Not a cruel summer after all! Taylor Swift revealed on Thursday, July 23, that she has a new album on the way — in less than 24 hours!
“Surprise,” the Grammy winner, 30, tweeted. “Tonight at midnight I’ll be releasing my 8th studio album, folklore; an entire brand new album of songs I’ve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears and musings into.”
The singer went on to share a black-and-white photo of herself in the woods, along with a statement reading: “Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening, but there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen. … I wrote and recorded this music in isolation but got to collaborate with some musical heroes of mine.”
The Pennsylvania native went on to list the artists she worked with on Folklore, from Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver to William Bowery and her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff.
“The album photos were shot by the amazing Beth Garrabrant. Before this year, I probably would’ve overthought when to release this music at the ‘perfect’ time, but the times we’re living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed,” she continued. “My gut is telling me that is you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world.” The “Lover” singer added that she could “get on board with” that uncertainty.
Swift’s new album will have “16 songs on the standard edition,” and the deluxe edition will include bonus track “the lakes.” She tweeted, “Because this is my 8th studio album, I made 8 deluxe CDs & 8 deluxe vinyls available for 1 week.”
The songwriter also shared the Folklore album cover and track list: “The 1,” “Cardigan,” “The Last Great American Dynasty,” “My Tears Ricochet,” “Mirrorball,” “Seven,” “August,” “This Is Me Trying,” “Illicit Affairs,” “Invisible String,” “Mad Woman,” “Epiphany,” “Betty,” “Peace,” “Hoax” and “The Lakes.”
The first music video for “Cardigan” will premiere on Thursday, written and directed by Swift herself.
The album has been her “passion project for the past couple of months,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “She really poured her heart and soul into the album once it came to fruition. Very few people knew that it was in the works.”
The American Music Award winner previously released her seventh album, Lover, in August 2019. Since June of that same year, Swift has been warring with Big Machine Records’ executives Scott Brochette and Scooter Braun over the rights to the music she recorded before switching to Republic Records in November 2018.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the “Blank Space” singer has been quarantining with her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, and her cats.
With reporting by Nicholas Hautman
