A good friend despatched me an invitation not too long ago. It was for an occasion at a neighborhood brewery, held to have a good time the discharge of Taylor Swift’s new album, Midnights. I instructed her it sounded enjoyable, however that I have a tendency to consider Taylor Swift album releases as solitary experiences; that I’d already blocked off all the weekend for walks on my own across the lakes, listening on repeat. This was partially an exaggeration however principally the reality. And, for the file, I’m completely okay with this plan.
Her invite, and my subsequent response, bought me pondering.
There’s one thing magical concerning the first time (and the second, and the third) listening to an album from an artist you’re keen on throughout—noticing the songs that pull you in most, some for apparent causes and others for these you possibly can’t fairly put your finger on but. In that spirit, I made a decision to dream up plenty of concepts for how one might expertise their first take heed to an album. The concepts I’m sharing at present can, in fact, apply to any album of your selecting, from any artist who significantly resonates with you. In at present’s submit, for the sake of timeliness, we’re discussing Taylor Swift’s Midnights album.
There’s one thing magical concerning the first time (and the second, and the third) listening to an album from an artist you’re keen on throughout—noticing the songs that pull you in most, some for apparent causes and others for these you possibly can’t fairly put your finger on but.
Given its very premise—”A set of music written in the course of the evening, a journey via terrors and candy goals”—this album particularly appears promised to be a doozy of the emotional selection. This, in my private opinion, makes it a ripe alternative to get pleasure from your first hear with much more intention—in no matter means speaks to you most.
Listed here are nineteen methods to expertise Taylor Swift’s Midnights album (which drops tonight at, effectively, midnight):
- Whereas strolling round a lake (Ideally a considerably populated one since you’ll be carrying headphones and need to really feel protected!)
- Whereas strolling subsequent to an ocean
- Whereas having fun with the presence of any open physique of water, actually
- Whereas driving alongside autumn-hued, tree-lined roads
- Whereas dancing in your kitchen, alone or in any other case
- Whereas swaying in a hammock below an open sky
- Saddled as much as a bar with a glass of wine (or your beverage of alternative), within the consolation of crowded solitude
- Together with your headphones on whilst you wash the dishes, along with your children frolicking within the background (as a result of not all listens might be free from interruption!)
- Throughout pockets of a principally uneventful workday
- Whereas sitting in your patio, or your balcony, or your porch, or your deck (and so forth), searching on the world past
- At a listening celebration, surrounded by buddies and/or strangers, with the music on full blast
- On an airplane (ought to you might have plans to be on an airplane), with minimal distractions to tug your consideration away
- Whereas taking a bath or whereas having a shower
- Whereas watching the dawn
- Or, maybe, whereas watching the sundown
- Whereas baking cookies or whereas baking actually something (this feels acceptable, sure?)
- From a human-sized indent in a big pile of leaves in your yard or a close-by park
- One track at a time, as time permits, over the course of every week or weeks
- On the very stroke of midnight, tucked comfortably into your mattress, till you drift off to sleep
What’s your individual private listening technique of alternative?
Jackie is the Editorial Director at Wit & Delight. In her spare time, you could find her operating alongside the river highway, loitering within the neighborhood of the closest pet at a neighborhood brewery, or recharging her soul in her tiny sanctuary of an house. You’ll be able to comply with her on Instagram @jackiesaffert.
