Taylor Swift knows her fans will never be satisfied.
Their desire for new music is bottomless, and Swift is smart enough — and also genuinely grateful for their obsession — to comply.
Three hours after dropping her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” early Friday, the pop titan surprised her faithful with seven more songs, which she dubbed “3 am Edition.”
A few snippets — “Paris,” “Could, Could, Should Have” — might have fit comfortably on the original “Midnights,” but of course that would have changed the track listing for Swift’s magic number 13.
Others are extras for a reason, decent songs that weren’t robust enough to make the final cut but are nonetheless more content for Swift fanatics to absorb and deconstruct.
Here is an overview of the additional tracks:
Review:Taylor Swift returns to pop with deeply personal ‘Midnights’
‘The Great War’
Swift uses a marching beat and clanking snare drum to convey this metaphorical study of the battles inherent in relationships. “Broken and blue, so I called off the truce,” she sings, while recalling that “diesel is desire, you were playing with fire.”
“Bigger Than All the Sky”
The whispered ballad is a reluctant farewell, as Swift sings with deep melancholy, “everything I touch becomes sick with sadness.” She reluctantly agrees to what wasn’t meant to be with the caveat, “then I’ll say words I don’t believe.” The light guitar at the end is a welcome presence among the prominent synths of “Midnights” and those bonus songs.
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‘Paris’
A finger-snapping dance floor with a throbbing beat, “Paris” best matches the vibe of the other “Midnights” songs. Swift is the funniest with the lyrics, “Outfits were terrible, like unbearable 2003.” Meow.
“Great Infidelity”
As soon as Swift sings, “Do you really wanna know where I was on April 29th?” you just know that a million of his fans started scouring the internet like the movie Zapruder, trying to figure out the meaning of the date. The blipping keyboards form the backbone of the song, and as with many of Swift’s more musically pedestrian songs, lyrics such as “I’ve bent the truth too far tonight” elevate any gaps.
‘Issue’
A track methodically loaded with electronics that sounds like a real outtake. It’s obvious Swift was having some experimental fun in the studio with this one.
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‘Would have, could have, should have’
Armed with a galloping cadence and soaring chorus, the song is a nostalgic look, even as “memories feel like weapons”. Swift laments that “I miss who I was before” as she sings of other regrets that define hindsight.
‘Dear reader’
The slow-burning ballad suggests we “let go of all our past lives” and “if you don’t recognize yourself, that means you did it right.” Swift applauds the importance of secrets and plays with the vocal effects that predominate on “Midnight Rain” from the album “Midnight.” She also gives us another saying worthy of a T-shirt slogan: “Nobody sees when you lose when you play solitaire.”
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