jordan pulse -

Taylor Swift is a musical chameleon.

Over the course of 16 years and nine albums, she's switched genres from country to pop to alternative to folk.

On Friday, she will release her latest record, Midnights, described as "the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life... a journey through terrors and sweet dreams, the floors we pace and the demons we face".

It marks a return to more personal subject matters, after the novelistic approach of her last two records, Evermore and Folklore.

Speaking on Instagram, Swift revealed the opening track Lavender Haze was inspired by her six-year relationship with actor Joe Alwyn. Another Song, Anti-Hero, is a "guided tour" of the star's insecurities.

What we don't know, however, is what the album will sound like. Swift generally changes lanes every two albums, so Midnights is unlikely to have the indie-folk feel of her pandemic-era releases.

Inspiration can strike at any place or time - but Swift has often described it as a ghostly, physical presence.

"It's like this little glittery cloud that floats in front of your face, and you grab it at the right time," she told the New York Times in 2019.

She repeated the metaphor in an interview with Harpers Bazaar, adding: "That's the purest part of my job. It can get complicated on every other level, but the songwriting is still the same uncomplicated process it was when I was 12 years old."

And it seems like anything can trigger a song: Her breakthrough hit, Tim McGraw, came to her during a high school maths class. Ronan was inspired by a mother's essay about her son having cancer. Tolerate It was inspired by the book Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurie.

"It happens differently every time, and that's why I'm still so in love with songwriting," Swift said.

I got a blank space, baby: The lyrics

Swift started as a country musician, and retains the genre's gift for storytelling.

Her lyrics are detailed and relatable, whether she's singing about teenage crushes on Begin Again ("You don't know why I'm coming off a little shy/But I do.") or skewering her media portrayal in Blank Space ("Darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream.").

A voracious reader, she makes "lists and lists and lists" of words she loves - like epiphany and divorcée - and frequently bases songs around "phrases people say in conversation", á la You Need To Calm Down.

"Sometimes a string of words just ensnares me and I can't focus on anything until it's been recorded or written down," she told NYU students in a speech this summer.

As she's matured as a songwriter, her lyrics have become less literal.

"I had this song called Picture To Burn, that's talking about how 'I hate your truck,' and 'I hate that you ignored me,' 'I hate you,'" she once told MTV, while discussing her debut album. "Now, the way that I would say that and the way that I would feel that kind of pain is a lot different."

This is me trying: Finding the melody
Swift has been unusually generous in sharing her songwriting process with fans, frequently releasing voice memos and demos.

A fly-on-the-wall video for the song Delicate shows her searching for words to fit a nascent melody.

Producer Max Martin loops the backing track, as Swift composes in motion, improvising sounds and syllables and examining how they land rhythmically until she hits the right combination.

Other times, it comes more easily. There's a spine-tingling moment in this video, where Swift and co-writer Jack Antonoff pull a chorus out of thin air in just 28 seconds.

When they're done, Swift screams with excitement.

Collaborators often mention Swift's unstoppable stream of ideas. "Taylor is texting you the day before: 'Here are the lyrics, here's a line, here's a melody. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,'" said Ryan Tedder, who worked on the songs Welcome To New York and End Game.