By Abigail Chai, Staff Writer
On August 28th, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift struck gold and won 3 Video Music Awards for Video of the Year, Best Longform Video, and Best Direction. However, that night her fans were arguably even bigger winners, as Swift officially announced her long-awaited 10th studio album.
After receiving the award for Video of the Year, her third and final award of the night, Swift announced to the very excited crowd, “I had sort of made up my mind that if you were going to be generous and give us this, I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand-new album comes out October 21st. I will tell you more at midnight.”
Staying true to her words, when the clock struck 12:00 EST, Swift released an official statement to her social media platforms, in which she officially revealed the album’s cover and title, plus the number of tracks that would be included. The cover includes a close up of Swift’s face, where she dons a blue, glittery smokey eye with a lighter held close to her face. The album, titled Midnights, contains 13 tracks. In her post, she describes the album as “. . .a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.”
To no one’s surprise, Swift’s Twitter and Instagram posts sent social media into a flurry, with her posts collectively amassing over 9 million likes. Topics in relation to the album quickly trended on Twitter as fans began to storm the app, expressing their excitement for Midnights. Trending phrases included, “Taylor, MidnightsTS, and SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP”. The new album is a surprise to many, as Swift had not previously hinted to potential new music any time soon. Nonetheless, it’s no secret that fans are ecstatic about the upcoming music. Fans hurried over to Swift’s official website, desperate to place a preorder on the album’s vinyl, however due to high demand, her website soon crashed.
While little is known about the album, fans have already begun to theorize about the aesthetic and potential content the album could possibly bring. Swift, who is notorious for leaving easter eggs about upcoming projects, often has her devoted supporters scrambling for any potential hints towards possible announcements. Her fans, dubbed “swifties”, quickly got to work, connecting the wildest- yet plausible- fan theories of the upcoming album. One popular theory circulates back to Taylor’s past album Lover (2019), in which fans believe that Midnights is a potential sister album to Swift’s 2019 album Lover. Lover’s pastel aesthetic and predominantly bright, loving message deeply contrasts with Midnight’s dark and depressive aesthetic, which has fans believing that the two albums could potentially be two different sides of the same coin.
To add on, in Lover’s final track “Daylight”, the closing lyrics are, “I wanna be defined by the things I love/Not the things I hate/Not the things I’m afraid of, I’m afraid of/ Or things that haunt me in the middle of the night/ I, I just think you are what you love.” Basically, Taylor ended Lover telling us she doesn’t want to fear the night anymore. Going back to what we know about Midnights, it’s an album “written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” so the album could possibly be exploring her fear of the night that she had previously referenced in Daylight.
Despite the theory being super elaborate and believable, Swift has yet to comment on the theory, so as of now it’s simply speculation. This huge theory is just one of many about her upcoming album.
Fans are also hopeful for a tour in support of Midnights, as Swift hasn’t toured since Reputation which took place in 2018; however, Taylor and her team have yet to confirm any upcoming tours. Since the official announcement of Midnights, she has released 3 new special edition vinyl covers and pressings available on her official website. Target has also announced a Target exclusive lavender vinyl and CD, that will feature 3 bonus tracks exclusively on the CD. Also, very recently Taylor has announced a series on TikTok titled Midnights Mayhem With Me, where in her words, she’ll “allow fate to decide exactly what track titles I’m going to be announcing and in what order.” As of now, we only know track #13 which is named Mastermind. Fans excitedly await the announcement of new track titles along with the release of Midnights and any more news Swift may release.
