Taylor Swift announced on Sunday night at the VMA awards that she is releasing a new album on October 21.
The Swiftie Community nearly broke the Internet, sharing, retweeting and endlessly commenting on their anxieties about what this new album entails.
“My brand new album comes out October 21,” said Swift at the VMAs. “And I will tell you more at midnight.”
Will it be a re-recording of Reputation? Will it be brand new music?
At midnight, as promised, Swift announced she would release brand new music.
“Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight,” Swift posted to her 222 Million Instagram followers.
The 1989 (Taylor’s Version) re-recording was pushed back to “Shake It Off” copyright lawsuit. “The lyrics to Shake It Off were written entirely by me,” Swift wrote, according to The Guardian. “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song ‘Playa Gon’ Play’ and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.”
Swift is famous for her songwriting mastery. In 1989 (Deluxe Edition), Swift shared the voice memos to the songwriting process of “I Know Places,” “I Wish You Would,” and “Blank Space.”
“Being a Swiftie since 2008, I am beyond excited for this new album to come out,” said Lara Thebold, Stony Brook University Mass Communications student. “After Red (Taylor’s Version) exceeded my expectations in 2021, I couldn’t wait for the next one!”
Swift has remained alive since her chart debut on the Billboard Hot 100 with lead single “Tim McGraw” from her self-titled debut album in 2006.
“Taylor is literally a music icon that will never be minimized,” said Kasey Capozzoli, a student at Stony Brook University and Taylor Swift fan. “No matter if you love her or hate her, you can’t deny that another artist has been this successful when taking their music across 3 genres [country, pop, folk].”
October 21 also happens to be the birthday of no less than Kim Kardashian, ex-wife of Kanye West– the man who humiliated Swift at the VMAs in 2009.
During the 2009 VMAs, Swift won an award for her music video “You Belong with Me.” As Swift was just about to begin her acceptance speech, West interrupted her and said “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!” in reference to “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
West handed the microphone to Swift and walked off the stage, leaving Swift vulnerable in a state of humiliation.
Just 6 years later, at the 2015 VMAs, Swift was given another award for “Best Video of the Year” for her song, “Bad Blood.” She gave a beautiful speech recognizing how iconic of an artist Kanye West is and gave him the biggest slap in the face of all time with the conclusion of her acceptance speech.
“So I guess I have to say to all the other winners tonight, I’m really happy for you, and I’mma let you finish, but Kanye West, I’ve had one of the greatest careers of ALL TIME.”
Between the “snake attacks” on behalf of Kim and lyrical digs from Kanye, Swift took a beating from the pair, who are no longer together, for years.
Does the release of Midnights, a brand new album, shock the Swiftie community?
“Yes!!!!!” said @thisnightiisparkling, a Taylor Swift fan account with over 20k followers told The Messenger exclusively on Monday after midnight. “We were expecting [Look What You Made Me Do TV], something related to the [Reputation TV] of the next re-recording announcement. Not a whole new era.”
Taylor Swift has engulfed the entire music community with her savviness and ability to stay relevant for over 16 years.
“She’s an inspiration, an old soul that’s young at heart, talk about a combination that resonates… we’re lucky to see a creative peak that’s lasted this long,” said Michael Reistetter, Editor-in-Chief at The Messenger Papers and Swift fan since 2008. “And it won’t fade anytime soon. October 21 — mark your calendars, we’re counting down the days!”
Swift’s “All Too Well – The Short Film” was awarded Best Longform Video and Video of the Year. This makes Taylor Swift the first artist in all history to win 3 Videos of the Year at the VMAs.
Midnights will be released on all streaming platforms on Friday, October 21, at midnight. To pre-save/pre-order, visit https://taylor.lnk.to/taylorswiftmidnights.
