Mastermind (song)

An electropop and synth-pop song, "Mastermind" features synth arpeggiators, layered vocal harmonies, an expansive bass, and subtle orchestration in the refrains.

Inspired by the 2017 film Phantom Thread, the lyrics are about a calculating woman: Swift's narrator confesses to her lover that she was the one who initiated and planned their romantic relationship.

The track peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Global 200 and the top 20 on national charts in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States.

The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach and mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.

[8][9] In line with other Midnights tracks, the production features an electronic groove, swirling synth arpeggiators, an expansive bass, and layered vocal harmonies.

[15][16] Swift revealed in a 2023 cover story with Time journalist Sam Lansky that she was inspired to write the song after watching the 2017 film Phantom Thread.

Time critics interpreted this part as a throwback to Swift's 2008 single "Love Story"—both songs reference William Shakespeare's trope of star-crossed lovers but with contrary effects.

[22] For Variety's Chris Willman, the track was also a representation of how "women historically have to go to extreme lengths to be the steerer in relationships that controlling men typically screw up".

[24] In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood wrote that in addition to being a confession of Swift's love life, "Mastermind" is also about her career maneuver from a teenage country musician to a global pop star ("I laid the groundwork/ and then just like clockwork/ the dominoes cascaded in a line").

[29] "Mastermind" peaked within the top 20 of singles charts in Australia (12),[30] Canada (12),[31] the Philippines (13),[32] Singapore (14),[33] and Malaysia (18);[34] and further debuted in Portugal (33),[35] Vietnam (33),[36] Lithuania (51),[37] the Czech Republic (52),[38] Sweden (56),[39] Slovakia (62),[40] and Spain (80).

[12] Paste's Ellen Johnston said the track was "gratifying",[47] Esquire's Alan Light complimented it as "breathtaking",[48] and Beats Per Minute described it as a "luxuriously sexual and clever song" with "striking" lyricism.

[49] Light favorably compared the confessional vulnerability of "Mastermind" to the "defensive, reactive" sentiments of Swift's 2017 single "Look What You Made Me Do" and described the development between the two songs as a "breakthrough".