Midnights
诞生于午夜的灵感，在回忆世界里穿行，重新遇见黑暗中的自己，仍在挣脱束缚女性的桎梏，静听《Midnights》，缓缓步入泰勒·斯威夫特的内心世界...
两图源：Taylor Swift推特主页
全文字数：3329字 / 阅读时间：11分钟
新纪录：
一场音乐的午夜风暴席卷全球
Taylor Swift's "Midnights" broke all kinds of streaming records less than 24 hours after its release. On Spotify, the album became the most streamed album in a single day. Swift also became the most streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history. Swift shared her reaction to the Spotify news in a tweet to her fans Friday evening. "How did I get this lucky, having you guys out here doing something thismind blowing?!"she wrote. "Like what even just happened??!?!"
泰勒·斯威夫特的新专辑《Midnights》在发行不到24小时就打破了各种流媒体记录，成为Spotify*上日播放量最多的专辑，而霉霉也成为Spotify历史上单日流媒体播放量最多的艺人。周五晚上，霉霉在推特上向粉丝分享了她对这条新闻的反应。她写道：“我怎么会这么幸运，能有你们为我做出如此惊人之举？！就像刚才这条新闻所说的？？！？！”
译注：Spotify，是一个正版流媒体音乐服务平台，也是全球最受欢迎的数字音乐平台之一。
霉霉推特转发
Spotify发布的祝贺帖
图截自Taylor Swift推特主页
As the story goes, “Midnights” came together in a series of middle-of-the-night sessions with Swift and the producer Jack Antonoff. But the album’s name is metaphorical, conveying the spontaneous, restless headspace of nighttime thought, a conceit that might also explain away possible disunity among tracks. It is a “collage,” as Swift describes, “of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows” - a mood board, perhaps—its pieces held together by Swift’s signature vocals, which morph and stretch themselves in interesting ways.
据说，《Midnights》发行的背后是霉霉和制作人杰克·安东诺夫（Jack Antonoff）的一系列午夜对话。而这张专辑的名字是隐喻性的，传递着那些夜里从脑中自然生发的不安思绪，这些烂漫的奇想或许也可以解释歌曲之间可能存在的不统一。正如霉霉所描述的，这张专辑是一幅“拼贴画”，“集中了强度、高潮、低谷、起伏”；或许也是一幅情绪板*，其各个部分由霉霉标志性的人声组合而成，以有趣的方式变化延伸着。
译注：情绪板，通常是指一系列图像，文字，样品的拼贴，它是设计领域常用的表达设计定义与方向的视觉做法。
左为制作人Jack Antonoff
右为Taylor Swift
图源：www.theatlantic.com
开启放大镜模式：
寻找兔子洞里的彩蛋
It’s one of the weirder aspects of 21st century pop that every major new album feels like a puzzle to be solved. Nothing is ever just announced, promoted, then released. Instead, breadcrumbs of mysterious hints and visual clues are very gradually dropped via the artist’s social media channels. Swift has admitted a penchant for leaving so-called Easter eggs in her music and elsewhere, hinting at things to come. “If you want to go down a rabbit hole with us, come along, the water’s great.” she has said.
21世纪流行音乐的特异之处在于，歌手的每一张主打新专辑都像是一个待解的谜题。艺人们从来不会直接宣布、推广、释出有关专辑的任何信息；相反，他们会把琐碎如屑的神秘暗示和视觉线索潜藏在自己的社交媒体中。霉霉承认，她喜欢在音乐和其他地方留下所谓的彩蛋，暗示未来的事情。“如果你想要一次奇妙新鲜的音乐体验，那就来和我们一起沉浸其中吧。*”她说。
译注：“go down a rabbit hole”是英文俚语，指进入一种混乱、奇怪的情况或者一段困难复杂的旅程的开始，尤其是随着发展，情况变得越来越严重。文中指霉霉比喻欣赏《Midnights》的过程就像一场刺激奇妙的冒险。
《Midnights》专辑宣传图 图源：Taylor Swift推特主页
Everything has been pored over for potential information about its contents, up to and including the kind of eye shadow she wears on the album cover. Every seemingly innocent Instagram snapshot may be littered with clues, every trinket a sign, every number a symbol; every song, in turn, a decoder ring.
粉丝们仔细研究了霉霉社交媒体上的蛛丝马迹，包括她在专辑封面上涂的眼影，试图找到关于专辑内容的潜在信息。每一张看似平常的Instagram快照可能都布满了线索，每一件饰品都是一个标志，每一个数字都是一个符号；反过来，每首歌，都是一个解码环。
霉霉在专辑发行前发布的午夜小品
影源：中文字幕｜霉霉Taylor Swift的午夜小品 Midnights Mayhem With Me Track 4宣布：Snow On The Beach_哔哩哔哩_bilibili（BV1E14y1h79t）
回归？创新？突破？
Still, perhaps it’s inevitable that people are intrigued as to Swift’s next move. She has continually pivoted: from Nashville to New York, pedal steel guitars to fizzing synthesisers, Springsteen-like heartland rock to dubstep-infused pop. Last time she broke cover with new material, she released Folklore and Evermore, two pandemic-fuelled albums of tasteful folk-rock produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner.
对于霉霉下一阶段的创作，人们饶有兴趣，并且不可避免地想去猜测。在音乐风格上，她不断地在转变：从纳什维尔的乡村音乐到纽约的城市流行*，从踏板电吉他到音乐合成器，从斯普林斯汀风的*田园摇滚到运用回响贝斯的电音流行音乐。在上一次使用新的音乐素材来营造不同于以往的音色的时候，她发行了《Folklore》和《Evermore》两张具有艺术鉴赏价值的专辑。疫情激发了她创作这两张专辑的灵感，而这两张专辑也由国宝级音乐制作人亚伦·德斯加（Aaron Dessner）操刀。
译注：
1.纳什维尔（Nashville）是美国乡村音乐的发源地，泰勒斯威夫特最初的音乐风格是乡村音乐，伴随着她到纽约，她的音乐风格逐渐转向流行。
2.Springsteen，即美国摇滚歌手布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀（Bruce Springsteen）。他曾亲手创立的东大街乐队(The E.Street Band)是美国最著名的摇滚乐队之一。
《Anti-Hero》MV画面 图截自发布于YouTube的《Anti-Hero》MV
“I really enjoyed the album. I think it’s a really nice continuation of what she did with Folklore and Evermore, and kind of blends a lot of what we love her for, what she’s done in the past. I get flashes of every one of her albums up until this point.” said Emma Baty, an entertainment editor of ELLE.
ELLE杂志的娱乐版编辑艾玛·贝蒂（Emma Baty）说：“我很享受听这张专辑。这张专辑在音乐上是对于《Folklore》和《Evermore》两张专辑比较好的延续，并且融入了我们喜闻乐见的霉霉的过去。到现在为止，我已经收藏了她每一张专辑的影碟。”
It was predictable that Midnights would break from the pattern and bring Swift back to a more modern-pop sound, and likely with it more of her accessible first-person direct address. But that’s no guarantee of her future direction. In fact, Midnights delivers her firmly from what she called the “folklorian woods” of her last two albums back to electronic pop.
我们能够预测《Midnights》这张专辑将会让霉霉改变先前《Folklore》和《Evermore》的音乐风格，重新回到现代流行音乐的风格，并且很有可能更多地运用第一人称叙事。但是对于她未来专辑风格的走向，我们也无法保证。事实上，《Midnights》鲜明地标志着她会走出前两张专辑建构的“民间传说的森林*”，重新回到电子音乐的方向上来。
译注：外粉根据霉霉专辑《folklore》和《evermore》，制作了民间传说森林（Folklorian Woods）地图。灵感来源于专辑《evermore》序言：我们仿佛置身于民间传说森林的边缘，面临着一个选择：要么掉头往回走，要么继续探索森林。
《Folklore》、《Evermore》和《Midnights》专辑封面图
图源：www.baidu.com
There are filtered synth tones, swoops of dubstep-influenced bass, trap and house-inspired beats and effects that warp her voice to a point of androgyny on Midnight Rain and Labyrinth, the latter a leading choice given the preponderance of lyrics that protest gender stereotyping, or “that 1950s shit they want from me”, as Lavender Haze puts it. That confidence is the thing that binds Midnights together.There’s a sure-footedness about Swift’s songwriting, filled with subtle, brilliant touches.
在《Midnight Rain》和《Labyrinth》中，被过滤的合成音调、受回响贝斯影响的低音、“陷阱音乐*”和“浩室”舞曲*的鼓点和音效，使她的声音有一种雌雄同体的魅力。考虑到歌中大量的反对性别刻板印象的歌词，或是对《Lavender Haze》中提到的“他们想让我接受五十年代的陈旧思想*”的批判目的，霉霉更多使用了后一种编曲。这种自信将《Midnights》联为一体。霉霉的歌曲创作有一种坚定的态度，充满了微妙而精彩的碰撞。
译注：
1.trap music：“陷阱音乐”（又名渣铺，英语：Trap music）是一种初形成于1990年代的音乐类型，该类型起源于美国南部的南部嘻哈音乐。
2.house music：“浩室”舞曲是于八十年代沿自 DISCO发展出来的跳舞音乐。这是芝加哥的DJ玩出的音乐，他们将德国电子乐团Kraftwerk的一张唱片和电子鼓(Drum Machine)规律的节奏 及黑人蓝调歌声混音在一起，一般翻译为"浩室"舞曲。
3. “The 1950s shit they want from me“ 他们也想让我拥有 那五十年代的陈旧思想：歌曲当中用来批判音乐市场对个人的流言、批判与老套的说教。
作品的灵魂：
永远值得被挖掘的歌词
The new album over-all is sleek but not sparse. Swift’s lyrics, as ever, invite interpretation. Fans are already speculating that “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” from the “3am” set, is about her once-upon-a-time romance with John Mayer. Yet listening to “Midnights” gave us the sensation of being released fromthe space between the lines to instead glide upon their surfaces.
新专辑总体上优美精简却充满内涵。霉霉的歌词一如既往地需要解读。粉丝们早已料到专辑里的这首《Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve》是关于她和约翰·梅尔（John Mayer）曾经的爱情故事。然而，《Midnights》给人一种从字里行间释放情绪并不是浮于表面的感觉。
《Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve》lyric 图截自发布于YouTube的《Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve》(Official Lyric Video)
Nor was “folklore” a flight from pop, as others were eager to claim, so much as another case of Swift testing the elasticity of the genre she’s made home. In “Midnights,” she’s in a more settled place, squarely back in her pop element, yet still whetting her instrument.
霉霉并未像别人所急于定义的那样，以《Folklore》的风格来逃避流行音乐，而是再次打破了她所熟悉的圈子，尝试不同的音乐类型。在《Midnights》中，她以一种更为稳定的状态，又一次回归流行元素之中，而仍精益求精。
And if you never saved me from boredom
I could've gone on as I was
若你从没让我摆脱百无聊赖
我本可以像以前一样继续生活
But lord you made me feel important
And then you tried to erase us
但主啊 你让我觉得自己至关重要
之后又想抹去我们的存在
——《Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve》
拨开午夜迷雾，
音符流淌中寻找自我
The album trips with personal disdain wrapped up in classic Swiftian themes of love, heartbreak and reputation. But while touching on personal gripes isn't new to the canon of Swift, she lays herself truly bare like an exposed nerve in Midnights.
这张专辑将霉霉个人不屑的态度裹进了她经典的爱情、悲伤和名誉的音乐主题当中。但是对霉霉来说，尽管谈论个人的抱怨不算是她作品中的新元素，她仍然将自己完全裸露地展现于《Midnights》专辑的乐符中。
《Midnights》专辑写真 图源：variety.com
“I think it’s a way for her to reclaim those narratives about herself. To me it feels very, very like, “Oh, I know what everybody says about me, and guess what? In some ways you’re not wrong and I’m just gonna own up to it and, like, this is who I am.” And I do feel that with this album as well.“ Baty said.
”我认为这是她改变大众对自身评价的一种方式。在我看来，这非常像是她在说，‘哈！我知道大众是如何评价我的，但在某些方面正如他们所说，我只是朝着我的目标向上走，如今这样就是我本来的样子。’并且我能感觉到，这张专辑也是想表达这样的意思。” 贝蒂说。
Midnights
重点词汇：
1. mind-blowing. （informal）overwhelmingly impressive 令人极度兴奋的；给人印象极深的
【例句】
This picture is just mind blowing.
2. conceit. a fanciful notion 幻想；奇想; a fanciful or ingenious expression in writing or speech 别出心裁的措辞; an elaborate metopher 精心的比喻
【例句】
1. He is alarmed by the widespread conceit that he spent most of time in 1980s drunk.
2. The idea of wind's singing is a prime romantic conceit.
3. pored over. look it and study it very carefully（长时间）仔细阅读研究
【例句】
He would rather pore over a book than play.
原文链接：
1.https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/21/taylor-swift-midnights-review-small-hours-pop-rich-with-self-loathing-and-stereotype-smashing
2.https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/taylor-swift-reacts-breaking-streaming-records-midnights-91998636
3.https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/25/entertainment/taylor-swift-what-singer-taught-me-wellness
4.https://www.newyorker.com/culture/listening-booth/in-taylor-swifts-midnights-the-easter-eggs-arent-the-point
5.https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a41737236/taylor-swift-midnights-theories-breakdown-analysis/
6.https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/taylor-swift-midnights-bejeweled-new-album-ranked.html
编译 | 虞佳盟 吾丽巴丽亚 玛迪娜 张若楠
排版 | 张若楠
