#wrote this one in a haze with frequent breaks to pace around cause i was shaking so much

[likeadevils]

Midnights Timeline

This is a very long post that puts all the songs on Midnights in order of Taylor creating them. I’ve also included a few other songs she worked on while writing Midnights and quotes from Taylor and her collaborators talking about her process.

If you don't want to read all that, check out this playlist of the album in order, or this playlist of her entire discography. WARNING: there is a very large chunk on the playlists that I have no information on (Maroon-Dear Reader).

I’ve also added this color coded scale of how sure I am of the date: 

Confirmed: There is some type of official source for the date

Inferring: Nobody has officially said “This is when we wrote it,” but all available evidence points to that date

Speculation: This date is based off pure vibes and guesswork and is highly likely to change.

Unknown: All that is known is the year (from the US Copyright Offices

Renegade: March 7-15, 2021 (Confirmed)

Aaron: “I wrote the music [for Renegade] at some point after we finished [evermore], and sent it to her, because she was inspired by a llot of the Big Red Machine stuff we were working on. And she had already sung on Birch, a song that hasn't come out yet but is one of the major ones on the record. And I think she wanted to write a song for Big Red Machine. She very much feels like part of this community to me. So I wrote Renegade, the music, and sent it to her. And not unlike a lot of the things we've done together, one day I woke up to a voice memo from her and she had written this incredible song about how anxiety and fear get in the way of loving or being loved. And she was clearly thinking about Big Red Machine. And then we recorded her vocals and everything the week of the Grammys, when I was there in LA, and it was really nice to have something to think about that wasn't related to the Grammys - just to make music because you feel like making it." (transcript from jaimie)

High Infidelity and Would've Could've Should've: March 7-15, 2021 (Confirmed)

Aaron: [Would've Could've Should've], we wrote that song together, and recorded it while we were together in LA for the folklore Grammys. It goes back that far. And the same with High Infidelity. Those songs, we actually recorded in her house, the vocals, we recorded them then. And I just kept making music, and it was kind, after we had made folklore and evermore, I started to have ideas which I would share. And eventually, she obviously made most of Midnights with Jack, and it became something different. But High Infidelity, and Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve, and The Great War, and we made Hits Different with Jack and Taylor and I also, and it was great to be part of that record in that way. (transcript from @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes)

The Great War and Hits Different: between April-October 2021 (Speculation)

In the above quote talking about his songs on Midnights, Aaron says "Eventually, she obviously made most of Midnights with Jack, and it became something different," implying his stuff was written before the bulk of midnights in fall. He also says High Infidelity and Would've Could've Should've "[go] back that far," which implies they were some of the earliest stuff on Midnights, so it's safe to assume TGW and Hits Different come sometime afterwards.

Summer 2021: Jack has a session with Sounwave, Sam Dew, and Zoe Kravitz, where the instrumentals for Lavender Haze and likely Glitch are written

Rolling Stone interview with Sounwave: Before Antonoff began to work on Swift’s tenth album, he was cooking up tracks with Spears, Dew, and Zoë Kravitz [...] During a brainstorming session, the quartet put together a track that would eventually become “Lavender Haze.���

November 3 2021: It was announced that Joe has been cast in Stars at Noon, alongside Margaret Qualley, Jack Antonoff's then girlfriend now wife. Since Joe was parachuted into the film last minute, filming had already started, making it likely he left as soon as possible.

Taylor: We’d been toying with ideas and had written a few things we loved, but Midnights actually really coalesced and flowed out of us when our partners (both actors) did a film together in Panama. Jack and I found ourselves back in New York, alone, recording every night, staying up late and exploring old memories and midnights past.

November 8: Jack gets back from touring with Bleachers. Let the games begin.

Vigilante Shit: November 2021 (Speculation)

Vigilante Shit is the sole solo writing credit on the album, which implies it was written before her and Jack were holed up together 24/7. Also Scooter and his wife divorced in July. Beyond that there's no evidence this is early in the process, besides it making sense that Taylor wrote this alone, brought it to Jack, and then fell into a creative inferno.

Maroon, Anti-Hero, You're on Your Own Kid, Midnight Rain, Bejeweled, Labyrinth, Mastermind, Paris, and Dear Reader: November/December 2021 (Inferring)

I don't have enough info on the making of any of these songs to give them each their own little blurb, but if anything pops up I will update this post and reblog it letting y’all know.

Question..?: After November 21, 2021 (Inferring)

We know Rachel Antonoff, Dylan O'Brien, and Austin Swift were there the day they recorded it thanks to this behind the scenes footage of them recording the cheering vocals. Dylan was filming The Vanishings at Caddo Lake in Louisiana sometime between October 5 and November 20. I don't know exactly which dates he was filming-- he was in New York for All Too Well filming in late October and to attend the premiere on November 12, but since we know for sure he was in Louisiana on the 20th, I'm just gonna Occam's Razor it and say Question was written sometime after he got back from that.

You're Losing Me: December 5, 2021 (Confirmed)

December 17, 2021: Filming wraps on Stars at Noon, and with it the bulk of recording for Midnights.

Lavender Haze: Early 2022 (Speculation)

Lavender Haze, Snow on the Beach, and Karma are the only songs to have Henson Recording Studios credited (I can't find studio credits for the 3am tracks so there is possibly more on there). This could point to them all being recorded around the same time time, or it could be in reference to Jack and Sounwave's original recording sessions taking place at Hensen. I lean towards the former, since 1) it seems like the Winter 2021 sessions were mostly between Taylor and Jack, and the spring sessions have other collaborators, and 2) the tabloid rumors about Taylor and Joe getting engaged really started heating up in February 2022. On the other hand, Sounwave implies that there was a notable stretch of time between Lavender Haze and Karma, so I totally understand if you want to put it with the rest of the Winter 2021 sessions. Rolling Stone interview with Sounwave: A few months [after Jack and Sounwave wrote the instrumentals], Antonoff reached out to Spears, Dew, and Kravitz to see if he could pitch [Lavender Haze] to Swift, who loved it immediately. She wrote lyrics inspired by a Mad Men scene, numerous tabloid rumors and online gossip about her relationship status, and “1950s expectations.” “When Jack brought us in the hear for the first time, all our mouths dropped. She took it to a whole new world and made it her own. She created different pockets we did not hear.”

Glitch: Early 2022 (Speculation)

Rolling Stone interview with Sounwave: "Glitch,” one of the bonus songs on the Midnights (3am) edition, was born from the same studio session as “Lavender Haze.” I don't know if this means the instrumentals to Lavender Haze and Glitch were done in the same session, Taylor wrote the lyrics in the same session, or both. For the same reason as Lavender Haze, I lean towards this coming later in the process, as well as Glitch mentioning being together for six years, and in November 2021 Taylor and Joe had been together for a little over 5 years. That being said, Taylor could've assume the album was going to come out in 2022, and that she would stay with Joe until then, and bump up that date a bit. It's still very up in the air.

February 5, 2022: Taylor is photographed leaving Jack's house holding a keyboard.

Sweet Nothing: Spring 2022 (Inferring)

Joe is a co-write on this, meaning they likely wrote it after he got back from filming. It also mentions their trip to Ireland in 2021 and refers to it as "last July", implying it was written in 2022. While I was writing this timeline Taylor liked this post on twitter, implying that at least the second verse is in reference to Paul and Linda McCartney. The quote is from his poem Blessed, which you can read in this interview (TWs for death and cancer)

Bigger Than The Whole Sky: March 2022 (Inferring)

Claire Winter, a close friend of Taylor's, posts on Instagram that she miscarried. (I toyed with whether or not to add this, but seeing as Claire Winter made the information public herself, I decided to put it in. If she ever takes that Instagram post down, let me know and I'll delete this part.)

Snow on the Beach: April 1, 2022 (Inferring)

On April 1, Lana Del Rey posts a video on Instagram of Jack in the studio with an unidentified female voice in the background. Two days later she posts this photo, which Taylor and Jack both include in posts about Midnights/Snow on the Beach. Lana: Well, first of all, I had no idea I was the only feature [on that song]. Had I known, I would have sung the entire second verse like she wanted. My job as a feature on a big artist’s album is to make sure I help add to the production of the song, so I was more focused on the production. She was very adamant that she wanted me to be on the album, and I really liked that song. I thought it was nice to be able to bridge that world, since Jack [Antonoff] and I work together and so do Jack and Taylor. Taylor: And with Snow On The Beach, which features the genius Lana Del Rey, very lucky to have collaborated with her on that. And Dylan [O’Brien] was actually in the studio with me and Jack, because a lot of the time we record at his place, and Dylan was just hanging out, drinking wine with us, and listening to stuff, and he was just trying out the drum kit there. He wasn't serious. But we were drinking wine, and we were sort of like, 'We haven't recorded the drums for this one yet! See if you want to...' and he played the drums on the song. Sometimes it just happens like that. (transcript once again from jaimie)

Karma: Spring 2022 (Speculation)

Rolling Stone interview with Sounwave: The bubbly “Karma” came later [than Lavender Haze and Glitch], when Antonoff reached out to Spears for any other ideas he may have to contribute to the album and its synth-pop vision. “‘Karma’ was just a last-minute Hail Mary,” Spears says. “I remembered I was working with my guy Keanu [Beats] and had something that was too perfect not to send to her. As soon as I sent it, Jack was instantly like ‘This is the one. Playing it for Taylor now. We’re going in on it.’ The next day, I heard the final product with her vocals on it.”

April 19, 2022: Elle's interview with the Conversations with Friends cast is released, and when Joe is "asked if he hopes to continue writing songs, Alwyn simply says, “It’s not a plan of mine, no.”" It's possible this means Sweet Nothing was yet to be written, but I think it's more likely Joe was just denying in order to not create hype around a song that wasn't officially announced yet.

May 2022: Taylor teases Labyrinth lyrics in her NYU Commencement Speech and says m i d n i g h t very prominently on this instagram post, meaning by early summer she was likely confident in the album's name and which songs would make the tracklist.

And that's all for this timeline! Check out my others:

TIMELINES: debut • fearless • speak now • red • 1989 • rep • lover • folklore • evermore • midnights PLAYLISTS: debut • fearless • speak now • red • 1989 • rep • lover • folklore • evermore • midnights • entire discography GENERAL: tag

[murdochmysteriesimagines]

Circumstance -Julia Ogden

Request: Platonic Requests Of Julia Having A Half Black Daughter Before The Events Of The Show And They Meet Again Whith The Daughter Being In Her Twenties And Julia In The Latest Season And Neither Of Them Knowing They Are Related.

A/N: The need for a specific ethnicity did throw me off a bit, that and the requirement of both parties not knowing of each other when they first meet. This one was challenging to write for but I am pleased with the end result. It does differ from the original request but this in the effort to make the story more realistic and logical. 

__________________________________________

Pained screams filled the empty cottage home. On the outside the still building cried out for only birds to hear, painted walls and shuttered windows failed to muffle any of the misery of the inhabitants; one standing out among the rest. Julia Ogden laid on her back, legs separated and abdomen inflated. Each muscle contraction squeezing the life out of her, grit teeth and watery eyes two of her side effects. Her father and school companion Issac Tash were present in the room aiding with the birth. Tash frequently pausing his assistance to the doctor to provide comfort to his friend, although it largely fell flat to the pained women and only delayed the inevitable. Lionel Ogden, who despised the rushed situation his family was placed in still found time to scold the doctor in training for his distractions, having exhausted the same treatment and criticisms for his daughter throughout the months of her secret pregnancy. 

In the hall outside the bedroom and makeshift ward the second youngest member of the Ogden lineage sat beside he father of Julia child: a grounds keeper at Bishop’s University where the new mother and her companion attended. Their secret flame burned bright with a passion, but one night alone without supervision ended in temporary pleasure and their current predicament. Ruby Ogden the younger attempted to comfort the gardener, like Tash however, her efforts would be in vain. Not a year older than Julia yet his face hung low, a tired state giving him the appearance of an unearned age. Mr Marsh worried not for himself for his child, the mother, what the future would hold for the both of them. If Julia was caught bearing a mixed child her career would be over before it began. Any school or institution worthy of her talents would shun her as if tainted by the plague. That was why Julia’s father brought all parties into the woods of northern Ontario, regardless of outcome he intended to keep what happened in these walls an everlasting family secret.

Back inside the room Lionel commanded his daughter to push a final time, through her cries of relief flushed a new sense of exhaustion. Doctor Ogden held the result in a single hand, unnoticed by Tash who focused on his friend. The child barely reached to the of his hand from the palm., the size and texture of a lump of coal. The child laid still, unmoving, silent. Lionel knew himself to be a firm man, unpleasant to all in this situation. When he held his grandchild however, a weight formed in his throat and refused to be swallowed down no matter the force.

He gently laid the child down on a table away from his own, his priorities shifting  back to what could be done for his own girl. Minutes would pass in relative silence, Julia’s mind muddled from recent events and the doctors to Tash. He was unable to admit the circumstance of the baby but all knowing its fate. Isaac excused himself to gather more supplies. His departure letting a cold silence occupy the room and its single conscious inhabitant. Outside he could hear distress from his youngest daughter and the father, he expected the door to be knocked in yet it remained shut. 

The silence was broken by a frail cry. At first Lionel thought it was Julia coming to grips with the outcome. she remained quiet however, eyes closed to the world around her. Then another wail turned his attention back to the table and what he thought was a still born infant; still clinging to life, if by a thread. He wrapped the infant in a blanket and held it carefully in his arms. If it survived he would ensure it was taken care of, the father was far from being in his good books but he was trustworthy to raise the baby into adulthood. As a father himself he had to do what was best for his children first, regardless of any consequences. Even if that included lies and manipulation among other sins. He would extend that promise to his first grandchild, a unfortunate victim of her parents mistakes, innocent to the world. 

You had paced the length of the hospital three times by the time you gathered the courage to approach the main doors. In perpetration you had packed every scrap of information in the form of documents, photos or outdated letters, and neatly organized them in the satchel thumping against your waist as you walked up the stone steps. You were informed this was Doctor Ogden's new stomping grounds after she left the city morgue. A foreigner to the city yourself you were surprised at how helpful people could be, daddy always warned you of the exact opposite from city dwellers. 

The hospital was positively silent on the inside, no screams of anguish or weeps of sorrow from mourning loved ones. You knew those sounds would come in hand with your future schooling and profession; but for now they still turned your spine into ice and hands into stone. With guidance from a nurse at the reception and a tall blond on Ogden’s assigned floor you pushed further into the building. The first one tricked with a white lie and the tall one simply too helpful for her own good. The way she fixated on you for a second was unnerving, her eyes narrowed and head tilted to the side before snapping back to reality and ordering you to follow her. All without proper reason for your visit. As you were guided through corridors in the winding maze that was the hospital final doubts began to sweep through your mind.

“What will I say to her? What should I say? This was a mistake surely, selfish, it has been two decades, I’ll only disrupt whatever she has built. What will the public think?“

Your inner dialogue was cut short by the blond appearing from behind a door. In your haze she had disappeared into a break room and reemerged soon after. “Its just Doctor Ogden in there, I’m sure she’ll appreciate the company.”

You barely managed to thank her before she ran off back into the endless hallways. You stood ready to enter for a moment, retouched your hair, straightened your collar and padded out any wrinkles in your clothing. No imperfections, real or imagined, were enough to put off the Doctor but all posed significant threats to your mind. Hesitantly you opened the door and stepped inside. She had her nose buried in a notebook with a hand occupied by a pen. The door closing behind you caused her to look up from whatever words she wrote. Doctor Ogden looked at you like a stranger onto another. You knew swabs of information about her yet she only saw a member of the youth starring at her nervously. 

“Good day.“ Her greeting was warm, in line with all the stories you had been told. She could tell you were nervous and, true to her nature, attempted to ease your anxieties. She extended an arm to offer you a seat. When you placed yourself opposite her your respiratory system began to malfunction once again. you introduced yourself with a noticeable stutter as you failed to find confidence in the scenario, y/n Matthews.

Doctor Ogden looked remarkably similar to what you suspected. The bury photo you had of the young secret couple that was your father and Doctor Ogden relaxing together did her justice. Her hair still possessed the same glow, her face seemingly free of aging, time appeared to have paused for your fathers oldest friend. Would you have the same luck as the inevitable conclusion approached. These thoughts distracted you for several seconds, unable to hear when she spoke in the temporary silence. “Pardon?”

The Doctor smiled at you, not showing any resentment or annoyance to your endless worry. “I asked if you would like something, tea?” You shook your head denying the request.

“I’m here on business Ma’am. Doctor!“ You corrected yourself with a panic. Another error she did not react to or or care about. You moved your hands around trying to find a comfortable position, settling on them squeezed into a ball in front of you. “Are you the same Doctor Ogden who a relationship with James Marsh two decades ago?” 

You were blunt and without a stutter for the first time. The Doctor recoiled slightly, eyes widened, a reaction to a name she knew too well. “Its been years since I thought of that name.” She paused, “But why-”

“He’s my father.” You blurted out of panic once again, not allowing her to finish the sentence. Doctor Ogden seemed to take a positive interpretation. “He married after my father forced him to move away.”

Of course she would think that, you refrained from correcting her immediately. “He said your father requested our surname be change after...” Your thoughts trailed off, unwilling to divulge the forbidden information. A look flashed across Julia's face, unsure herself if it was relief or pain that you might not know all the details of hers and Marsh’s relationship. 

“How is he doing?” “He died six months ago. Cancer.” Your voice was near silent but each word echoed around the break room. All Doctor Ogden could manage was an offering of her sympathies, a gesture you had no doubts about being genuine. She went onto question about your mother, still believing her old friend had married long ago. “And your mother?”

Thousands of potential answers came to you but none would allow themselves to exit your mouth. What should have been premium opportunity you allowed to slip through your fingers. The answer to selfish for the Doctor to hear. 

“She’s out of the picture.” You refused to elaborate and she refrained from perusing the question.

“Before he passed he...” You paused, retrieving the item in question from your satchel, a sealed envelope signed in the finest cursive you had ever seen. “My father wrote a letter for you. He never said why but he wanted it sent after his death.” 

You slid the letter across to her, along with the old photo of the couple as a form of proof. Doctor Ogden held it with the tips of her fingers; like the paper would burst into flames if she was not careful. “You came to Toronto just to deliver a letter?” She sounded more curious than puzzled. You were taken back by her question, not all would care enough beyond being polite. “I’m attending the university next week. Me and my father had been saving for it for some years now. I plan to become a doctor myself some day.” 

For the first time since you entered you allowed yourself to smile slightly, positioned downward in a failed effort to keep it private. “When I was younger I worked in the local clinic and in the summers I would patch up the local football teams. My father did say I always took after my mother.” 

“Were you two close?” The Doctors question sent hidden daggers into you without intent, a polite question to try and break the ice. A simple head shake made the Doctor drop the subject entirely. 

“If you would like Miss Matthews, once you start your schooling I could see about getting you a part time position here as a nurse. Perhaps I could teach you a trick or two.” The Doctor appeared honest in her proposal, though you had inner conflict if this was because of your father or some potential she saw in you. What ever the reason the offer scared you to your feet, the older woman following soon after. 

“I, I don’t think that would be appropriate Doctor Ogden.” Your anxiety had returned with a passion. All plans of what else to discuss with the Doctor falling secondary to any action that would end. Before she could raise further question you found yourself backing towards the door, the truth leaving as quickly as it entered. “I should’t waste anymore of your time Doctor.” Your lungs acted as if they ran several kilometers while you sat still in a chair as you maneuvered out of the room and away from Doctor Ogden. 

“y/n wait!” Julia called out to you but remained still, whatever stress you were acting on would not be aided by the person triggering it giving chase. She attributed it to the memory of her old lover and the youths father being brought up so swiftly. Even with her strained relationship she was less than joyful talking about her own father after his death, an unfortunately familiar subject for the two women to share. 

Her attention went back to the letter and photo of her old friend; every pleasant and painful memory associated with him brought back when she looked at his grinning face in the weathered photo. A shame his child did not inherit his smile. What information could be so important that even after twenty years it still occupied his mind on ones deathbed. It was a minor worry in the back of her mind that whatever words he had penned would somehow betray or jeopardize his only child. If James Marsh had remained the same gentleman she knew well a lifetime ago he would do what was right for those he cared about.