Calling all Swifties! Here’s everything you need to know about Taylor Swift’s upcoming album.

Ever since Taylor Swift began re-recording her albums in order to gain full ownership of her music, fans everywhere have been in anticipation of what she releases next. Of course, Taylor is known for dropping labyrinthine hints on what she intends to release. Despite many theories about her re-releasing albums such as Speak Now and 1989, Taylor Swift shocked the musical world by announcing a new album. Midnights is set to release on October 21st at midnight sharp, so let’s look at what the album entails. 

The Facts

Briefly after Taylor announced her album at her VMAs acceptance speech, she posted her album cover (?) of her face in front of a lighter. Her caption reads: “Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.” Like mentioned in her caption, the album will contain thirteen songs, which is known in her fandom to be Swift’s lucky number. The songs are divided into two sections on the cover: Side A with tracks one through six, and Side B with tracks seven through thirteen. 

Fans were recently informed on the track titles for Midnights through a series of unconventional TikTok videos titled “Midnights Mayhem”. Each episode, Taylor informs viewers of a track title by spinning a Bingo cage filled with ping-pong balls, and each ball reads a track number. In order, the tracklist goes:

1. Lavender Haze

2. Maroon

3. Anti-Hero

4. Snow on the Beach (featuring Lana del Rey)

5. You’re on Your Own, Kid

6. Midnight Rain

7. Question

8. Vigilante Sh*t

9. Bejeweled

10. Labyrinth

11. Karma

12. Sweet Nothing

13. Mastermind

What’s The Deal With Karma?

Out of all the track titles, Karma arguably left fans screaming the most. Up until Taylor’s fifth album, 1989, she had been releasing an album every two years: 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014. However, Taylor was facing a lot of hate and backlash at the time due to a leaked phone call between Kanye West that Kim Kardashian released, and ended up disappearing from the public eye for a year. After keeping a low profile, she dropped Reputation in 2017, which emulates a theme of vengeance and dominance. In Taylor Swift’s “The Man” music video, a wall with graffiti reads each of her albums. The only title that was not an album on the wall was “Karma”. Alongside this, a sign read “MISSING!” between albums 1989 and Reputation. Fans speculate that Midnights is the album Swift intended to release prior to her hiatus. (The album is also being released on Kim Kardashian’s birthday. How’s that for karma?)

Other Theories

As seen in the Karma theories, these so-called Swifties do not take any information from Taylor lightly. In terms of the album aesthetics, fans noticed that the cover appears to have an old-timey vibe, possibly the ‘50s or ‘60s. Furthermore, listing track titles on an album cover is a classic trend of this era. Since Swift’s album Lover was originally going to be called Daylight, her fanbase theorizes that Midnights will be the sister album of Lover (like how albums Folklore and Evermore are sister albums!) 

Truthfully, I am practically mooning over the fact that Taylor Swift is releasing Midnights. (The moon is visible during nighttime. Hilarious, right?) From a musical and fan perspective, I cannot wait to enjoy more content from a musical prodigy. For over fifteen years, Swift has consistently released music that sets the bar higher every time. From a perspective of feminism and empowerment, it is a relief and joy that Taylor continues to produce music despite the hatred and misogyny that she faceds (and continues to face) from the industry. I am eager to see what the future holds for Midnights.