I don’t listen to a lot of pop music--I'm more of a rock and grunge kind of person (Pink Floyd and Nirvana, anyone?)--but Taylor Swift is the pop artist who managed to steal my attention from Heart-Shaped Box and Losing My Religion with her albums Folklore and Evermore. Some of the lyrics on those albums are worthy of Dylan and Shakespeare!

“All my waves are being tossed. Is there a line that I could just go cross?”

“My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand.”

“When did all our lessons start to look like weapons pointed at my deepest hurt?”

Wow, that is some seriously good songwriting.

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Now, since we are on the topic of good songwriting and Taylor Swift, let’s talk about Midnights for a second, aka the album that has taken the world by storm. As a musicophile, I had always wanted to experience the countdown of an album release, and I got to do that when Midnights was released on Spotify. It being the first album I had the opportunity to listen to at the time of release only made me more certain that I wanted to do an article on it.

Since Taylor Swift is the queen of Easter eggs and creating a whole world out of her songs and albums, many Swifties believe that there are companion songs to every song on Midnights. If you don’t know what that means, a companion song is basically a precursor to another song. Examples include "Enchanted" and "Wildest Dreams" or "You Belong With Me" and "Blank Space."

I really should not have been left to my own devices, because this is the price of it- I took it on myself to find the companion songs to songs from Midnights and help all the people who want the optimal Taylor Swift listening experience. This includes making a playlist of all the songs from Midnights and their companion songs on Spotify, so you can go check that out if you want to. Here goes!

1. Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve + Dear John

“Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.”

This song was one of the easiest to find the companion song for. Many TS fans believe that "Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve" is a follow up to 2010’s “Dear John.”

People have long speculated (I sound like a pop culture article, hah) that “Dear John” was written about John Mayer, the American singer who dated Swift. She was only 19 then; he was 32. It was a love story, until it wasn’t.

“Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone. Don't you think I was too young to be messed with?

Dear John, I see it all, now it was wrong. Don't you think nineteen is too young?”

-Dear John, 2010

“I would've stayed on my knees,

And I [censored] sure never would've danced with the devil .

At nineteen, and the god's honest truth is that the pain was heaven.”

- Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve, 2022

It just feels like Swift is picking up from where she left off in 2010. Also, “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” is track 19 on the album. The way Taylor Swift weaves all these little Easter eggs into her albums and music is just-

Image Credit: Lisett Kruusimäe on Pexels

I was listening to the complete discography of Taylor Swift whilst writing this article when I came across a track from her album Lover: “I Think He Knows.” I had listened to “Lavender Haze” a few tracks earlier, and these two songs felt tied to each other by an invisible string. Both the songs talk about the little things Swift’s partner does that make her feel like she can face all the people who throw shade at her and tell her to behave in a certain way.

The airy quality of Swift’s tone in both songs just complement each other in a way that makes it feel like they are made for each other. The other song I feel complements “Lavender Haze” very well is “Cruel Summer,” as it has the same airy quality, and both songs have lyrics about falling hard for someone.

3. Maroon + Red

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Who here loves it when Taylor Swift uses colors to explain her emotions? Maroon feels like a more mature version of the track “Red” from her 2012 album of the same name.

Swift uses the color maroon to explain how the person had left such a dark stain on her body, mind, and soul that she could never forget what they were at the time. This is similar to how she sang that it is impossible to remove him from her thoughts and head on “Red.”

“Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes.

Tell myself it's time now, I gotta let go

But moving on from him is impossible,

When I still see it all in my head,

In burning red.”

-Red, 2012

“The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me

And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was (maroon).

The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones

The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was (maroon).

And I wake with your memory over me

That's a real f**king legacy, a legacy (it was maroon).

And I wake with your memory over me

That's a real f**king legacy to leave.”

-Maroon, 2022

See? Taylor’s just talking about how she is lost in the current like a priceless wine, using another metaphor for one of her favorite things to sing about.

4. Anti-Hero + The Archer + Nothing New

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The fans say that “Anti-Hero” feels like the big sister of the two other tracks, and who am I to argue with them?

“Anti-Hero” is a song in which Taylor addresses her insecurities, about her fears that she isn’t her own person, and how she seems like she isn’t growing with age. That is the exact same sentiment expressed in a lyric from “The Archer:” "I never grew up, it's getting so old." Both the songs talk about how she feels like there are people after her, and she is being called out for things she does, and that nothing in her life seems to belong to just her anymore.

There is a similar line in "Nothing New (Taylor's Version)," which also talks about Swift feeling that as she is growing older, she is understanding things less and less: "How can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22?"

5. Vigilante [censored] + Bad Blood + Blank Space

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I don’t think there is just one song that can be a companion song to “Vigilante [censored].” The calm but intense sultry beats of the song seem like the whole reputation album was a precursor to this song, and that "Look What You Made Me Do" is the best companion song for this track. Yet, the lyrics capture the essence of songs like “Bad Blood” and “Blank Space.”

The song screams revenge, subdued rage, and psychopathic behavior all from the opening line: “Draw a cat-eye sharp enough to kill a man.”

Now, see the lyrics from Bad Blood:

“Now did you think it all through?

All these things will catch up to you

And time can heal, but this won't

So if you come in my way, just don't.”

- Bad Blood, 2014

The way Taylor writes and sings these songs feels like a psychotic person is crooning and screaming to you about how her failed relationship made her the way she was. You know she isn’t a mad woman, but they made her like that.

6. Karma + Look What You Made Me Do

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This might seem like an odd match. A peppy song about how Taylor's best friends with karma and fate, and a dark song about revenge and villainy being companion songs? Nope, this can't be it.

But if you look into the lyrics of both of these songs, you'll realize that "Karma" seems to complete the story Swift started to write in LWYMMD.

I’m sorry, old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now.

Why?

Oh ’cause she’s dead!

- Look What You Made Me Do, 2017

Spider-boy, king of thieves

Weave your little webs of opacity

My pennies made your crown.

Trick me once, trick me twice

Don't you know that cash ain't the only price?

It's coming back around.

- Karma, 2022

But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time.

Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time.

I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined,

I check it once, then I check it twice (oh!)

- Look What You Made Me Do, 2017

In "Look What You Made Me Do", Taylor Swift is able to intimidate the people who hurt her while still preserving her innocence by making frequent references to karma. After all, the guilty party always gets what they deserve, right? Throughout the track, Swift sings about the idea that those who have wronged her will face a tempest like she did.

Many fans also believe that the bridge, the extremely recognizable “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now” is hinting towards the infamous Taylor Swift and Kanye West feud. Swift is not being cryptic and Machiavellian in LWYMMD because she cares, but because she wants revenge.

Now, let's talk about her 2022 song that also references karma in it, including in the title of the song. The lyrics in "Karma" talk about how the people who hurt Taylor got what they gave to her, and how karma is fair to everyone. Although the song isn't a direct allusion to her feud with West, there are several references to her enemies getting their due, and we all know that Kanye West hasn't been having a good year.

So, those are all the companion songs I could find for the Midnights album! I hope this article helps you achieve the best Midnights listening experience ever.

That is all for today. Thanks for reading my TED Talk :)

Catch you on the flip side!

Sarah