Get ready to inject some new music into your sad-girl autumn playlist.
Words by Chelsey Sanchez
Photo by Arturo Holmes / Getty Images
Sad-girl autumn called, and Taylor Swift answered.
The pop star is revving up to release some new music this fall. She confirmed the news at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards while accepting the award for Video of the Year for “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”
“I know with every second of this moment that we wouldn’t have been able to make this short film if it weren’t for you, the fans,” she said in her acceptance speech. “Because I wouldn’t be able to rerecord my albums if it weren’t for you. You embolden me to do that. I had sort of made up my mind that if you were going to be this generous and give us this, I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand-new album comes out October 21. And I will tell you more at midnight.”
Aptly, her forthcoming 10th studio album (which fans have affectionately dubbed TS10) will be called Midnights. Here’s everything else we know so far.
Midnights is due out this October.
Swift confirmed that her new album will officially drop on October 21.
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The tracklist features 13 songs, representing “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life.”
Swift shared a peek at Midnights‘ cover art on Instagram, which teased 13 songs in total. The songs, whose names have yet to be revealed, will be split into two different parts, with the first six delegated to Side A and the last half delegated to Side B.
She also shared a statement that elaborated on the meaning behind 13.
“We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears. We stare at walls and drink until they speak back. We twist in our self-made cages and pray that we aren’t – right this minute – about to make some fateful life-altering mistake,” she shared.
“This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves.
“Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.”
She will be announcing the entire tracklist through a new TikTok series.
At midnight on September 21, Swift introduced a new video series on TikTok called Midnights Mayhem with Me. In the video, she referenced her predilection for dropping hints and Easter eggs about forthcoming projects for fans to pick out and interpret. This time, she claimed to be taking a more straightforward approach.
“I’m going to use this technologically-advanced device,” she said, referring to a lottery cage, “to help me allow fate to decide exactly what track titles I will be announcing and in what order. In this cage are 13 ping pong balls labeled one through 13, each representing a track on the Midnights album.”
Fate ended up choosing to first reveal the title of the 13th track, which is called Mastermind.
@taylorswift Midnights tracklist reveal!! Introducing: Midnights Mayhem with Me 🌌😎 #TSmidnighTS #SwiftTok #MidnightsMayhemWithMe ♬ Midnights Mayhem episode 1 – Taylor Swift
Below, we list the titles of the revealed tracks so far.
- X
- Maroon
- Anti-Hero
- X
- X
- X
- Question…?
- Vigilante Shit
- X
- X
- X
- X
- Mastermind
“Anti-Hero” is one of Taylor’s “favorite songs.”
After announcing the title of the third track on Midnights, called “Anti-Hero,” Swift surprised fans by sharing a video of herself explaining the meaning behind the emotional song.
“‘Anti-Hero’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I really don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” she said. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized. Not to sound too dark, I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person. Don’t feel bad for me. You don’t need to.”
She continued, “But, this song is a real guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself. We all hate things about ourselves and it’s all of those aspects about the things that we dislike and like about ourselves that we have to come to terms with if we’re gonna be this person. I like ‘Anti-Hero’ a lot because I think it’s really honest.”
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The cover art features Taylor’s signature red lipstick.
The photo on the minimalist cover features Swift decked out in sparkling light blue eye shadow, thick black cat eyeliner, and her signature red lip. Her gaze is directed away from the camera and, instead, focuses on a lit lighter in her hands.
The text, “Midnights,” is written on a clean white border with a blue gradient.
There are three special edition covers.
At midnight on September 1, Swift unveiled three special edition covers of Midnights in a video posted across her social media accounts.
In the clip, she holds up the three new covers, the photos of which show Swift lying down next to a retro piano, sitting down while using a vintage phone, and leaning against a wood-paneled wall. The special edition vinyls, which are available for pre-order on her website, are also designed in three different color schemes: Jade Green, Blood Moon, and Mahogany.
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You can already preorder the album.
Midnights is available for preorder as a vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital album on Swift’s official website.
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This story originally published on harpersbazaar.com
