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I think there’s been a glitch. Apparently, everyone misinterpreted the meaning behind Taylor Swift’s Midnights. The singer initially described her 10th studio album as “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life.” However, it sounds more like a breakup album in light of Swift’s reported split from long-term boyfriend Joe Alywn. As of April 14, neither Swift nor Alwyn have publicly commented on the April 10 reports they broke up “a few weeks ago,” per Entertainment Tonight. That didn’t stop TikTokers from diving back into October 2022’s Midnights to look for breakup clues, which there are plenty of.
While Swift and Alwyn kept their six-year relationship mostly private, fans were under the impression things were going swimmingly, and even thought the pair might have been engaged. After all, Alwyn helped pen two songs on Swift’s July 2020 album, Folklore, under the pseudonym William Bowery. Most recently, he co-wrote “Sweet Nothing” on Midnights.
News of the reported split came as a shock. An inside source told People on April 10 that Swift reportedly “didn’t see them working out in the long run.” The source added they “grew apart” but are still “friendly.” Without commentary from the singer herself on the split, SwiftTok went into full investigator mode, replaying Midnights track by track to find any clues the singer indicated trouble in her relationship.
Before even getting to the songs, Swift may have given a major clue when she revealed the album was the story of sleepless nights throughout her life. Usually, when you’re having big life changes, like contemplating a breakup, sleep can be hard to come by. While not all of the tracks directly relate to a possible split from Alwyn, there are some clues that are hard to miss.
“Lavender Haze”
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Swift said in October 2022 that this track is about the “all-encompassing love glow,” referring to her relationship with Alwyn. She said in an Instagram video at the time, “…We’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it.” It’s possible Swift and Alwyn are ignoring the breakup rumors and happily writing another album together, but TikToker @rossisfun points to the marriage references in the second verse as an indicator things weren’t great: “All they keep asking me/Is if I’m gonna be your bride/The only kinda girl they see/Is a one-night or a wife.” Rather than interpreting those lyrics as someone who doesn’t want to get married to buck tradition, it could be seen as someone who knows they won’t get married to the person they’re with, but wants to stay in the relationship anyway. Ross theorizes the lyrics are more bleak than love glow-y, with references to “melancholia” and the lavender haze “creeping” up on Swift. The song could sound like Swift was trying to hold on to the lavender haze due to actual relationship issues in addition to outside chatter.
“Labyrinth”
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There’s trouble right in the first verse: “‘It only hurts this much right now/Was what I was thinkin’ the whole time/Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out/I’ll be gettin’ over you my whole life.” Notably, “breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out,” was from Swift’s New York University commencement speech in May 2022, so if it was connected to her relationship (and perhaps she was writing “Labyrinth” at that time), she and Alywn may have had problems long before the Midnights album was released. Later in the song, Swift references presumably Alwyn turning around a plane that’s going down and breaking his back to make her “break a smile,” which indicates they worked through their issues. Swift and Alwyn reportedly had “rough patches” in their relationship in the past, a source told People, during which they would take time apart and then “eventually come back together.”
“The Great War”
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While Ross’ TikTok jumps possibly a bridge too far by suggesting there was some sort of other woman in the picture because of the line, “maybe it was her,” commenters on the video suggest the “her” refers to Swift’s ego. Given Swift’s illustration of her different selves in “Anti-Hero,” it makes sense “The Great War” detailed a time of inner turmoil due to questions about the relationship, as seen in this lyric: “And maybe it’s the past that’s talking/Screaming from the crypt/Telling me to punish you for things you never did.”
By the end of the song, Swift indicates they “survived the Great War,” adding, “I vow I will always be yours.” Whether the song was about a time they separated before coming back together or Swift was trying to talk herself back into the relationship, this track definitely looks different post breakup.
“Glitch”
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On the surface, “Glitch” seems to refer to Swift and Alwyn’s unexpected romance, but trouble brews in the second verse: “But it’s been two-thousand one-hundred ninety days of our love blackout/(Our love is blacking out)/The system’s breaking down.” When you divide 2,190 by 365, that equals roughly six years, a.k.a. how long Swift and Alywn had been dating when the album came out in fall 2022. But then the song says the “system’s breaking down,” which isn’t great.
Moving to the bridge, it references “a brief interruption” and “slight malfunction.” As Ross points out, Swift already established the new status quo is her relationship with Alwyn (that’s no longer the glitch), which makes him believe the bridge is about Swift having intimate thoughts of someone who’s not Alwyn, and that’s the new glitch. Commenters on the TikToker’s video pointed out the bridge could simply refer to doubts and questions about the relationship, which would also be a hiccup during the “love blackout.”
“Dear Reader”
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Songwriter Mariel Loveland dove into the final song on Midnights (3AM Edition). Careful not to speculate on the rumors, Loveland says “Dear Reader” sounds like Swift is speaking to herself. There’s one line that really pops to Loveland, which she says could be Swift’s subconscious speaking out about her relationship with Alwyn: “Dear reader, you don’t have to answer/Just ’cause they asked you (You should find another).” It also seems like Swift may have been lonely in her relationship, thanks to this line from the bridge: “To a house, not a home, all alone ’cause nobody’s there.”
The chorus is all about not listening to someone who doesn’t seem like they have it together, and Swift seems to identify herself as “someone who’s falling apart.” Finally, the last line of the album is, “You should find another,” which Loveland says is “poignant” because it sounds like Swift is talking to her fans. But, of course, the singer loves making music and continuing to connect with Swifties, which indicates she could be talking about something in her personal life, like finding another boyfriend.
Swift is known (and often awarded) for her songwriting prowess, so it’s no surprise fans picked out new clues about her relationship with Alwyn in Midnights. There’s no knowing what the truth is until the singer speaks on it herself, but in true Swift fashion, you might just have to wait for new music to fully make sense of it all.
Collette Reitz
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