Taylor Swift album

Art by PALINA KUZMINA

Text by FELICIA BUCHHOLZ and ALLEGRA WEST THE CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT REVIEWING TAYLOR SWIFT’S 10TH ALBUM

“MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT,” Taylor Swift sings in the captivating opening line of her newly released album, “Midnights,” which dropped at midnight on Oct. 20. The pop star is known for her constantly evolving albums — including “Lover,” “Reputation” and “Red” — “Midnights” is no exception. In the album, Swift documents “13 sleepless nights,” and a special “3 a.m. edition” with seven more tracks.

We reviewed some of our favorite tracks from her “Midnights” album. Scan the codes below to listen to each song. v

The first track, “Lavender Haze,” is believed to address fans who want Swift to marry her current boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn. Swift responds to these desires with wanting to stay in her “lavender haze” — a comforting veil of ambiguity. This song is a perfect opening to her album because it encapsulates the overall theme as mysterious and dreamy, the ups and downs of her past and present relationships.

Swift is well known for two things: incorporating her love life into songs and using symbols like colors to depict various emotions. Following the same calm theme of soft beats and sweet buildups, this song differentiates itself from others by talking about the two meanings “maroon” has to Swift. To her, the color red represents passion. Her lyrics talk about both extreme ends of passion, whether it be love or hate.

Swift brings back “Reputation”-style beats in this track. Swift combines electronic dance music and pop to create a dark themed vibe. The tone of this song is upbeat, but cold. Almost venomous, Swift serenades with vengeance and aggression. Swift fan and Palo Alto High School freshman Alice Sheffer shared her opinion on the song “Karma.” “It really exemplified the best aspects of her career ... it was also really a good listen anywhere, anytime,” Sheffer said.

Swift speaks from the point of view of a teenage girl who yearns for the love of her boy best friend. The story takes place in a small town, where this girl is unhappy — she dreams of getting out. Yet she stays, because of this boy, who will never appreciate her the way she does him. The beat of this song is more upbeat than others in this album to keep the girl in the story and the listeners of this song high-spirited.

For any Swift fans who love her album “Folklore,” “Snow on the Beach” has a very similar tone: melodic and poetic. Lana Del Rey is featured in this song, complementing Swift’s light vocals with a breathy component of her own. “I like how the beats are very simple,” senior Drew Nagesh said. “It just lets her [Lana Del Rey] use her soft voice and you can just really appreciate the vocals … especially on ‘Snow on the Beach.’”

To the people who pulled an all-nighter for the “3 a.m. edition” of the album, this last song was a reward to all listeners. After a full album that sings about heart-break and yearning for other people, this song talks to the listener. Swift addresses her audience, and sings about having to put oneself first, especially when life gets hard. The melodic theme of this song starts with a couple of very soft piano chords, adding on to the calmness of a quiet, late night.

Text and photos by AJIN JEONG Rainy campus

RAIN IS A SCARCE SIGHTING ON PALO Alto High School’s campus. While some students take out raincoats, boots and umbrellas, others just pull their hoods over their heads to stay dry.

This semester, the campus saw four rainy days in the first two weeks of November — the first ounces of rainfall since March.

“Since it doesn’t rain often here, I found it really beautiful minus the fact that we all got somewhat drenched,” senior Trianne Hontiveros said. “It was definitely a change of scenery to see the Quad empty while students had their lunches either indoors or huddled outside of the classrooms. The rain was short-lived but it made the day quite cozy.”

We explored corners of Paly’s campus on those rare rainy days and captured what went on outside, from puddles and dripping buildings to students hiding under roofs to stay dry. v