What were you doing this Oct. 21? I would place my bet that you were listening to new music. This fall, on the same day, three new major albums were released. “Midnights” by Taylor Swift, “Taking It Back” by Megan Trainor and “The Car” by The Arctic Monkeys. Three very popular artists with three long-awaited albums. 

Swift is an 11-time Grammy winner, actress and influencer. Throughout her career, she has transitioned from country music to pop, becoming one of the most successful artists of the 21st century. Midnights is a continuation of her pop era.

Trainor’s “Taking It Back” is her ninth studio pop album. Her fans, the “Megatronz,” are widespread and populous. While well known, Trainor is less closely followed and is seen as a one-hit-wonder. With many big hot songs but fewer hit albums. Still, she releases music that becomes popular with her fans. Her music also gets exposure on social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram, including her new song, “Takin’ It Back.”

“The Car” by The Arctic Monkeys is their seventh studio album. It is an indie-rock, alternative album. They have around 38 million fans worldwide. They have won five BRIT awards and continue to release music regularly. Throughout the band’s life they have released multiple hit songs with millions of streams and copies sold. They receive lots of exposure to different social media. 

Midnights, By Taylor Swift

The top album of the three is “Midnights” by Swift. Swift is a revolutionary artist who went from country to pop in 16 years. She is from West Reading, Pennsylvania. 

Swift is in the long process of re-recording her previous albums. Swift did not own the masters to her songs, meaning she did not have control over who used her songs and because she did not own the rights to her compositions. She had been signed with a record company since she was 15 years old, Big Machine Records. She was in a long battle with Scooter Braun over owning her music for a very long time. So she decided she would re-record her past albums to own the masters. Due to this, she took a break from releasing new music, other than bonus tracks on her re-recorded albums.  

“Midnights” had fans counting down the days until Oct. 21, when she would be releasing the album at midnight. Did it live up to all the hype? It did. She wrote all thirteen songs on the “Midnights” album during thirteen sleepless nights throughout her life. She has a mix of sad girl slow songs and upbeat pop music. 

At three that morning, she released “Midnights (3 a.m. Edition).” This completely took fans by storm. There were seven more songs on this album edition that were all written at three a.m. Personally I think her 3 a.m. songs are better than the original album’s songs.

After listening to the whole album and the new 3 a.m. version, I have decided it was an overall excellent album. I would give it a 9/10. She is shaping her new sound. It has the pop mix of her previous albums like “Lover” and “1989.” It gives a 1970s vibe, and we are all loving it. Lana Del Rey, a very popular artist, is featured on her track “Snow On The Beach.”

Her best songs on this album are “Karma,” “Bigger Than The Whole Sky,” “The Great War,” and “Snow On The Beach.” My least favorite songs are “Midnight Rain,” “Question…?,” and “Labyrinth.” Those are not as catchy and seem a little immature. 

One of her biggest hits, “Anti-Hero” is about dealing with depression and the urge to be antisocial.​​ The overall themes from the album are insecurity, self-criticism, self-confidence and remembrance, with an overall positive sentiment analysis. 

“Midnights” was a record-breaking release.It became the most-streamed album in one day in less than twenty-four hours. Additionally, Swift became the most streamed artist on Spotify in one day. She also set the record for the biggest pop album on Apple Music. 

On Nov. 1, she announced a world tour entitled “Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour.” This included shows all over the United States and more international shows. Then on Nov. 4, she added eight more shows to her tour around the country. Fans are wondering what other surprises she has up her sleeve. We are all excited about her shows coming up. 

Taking It Back, by Meghan Trainor

On Oct. 21 she released 16 songs in the album “Taking It Back.” These include “Sensitive,” “Made You Look,” “Takin’ It Back,” “Don’t I Make It Look Easy,” “Shook,” “Bad For Me,” “Superwoman,” “Rainbow,” “Breezy,” “Mama Wanna Mambo,” “Drama Queen,” “While You’re Young,” “Lucky Dance,” “About It,” “Remind Me,” and “Final Breath.”

Maghan Trainor is a famous pop star of the 21st century. Originating from Nantucket, MA,  Trainor has had many hit songs that have made the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Her debut single, “All About That Bass,” sold 11 million copies worldwide. Some of her other hit songs like “Lips Are Moving” and “Dear Future Husband.” Her hits are well known by her younger, primarily female, fan base. She places 135th in the world for monthly listeners on Spotify. 

The overall theme of this album is self-love and maturity. Trainor  has this recurring theme throughout a lot of her music. In Feb. 2021, Trainor had her first son with Daryl Sabara, the actor from Spy Kids. Trainor is a new mother who is focusing  on being a new mother and her personal life. This reflects in her music. 

My favorite songs from the album are “Made You Look,” and “Drama Queen.” “Made You Look” has had a lot of attention on TikTok. These songs have a fun, playful beat and are fun to sing along to with a group. My least favorite songs are “Rainbow” and “Breezy.” Both those songs are unmemorable and have less catchy beats.

I would give “Taking It Back” an overall rating of 5/10. It has some repetitive songs and, to be completely honest, childish tracks such as “Superwoman.” However, there are a couple of good songs on there that I have added to my playlists and will listen to again.

 The target audience for this album is young girls, and would make  perfect  music for something like a birthday party. Trainor will not be going on tour anytime soon and has no more scheduled music to be released. 

The Car, By The Arctic Monkeys 

The second best album was also released on Oct. 21, “The Car” by The Arctic Monkeys. The Arctic Monkeys are one of the biggest English rock bands of the 21st century. On Oct. 21 they released their seventh studio album entitled “The Car.” There are ten songs on this album including: “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball,” “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am,” “Sculptures Of Anything Goes,” “Jet Skis On The Moat,” “Body Paint,” “The Car,” “Big Ideas,” “Hello You,” “Mr Schwartz,” and “Perfect Sense.”

This album is more of an indie-rock album than some of their previous more heavy rock albums. The band consists of Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley, and Matt Helders. They are originally from Sheffield, England. They are an alternative/indie rock band, similar to Wallows or the Neighborhood.They have a large fan base, placing 50th on Spotify for monthly listeners. My favorite songs from this album are: “Body Paint,” “The Car,” and “Hello You.” Some songs I liked less were: “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball,” and “Big Ideas.” 

Overall, the album was very good, and it is going onto my favorites. This band is an all-time favorite, and I’m always relistening to their old albums. This is not their best album from the seven. The others had very memorable songs that I listened to frequently and appealed to my taste more. This album was slower and had more basic songs on it.

Anyone who likes indie-rock music will like this new album and their old stuff. I would give this album a 6/10. It had good songs I would listen to again, but it is not the best music I have heard from them before. They will be going on an international tour through the end of 2022-2023. They will be going on an international tour from 2022 to 2023. They have 28 shows around the world. The last time they were on tour was pre-pandemic in 2018-2019. 

The three albums are wildly disparate, with different genres and singers. I would listen to them all again, but it would depend on what mood I am in. I would listen to them because you might like some songs more than others. 

Some of the other upcoming albums are “Gloria” by Sam Smith coming January 27, 2023, and “Cracker Island” by Gorillaz coming February 24, 2023.