It was a midnight of my own … well, actually it was just 11 o’clock (the time of release.)

I woke myself up from my half-asleep state, and I listened to Taylor Swift’s new album that came out at 11:00 p.m. in Memphis. Or, at least, I tried to listen. Ultimately, I ended up falling asleep. 

The release of Taylor Swift’s new album titled “Midnights” had been in the back of my mind for the majority of the week leading up to it. I am not necessarily a Swiftie (Taylor Swift’s biggest fans), but I have been an intrigued listener since I was a little girl. 

With Taylor’s recent releases of “Folklore,” “Evermore,” “All too well (10-minute long version)” and “Nothing New (ft. Phoebe Bridgers),” I was expecting something great, but that is not what I received. 

To be honest, I did not make it through the album the first time I listened to it.

The first track, “Lavender Haze,” gave me the feeling of walking around an H&M late at night. The lyrics of “Anti-Hero,” (“Everybody is a sexy baby.” What?!), made me, well, a little uncomfortable. Overall, I felt as if many of the songs felt like rejects from her older albums,  “1989” or “Reputation.” 

To be fair, I enjoyed some of the songs on the album like “Snow on the Beach (ft. Lana Del Rey)” (even though it did not really feature Lana Del Rey?), “The Great War” and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.” 

But then again, the album as a whole was brought down by the weird lyrics about “purring like a cat in my lap” from “Karma,” the discomfort of “Vigilante S***” and more department store vibes in “Bejeweled.” I also found it weird to hear Taylor talk about drug use and her use of cursing (in a non-emotional way).  

However, I think that my judgment of this album comes from a place of a disappointed fan. As I said, I believe that some of Taylor Swift’s best work is “Folklore” and “Evermore.” I was expecting another album like that, an emotional retelling of some of Taylor’s sleepless nights, nights where she was kept awake by heartbreak, fear and anxiety. 

I just did not expect a pop album. I did not want a pop album. I do not believe that Taylor should have returned to pop music after showing what she was capable of with her most recent releases. 

But maybe that’s not fair. In her Netflix documentary, “Miss Americana,” Swift said, in order for a female artist to remain relevant, she has to constantly reinvent herself – which she definitely has done yet again with this new album.