Mastermind (song)

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28.[1] On a video via her Instagram account on September 6, 2022, titled "The making of Midnights", Swift revealed that Jack Antonoff, who had worked with her before on her five studio albums since 1989 (2014), was a producer on the album.[2] Starting from September 21, 2022, exactly a month before Midnights' release, she announced a thirteen-episode short series called Midnights Mayhem with Me on the social media platform TikTok.[3] The series' purpose is to announce a song title every episode by rolling a lottery cage containing thirteen ping pong balls numbered one to thirteen, each ball representing a track.[4] "Mastermind" was the first track title Swift revealed.[5] Midnights was released on October 21, 2022, by Republic Records; "Mastermind" is placed at number 13 as the closing track on the standard edition of the album.[6][7] The song was included on the set list of her sixth headlining concert tour, the Eras Tour (2023–2024).[8]

"Mastermind" has a length of three minutes and eleven seconds.[6] Swift wrote and produced it with Antonoff, who provided background vocals and played instruments including drums, percussion, Juno, Minimoog, and electric guitars. Others musicians on the track were Bobby Hawk, who played violin and Jon Gautier recorded his performance at Sound House Studios in Lakeland, Florida; Evan Smith played synths and saxophone, and recorded her performance at Pleasure Hill Recording in Portland, Maine; Michael Riddleberger played drums and recorded his performance at Moultrie Studios in Brooklyn; Mikey Freedom Hart played Minimoog and David Hart recorded his performance in Big Mercy Sound in Brooklyn; Zem Audu played saxophone and recorded his performance at Audu Music Studio in Brooklyn. Antonoff and Laura Sisk recorded it at Rough Customer Studio in Brooklyn and Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Antonoff and Hart provided programming for the track, which was engineered by Antonoff, Sisk, Smith, Gautier, Riddleberger, and Audu, with assistance from John Rooney, Jon Sher, and Megan Searl. The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea with assistance from Bryce Bordone, and was mastered by Randy Merrill.[9]

"Mastermind" is a subdued electropop song.[10] In line with other Midnights tracks, it incorporates an electronic groove, swirling synth arpeggiators, an expansive bass, and layered vocal harmonies.[11][12] The bridge features cinematic strings.[13] Ilana Kaplan from the Alternative Press compared the opening synths to the "jittery" introduction of the Who's song "Baba O'Riley" (1971).[14]

"Mastermind" is about reflecting upon one's past and declaring that the protagonist is the mastermind behind everything that happened.[15][16][17][18] The song opens with, "Once upon a time, the planets and the fates and all the stars aligned/ You and I ended up in the same room at the same time", which Time interpreted as a throwback to Swift's 2008 single "Love Story", in that both reference William Shakespeare's trope of star-crossed lovers.[11] Throughout the verses, Swift's character paints herself as the grandmaster scheming a plan to "assess the equation of you".[11] The refrain contrasts with the theme of love guided by fate and destiny on Swift's past songs (such as "Invisible String" or "Long Story Short") and asserts that "none of it was accidental", depicting the narrator as the person responsible for everything that has happened ("What if I told you I'm a mastermind? And now you're mine/ It was all by design").[11][19][20]

Some critics commented that the song's confessional and openly personal sentiments are representative of Midnights' overarching lyrical theme.[13] Jon Caramanica from The New York Times described the track as Swift's "villain origin story", highlighting the lyrics, "No one wanted to play with me as a little kid/ So I've been scheming like a criminal ever since/ To make them love me and make it seem effortless."[21] Hannah Mylrea from NME considered the cited lyrics a personal revelation that only comes to light "in the wee hours".[13] According to The A.V. Club's Saloni Gajjar, the track also makes fun of Swift's public image and dating history.[22] 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").[12]

Swift performing "Mastermind" on the Eras Tour (2023–2024)

"Mastermind" entered on national charts in various countries: it peaked within the top 20 in Australia (12),[23] the Philippines (13),[24] Singapore (14),[25] and Malaysia (18);[26] and further debuted in Portugal (33),[27] Vietnam (33),[28] Lithuania (51),[29] the Czech Republic (52),[30] Sweden (56),[31] Slovakia (62),[32] and Spain (80).[33] On the Billboard Global 200, all 13 tracks of the standard edition debuted inside the top-15 of the chart simultaneously; "Mastermind" was at number 13.[34] In the United States, it peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.[35] The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 and received a gold certification from Music Canada.[36][37]

Credits are adapted from liner notes of Midnights.[9]