“Midnight Rain” by Taylor Swift

It seems as if one of the permeating themes throughout Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” album is that in the past, Taylor was compelled to disassociate herself from certain people, as remaining connected to them would not have been conducive to her lofty career ambitions. 

Logically speaking such is to expected, i.e. Swift being doggedly dedicated to her craft, considering her high level of success and the fact that despite already selling gazillions of records, she churns out albums more frequently than any other popular musician of the day. 

But on certain songs contained within this album – such as “Anti-Hero” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid” for instance – the songstress appears to be coming clean, in a manner of speaking, in admitting that such a modus operandi has its negative consequences also.

And so it is with “Midnight Rain”. Unlike those aforementioned pieces, on this song Taylor is clearly and for the most part solely speaking to her past relationship with a romantic interest. 

Yes, there has been circumstantial evidence that in this case, said ex may be Tom Hiddleston of Loki fame. Tom and Tay Tay dated back in 2016. 

The Narrative of “Midnight Rain”

But who the person she is singing of specifically doesn’t really seem to be the point. Indeed, the narrative featured on this piece may well date back to an earlier stage in Swift’s career than the mid-2010s, as by then she was already firmly established in the game. 

But the lyrics indicate that while the featured romance was going on, Taylor was still in the process of ‘making her own name’.

In any event, Swift gets frank by implying – if this piece is in fact based on her real life – that at times she can be a playa, for lack of a better word. That is to say that unlike most of her romance-based songs, on this one, Taylor doesn’t have any qualms whatsoever with her lover. 

To the contrary, he is basically depicted as being perfect and even having the desire to marry her. And Swift goes on to liken him to “sunshine”, which by all means is a comprehensively-positive metaphor. But she rather “was midnight rain” in this equation. 

In other words, she was the one who “changed like midnight”, being stricken with starlet fever if you will, while he “stayed the same”.

Conclusion

So whereas we have not studied all of Taylor Swift’s songs, this appears to be a very unique case of the songstress actually admitting that her own thoughts of actions caused the dissolution of a romance as opposed to those of one of her exes. 

In the aftermath, she does confess that at times she’s “haunted” by losing what reads like an ideal boo, though in other instances the “midnight” side of her personality still takes precedence.

Facts about “Midnight Rain”

There isn’t any actual title track to Taylor Swift’s “Midnights”. However, this is the only song on the album’s playlist that features the word “midnight” in the title.

Upon first hearing “Midnight Rain”, many people were under the impression that it features an additional vocalist. But it has been clarified that said voice is also that of Taylor Swift, albeit with a strongly reduced pitch.

This song, which is a product of Republic Records, was composed, i.e. both written and produced, by the pairing of Taylor Swift in conjunction with Jack Antonoff. And it came out with the rest of “Midnights” on 21 October 2022.