Sweet Nothing (Taylor Swift song)
A bedroom pop and soft rock track reminiscent of 1970s ballads, "Sweet Nothing" has an electronic piano–led production accompanied by saxophone and clarinet accents.
"Sweet Nothing" peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 20 on the singles charts in Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States.
Taylor Swift announced her tenth original studio album, Midnights, at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28;[1] its title and cover artwork were released shortly after via social media.
[2] She conceived Midnights as a collection of songs about her nocturnal ruminations, detailing a wide range of emotions such as regret, lust, nostalgia, contentment, and self-loathing.
[27] At three minutes and eight seconds long,[7] "Sweet Nothing" is a ballad with a spare arrangement[28][29] driven by a tinkling electric piano throughout,[30][31] over which Swift sing-speaks.
[30][36] The music critics Carl Wilson and Annie Zaleski opined that the track is styled after 1970s ballads;[37] the latter dubbed it a soft rock song evoking a warm and cozy atmosphere, reminiscent of the sounds of Swift's 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore.
It is a double entendre for the song's actual lyrical content:[33][39] Swift's narrator appreciates her lover for not expecting anything from her and describes him as a calm and reliable presence amidst the chaotic world outside.
[41] For Dork's Abigail Firth, the emotional warmth and intimacy at home with a loving partner in "Sweet Nothing" harkens back to Swift's 2017 song "New Year's Day".
[35] Liam E. Semler, a professor in Early Modern English, drew parallels between "Sweet Nothing" and William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, as both works celebrate intimacy as a defense against the chaotic outer world drawing on autobiographical narratives.
Some critics who were fond of the simple arrangement found it charming and affecting, including Nguyen,[32] The Line of Best Fit's Paul Bridgewater,[31] and Entertainment Weekly's Marc Hirsh.
[45] The simple romantic gestures depicted in the lyrics were highlighted by Alex Hopper of American Songwriter[53] and Jason Lipshutz of Billboard, who ranked "Sweet Nothing" eighth among the 13 tracks on Midnights.
