"Mastermind" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

, released on October 21, 2022, as the final track on the standard edition of her tenth studio album, ''

Midnights ''Midnights'' is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 21, 2022, via Republic Records. Announced at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, the album marks Swift's first body of new work since her 2020 ...

'' (2022). Written and produced by Swift and

Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Antonoff is the lead singer of rock band Bleachers, and is the guitarist and drummer in the pop rock band Fun. He was p ...

, the track has lyrics confessing to a lover about the habit of meticulously initiating and planning a romantic relationship. The production consists of swirling

arpeggiator A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

s, layered

vocal harmonies Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chora ...

, and expansive bass. The track peaked within the top-20 in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States, and peaked at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200. It was performed for the first time on

the Eras Tour The Eras Tour (stylized as Taylor Swift The Eras Tour) is the upcoming sixth headlining concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Having not toured for her studio albums '' Lover'' (2019), ''Folklore'' (2020), and '' Evermore'' ...

(2023).

Background and release

American singer-songwriter

announced her tenth studio album, ''

'', at the

2022 MTV Video Music Awards The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey on August 28, 2022. The show was emceed by LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj, and Jack Harlow. Minaj was honored with the Video Vanguard Award, pr ...

on August 28. On a video via her

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account on September 6, 2022, titled "The making of ''Midnights''", Swift revealed that

, who had worked with her before on her five studio albums since ''1989'' (2014), was the producer on the album. Starting from September 21, 2022, exactly a month before ''Midnights'''s release, she announced a thirteen-episode short series called ''Midnights Mayhem with Me'' on the social media platform

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

. The series' purpose is to announce a song title every episode by rolling a lottery cage containing thirteen

ping pong Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

balls numbered one to thirteen, each ball representing a track. "Mastermind" was the first track title Swift revealed.

Composition and lyrics

"Mastermind" is a subdued

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

song with a duration of three minutes and eleven seconds. In line with other ''Midnights'' tracks, it incorporates a bleeping electronic

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station * ...

, swirling synth

s, an expansive bass, and layered vocal harmonies. The

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

features cinematic

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

. Ilana Kaplan from the ''Alternative Press'' compared the opening synths to the "jittery" introduction of

the Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

's song "

Baba O'Riley "Baba O'Riley" is a song by the English rock band the Who, and the opening track to their fifth album ''Who's Next'' (1971). It was issued in Europe as a single on 23 October 1971, coupled with "My Wife". Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, ...

" (1971). The lyrics are about reflecting upon one's past and declaring that the protagonist is the mastermind behind everything that happened. 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 William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's trope of star-crossed lovers. Throughout the verses, Swift's character paints herself as the grandmaster scheming a plan to "assess the equation of you". The

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

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"). Some critics commented that the song's confessional and openly personal sentiments are representative of ''Midnight'''s overarching lyrical theme.

Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, Caramanica received his ba ...

from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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." Hannah Mylrea from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' considered the cited lyrics a personal revelation that only comes to light "in the wee hours". According to ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'''s Saloni Gajjar, the track also makes fun of Swift's public image and dating history. In a review for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', 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 A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

musician to a global pop star ("I laid the groundwork/ and then just like clockwork/ the dominoes cascaded in a line").

Commercial performance

Upon the release of ''Midnights'', all 13 tracks of the standard edition debuted inside the top-15 of the ''Billboard'' Global 200 chart simultaneously; "Mastermind" was at number 13. In the United States, it debuted and peaked at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song peaked at number 12 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

and was certified gold from

Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

on November 24, 2022. "Mastermind" appeared on

record charts A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

of various territories, at number 12 in Australia, number 13 in the Philippines, number 14 in Singapore, number 18 in Malaysia, number 33 in Portugal and Vietnam, number 51 in Lithuania, number 52 in Czech Republic, number 56 in Sweden, number 62 in Slovakia, and number 80 in Spain.

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from ''Pitchfork''. ;Recording * Recorded at Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn) and

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...

(New York City) * Mixed at MixStar Studios (

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

) *

Mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

at Sterling Sound (

Edgewater, New Jersey Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a population of 11,513,/nowiki>''sic''/nowiki> Hill Road was an important route to the top ...

) * Bobby Hawk's performance was recorded by Jon Gautier at Sound House Studios (

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

) * Evan Smith's performance was recorded by herself at Pleasure Hill Recording (

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

) * Zem Audu's performance was recorded by himself at Audu Music Studio (Brooklyn) * Michael Riddleberger's performance was recorded by himself at Moultrie Studios (Brooklyn) * Mikey Freedom Hart's performance was recorded by David Hart at Big Mercy Sound (Brooklyn) ; Personnel *

– vocals, songwriter, producer *

– songwriter, producer, recording, drums, programming, percussion,

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

, electric guitars, background vocals * Evan Smith –

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

, saxophone, recording * Bobby Hawk – violin * Zem Audu – saxophone, recording * Michael Riddleberger – drums * Mikey Freedom Hart – programming, Minimoog * Megan Searl – assistant

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Jon Sher – assistant engineer * John Rooney – assistant engineer *

Serban Ghenea Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...

– mixing engineer * Bryce Bordone – assistant mix engineer *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cage the ...

– mastering engineer * Laura Sisk – recording * Jon Gautier – recording * David Hart – recording

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Taylor Swift songs 2022 songs Songs written by Taylor Swift Songs written by Jack Antonoff Song recordings produced by Taylor Swift Song recordings produced by Jack Antonoff Taylor Swift songs Electropop songs