Song Mastermind

She was inspired to write it after watching the 2017 film Phantom Thread. Produced with co-writer Jack Antonoff, "Mastermind" is an electropop song featuring synth arpeggiators, layered vocal harmonies, and an expansive bass. Its lyrics are about a narrator confessing to a lover that they were the one who initiated and planned their romantic relationship.

Music critics generally praised "Mastermind" for its production and Swift's songwriting, with some commenting that the lyrics were not meant to be taken too seriously. 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. It received certifications in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The song was included on the set list of Swift's Eras Tour (2023–2024).

The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28. 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. 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. 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. "Mastermind" was the first track title Swift revealed.

Swift wrote and produced "Mastermind" with Antonoff, who recorded the track with Laura Sisk at Rough Customer Studio in Brooklyn and Electric Lady Studios in New York City. 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. "Mastermind" is a subdued electropop tune that lasts for three minutes and eleven seconds. In line with other Midnights tracks, the production features an electronic groove, swirling synth arpeggiators, an expansive bass, and layered vocal harmonies. Its instrumentation incorporates drums, electric guitars, saxophones, percussion, violin, and Juno and Minimoog synthesizers. The bridge features cinematic strings. Ilana Kaplan from the Alternative Press compared the opening synths to the "jittery" introduction of the Who's song "Baba O'Riley" (1971). Billboard critic Andrew Unterberger described the synth arpeggiators as "OMD-worthy" and the track's beat as "a racing heartbeat".

"Mastermind" is about reflecting upon one's romantic relationship and declaring that the protagonist is the mastermind behind everything that happened. 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. The song opens, "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". 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. Throughout the verses, Swift's character paints herself as the grandmaster scheming a plan to "assess the equation of you". In the refrain, the narrator asserts that "none of it was accidental" and proclaims themselves as the person responsible for everything that happened, "What if I told you I'm a mastermind? And now you're mine/ It was all by design." For some critics, these lyrics contrast with the theme of love guided by fate and destiny on Swift's past songs (as cited by critics, namely "You Belong with Me", "Don't Blame Me", "Invisible String", or "Long Story Short").

Some critics commented that the song's confessional and openly personal sentiments are representative of Midnights' overarching lyrical theme. Jon Caramanica from The New York Times described the track as Swift's "villain origin story", highlighting the bridge's 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 considered the cited lyrics a personal revelation that only comes to light "in the wee hours". Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone considered "Mastermind" a "flip side" of Swift's "Enchanted" (2010) and highlighted the lyric, "Checkmate! I couldn't lose." He said it was the appropriate "theme song" for Midnights, which he described as a concept album about Swift's "pathological lack of chill". 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".

According to The A.V. Club's Saloni Gajjar, the track also makes fun of Swift's public image and dating history. 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"). For some critics, the lyrics were not meant to be taken too seriously; Willman cited the lyric, "I swear, I’m only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care", and said that Swift was both "kidding" and being "dead-serious". Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone thought that the said lyric demonstrated Swift's "clue-leaving ways". Entertainment Weekly's Lauren Huff thought the track displayed Swift's "self-deprecating humor", similarly to her 2014 single "Blank Space".

 

Republic Records released Midnights on October 21, 2022; "Mastermind" is number 13 on the track listing and serves as standard edition's closing track. Swift included "Mastermind" on the set list of her sixth headlining concert tour, the Eras Tour (2023–2024). "Mastermind" peaked within the top 20 of singles charts in Australia (12), Canada (12), the Philippines (13), Singapore (14), and Malaysia (18); and further debuted in Portugal (33), Vietnam (33), Lithuania (51), the Czech Republic (52), Sweden (56), Slovakia (62), and Spain (80). 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. In the United States, it peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Mastermind" received certifications in Australia (platinum), Canada (gold), and the United Kingdom (silver).

Music critics gave "Mastermind" generally positive reviews, focusing on the songwriting. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times picked "Mastermind" as an album highlight. He praised the "intricate rhythm" of the lyrics for conjecturing an "indelible picture" and, citing the lyric "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail", wrote: "Only Swift could make a self-help slogan sound like a fairy tale." Caramanica also selected the track as a standout on Midnights for portraying Swift's self-observation about her image. For Mylrae, the song displays Swift's songwriting at its most candid. Paste's Ellen Johnston said the track was "gratifying", Esquire's Alan Light complimented it as "breathtaking", and Beats Per Minute described it as a "luxuriously sexual and clever song" with "striking" lyricism. 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".

Other critics also praised the production. In Vulture, Nate Jones highlighted the lyrics as either "parody masquerading as confession" or "confession masquerading as parody" and praised the synth production in the pre-chorus. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney from the Financial Times lauded Swift's vocals for switching "between cool self-possession and enraptured transport". Billboard critic Jason Lipshutz ranked "Mastermind" third out of 13 Midnights album tracks. He said that the song was both "ornately constructed" and "brilliantly self-effacing".

Credits are adapted from liner notes of Midnights.