39
7.8983
HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 17 (
@Sanctuary,
@AllGagaLike,
@Dangerous Maknae,
@Jersey,
@RetroPhysical,
@Mr Blonde,
@Blond,
@Ashling92,
@soratami,
@unnameable,
@DinahLee,
@reputation.,
@Dreampopboy,
@Laurence,
@Music Is Life & Death,
@papatrick,
@Petty Mayonnaise)
LOWEST SCORE: 4 x 2 (
@Monkey Meat,
@Trouble in Paradise)
MY SCORE: 8
And with this elimination, four songs from
Midnights remain.
"Maroon" sonically, feels like the spiritual sequel to "Dress". It has that same sultriness that song has. It's a bit shoegazey, but not as much as previous Taylor songs have. The song feels really intimate too. I know we were dragging her for the "concept" of this album, if any, but I feel like this song does suit some of the core concept of the album. A lot of
Midnights feels confessional, the type of conversations you'd have in the middle of the night, and "Maroon" sounds as such through its production.
One thing that has rung true for most of this album is that, at least for me, it's
1989 via
folklore and
evermore. Essentially, some of the songs on the album feel like grown up, mature versions of what
1989 would look like if it were made today. "Maroon" is one of these songs. Lyrically, the album is effectively a
folklore song.
The song also connects to "Red", for obvious reasons. All the colours mentioned in the song are shades of red, one way or another. In "Red", Taylor says that love is "burning red". She's mentioned in the past that red, for her, is the colour of a certain type of intense love that burns bright and fast. In a lot of ways, that's what the album
Red is. In "Daylight", a later song from
Lover, she revises this and says it's "golden". This clearly refers to her love in her current relationship, considering how introspective that song is.
It's interesting that she returns to shades of red for this song, showing that the love depicted in this relationship is the type that was described in "Red", but somehow, more mature. This is what I mean when I say that this album is 1989 via her last two albums. It's a newfound sense of maturity and growth that just wasn't there before in her pop albums. It elevates the record significantly.
I'm glad to see this make top five of Midnights, since it's a bit of an underrated one I find. It's not one of my favourites, but it's really solid and suits the album pretty well. In fact, I think it's up there as one of the songs that fixes a lot of the issues people tend to have with Taylor, but I digress.
The song has yet to be performed at The Eras Tour, so here's "Dress".
