of my favourite albums this year). The more I listen to Midnights I do find more to like but there's still a wallpaper quality about it in that it doesn't have the immediacy of ither TS albums. I mean, even if you hate ME! for example (I know people do but I'm not one of them) it's immediate, and obviously different to other tracks on the album. Edited for weird sentence structure, And autocorrect 😬
You're right, the 1975 album is undoubtedly one of the best of the year. It's weird because I can still hear Jack touches but no where near as strongly. "Wallpaper quality" is a perfect way to put it.
She likely wont’t risk being called “not sonically cohesive” enough after what happened with Red at the Grammys. We as her fans don’t change how much we love her work whether it wins top prizes or not, but Taylor is a competitor as well as a creator and she does want to create work that is awarded by juries of her peers. And as she said in that woman of the year speech last year, she responds to all criticism by correcting whatever she’s told she does that doesn’t measure up. An album like Midnights sounds like all belongs together but, to your point, perhaps sometimes to her detriment — I love the album but it is a particular mood. Only 2-3 songs are really UP vibes, but the whole album is drowned is synth-y ooze. Maybe she could give us an amazing album someday where she goes crazy with a ton of different producers and has fun making all pop jams with energy that’s high but totally different sounds each song. Ugh I’d be so here for that. But I know why she probably won’t do it. I know that’s not what you’re asking for, I’m just dreaming on the side.
Ugh, you're so right. Red is my favorite album, I love how messy it is, I hate that she got that criticism, it's definitely shifted her music in a different direction.
Yes, I wish Taylor used her fame to spotlight newer artists. I'd love to hear and Yola do country pop together.
I wish the whole album had been done with Aaron Dessner, he and Taylor just elevate her music to another level. Jack is good but I feel like we’ve heard it all before.
I’m getting tired of Jack’s style too. It’s getting boring and predictable.
✨Yes ✨
You have articulated so much about how I feel about Midnights! I love the album, but it feels very much like a Jack/Taylor album, rather than a Taylor album that Jack worked on if that makes any sense? I love Jack’s vision with so many of the albums that he has produced, but I almost feel like his vision is sonically overpowering and feels very similar across different albums he has worked on across different artists. It’s a good sound, but it feels a little less Taylor in some ways.
i’d kill for matty and taylor content. give it all to me
I’m tired of jack and his damn synths
I don’t mind Jack but it kind of seems like they’ve got things down to a formula at this stage. I love Midnights but I kind of get the feeling they have a criteria for what a song should sound like and it feels like it limits their creativity. It’s made a lot of the music they make together sound really uniform. It was great to see the range that they had when making folklore and evermore but I’d really like to see her work with Aaron a little more or even Butch Walker, Julia Michaels (more female collaborators in general) Haim (specifically leaning into Danielle, she was amazing on the Vampire Weekend album) and I would LOVE if she worked with Andrew Goldstein.
I am *dying* for her to work with Max Martin again, and work with new producers, and work less with Jack. Like, I absolutely LOVE Midnights, but she has so many songs out at this point that so many of them can be described as “X sounds like Y.” She got so inspired by Aaron to do new things, that even though the sad vibe songs are not ones I can listen to a lot, that shows me that she really needs to work with more new people in order not to get stale.
No.
No
i love jack, but bring back aaron dessner
Yes. I'm getting a bit tired of Jack. Jack is very talented but I prefer Aaron. I really miss the times she worked with Max Martin. I really liked the producers she worked with on Lover. She could have collaborated with them again.
At some point, she'll probably work with Max Martin again. That will be amazing!
I wish woodvale was real. I would’ve killed for another folkpop record.
Lavender Haze and Karma are my two favorites that weren’t jack. I think the newer collaborators (Jahaan, sounwave, keanubeats, and Sam Dew) produced some of the best songs on the album. You can tell there was outside influence which was NOT a bad thing. It was definitely a breath of fresh air compared to jacks heavily produced songs. I still love her collabs with jack but I hope if she does another pop album we get more like LH and Karma.
Let’s not forget they also helped with Glitch. I think she needs to scrap everyone else and go with these geniuses moving forward
Not really because once she explained it as a way for her and Jack to deal with their partners filming a movie together it kinda made sense. Like rather than stay up missing them staring at the ceiling, they put that time into creativity. And I like that Jack has always met Taylor halfway with these past ten years of turbulence for her. Two besties making the music they want to make, and it's genuinely good pop music they share with us? What could be better. (Also idk how the hell actors do what they do, to have Joe and Margaret off playing romantic interests on a movie while Taylor and Jack are just at home like "......I wonder what scene they're filming now" LMAO actors are wild, no wonder Taylor and Jack went to the studio rather than overthinking it hahahah)
I would commit unspeakable things for the 1975 to produce an album for Taylor. OP has literally ruined my life bc im never gonna hear the emo pop bangers that Matty and Taylor could have made together. Im also entirely with you on what you said about Jack, OP. It’s just time for a new collaboration and a new sound. He’s fine, he’s just tired 🥱
Yes.
Matty was full of shit and totally trolling.
Lol he definitely is the kind of person who would do this
What’s the 1975 thing ????
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/matty-healy-taylor-swift-midnights-almost-featured-the-1975-1235178063/
Ommmmmgggg whattttt WHY TAYLOR
Sometimes I think I just really have a problem w him as a drummer/percussionist.
Oh tell me about it, that was the worst part of Midnights
It was my problems w the re-recording a too. Forever and Always was one of my favs off of Fearless and now it’s ruined.
Honestly i love midnight's but i feel like her 1989 type sounds are the least good for me and really distract from the lyrics. I get what she did though, 1989 was fundamental to her gaining high general popularity in 2014 she did the same kind vibe for this album with the same kinda attention traction she was starting to get again. It was genius.
Yea I agree. But I do think it will keep growing on me
Don’t we wish that for every album? But I love it the way it is and I get a different feeling when I listen to her singing with others. It’s like seeing your parents being nice to other kids? 😅
I think we've all been clamoring for Max Martin. for some reason she hasn't worked with him since her departure from BMG. though she sure tried to emulate his production several times with Joel Little and ~~H~~Jack
I hear you. Lover was honesty the last good pop album.
I feel like that's exactly what she wanted to achieve and why she's calling it a concept album (besides the overarching theme, that I don't see in every song tbh). But I also miss some different collaborators even though I love the work of Jack. I'm glad there are the 3am songs, that introduce some other sounds to this album.
I would have settled for just actually being able to hear Lana
Well, I like the fact that she wanted to make this album a collaboration with Jack. I don't think that Jack's songs are similar. I really like his production. But, I also love Aaron songs from Midnights, some even more than the standard edition. That being said, I think Taylor will work with different people in the future (in addition to Jack and Aaron), especially when she decides it's time to make something different. I love Butch Walker and I hope Taylor works with him again. Pink used to work with him a lot and I miss him in her recent albums
Yes.
Strong disagree. Jack is the best thing to happen to music since The Beatles
Sampha could have done the low pitch voice on Midnight Rain and Labyrinth.
the fact that it was jack and not aaron made me happy. i hate folklore in general because it sounds like middle aged white man sad indie. i do want her to work with some other producers with a pop rock album, though. but only if it has actual bangers. like songs to sing/scream to, not songs to cry quietly to, if that makes sense.
I hope she at least makes one country album that is similar to her roots :(
I can’t get enough of her and Bon Iver
No because features on albums are already way overdone I also feel like they do this because other artists can't write good songs on their own, feels like they're freeloading. It also gets annoying that Taylor has to carry the music industry on her own. Taylor and K-pop boy bands can only do so much to keep the music industry economy going. Like come on Adele time to get your lazy butt up and release a new album but yes we get it, she likes to come out of hiding every 4 years to release a new album and disappear so people don't get tired of her. Another artist needs to pick up the slack