In her 2017 Reputation track “New Year’s Day,” Taylor Swift sings “I want your midnights.” Flash forward to 2022, and that lyric has taken on a whole new meaning for her fans, who definitely return the sentiment by wanting her Midnights — aka, her 10th studio album, which was announced Sunday (Aug. 28) at the 2022 Video Music Awards.
While accepting the coveted video of the year Moon Person for her 10-minute long “All Too Well” short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien (who was there by Swift’s side the whole night), the 32-year-old pop star thanked her fans by dropping a bombshell she knew would make them very, very happy. “I had made up my mind that if you were gonna be this generous, and give us this …” she began, holding up the award.
The pop star went on to say that her “brand new album” — meaning not a rerecorded version of one of her older works, as many fans had been expecting for months — was officially on its way. “And I will tell you more at midnight,” she added pointedly.
True to her word, Swift — who arrived to a VMAs afterparty aptly dressed in a starry blue jumpsuit — revealed the album’s title, cover art and number of tracks on social media as soon as the clock struck 12 on the East Coast. She also updated her website to match her fast-approaching new era, though it crashed almost immediately, likely due to the amount of traffic it received from Swifties eager for more information.
And though fans will have to wait a couple months before they get to have Taylor Swift’s Midnights, just enough details about the album have been revealed to tide Swifties over until then.
Keep reading to see everything Billboard knows so far about Midnights below:
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When It's Coming
Swift first announced the Midnights release date in her video of the year acceptance speech, saying, “I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand new album comes out Oct. 21.”
She later confirmed the date in her Instagram post that night. Between then and the night Midnights arrives, 53 midnights will have passed.
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It Has 13 Songs
Midnights will feature not 12 songs, as the title may suggest, but 13 new tunes. Swift described them via Instagram as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.”
On the album’s cover, the baker’s dozen of tracks are split up into two groups, with songs one through six belonging to “Side A,” and the remaining seven songs listed under “Side B.”
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It's Going to Be Emotional
Swift posted a short description of the album’s content on Instagram and, oh man. Buckle up. Based on what she wrote, Midnights may be her most intimate, emotional and vulnerable project yet — and if you’re familiar with her work, then you know that’s really saying something.
“We lie awake in love and fear, in turmoil and in tears,” she wrote about the record in two paragraphs displayed across a promotional photo of the pop star sitting solemnly in a dimly lit room. “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.”
“This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” she continued. “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.”
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The Cover Art
The cover art for Midnights is very clean, very simple, and very indie.
A square photo of Swift wearing sparkly blue eye shadow and her trademark red lipstick, holding the flickering flame of a lighter close to her face, rests in the bottom right corner of the album’s artwork. It occupies maybe just over half of the full cover, bordered on the top and left side by minimalistic, off-white negative space. Displayed in soft blue, ombre lettering are the title, placed over the photo of Swift, and the number of tracks placed to the side.
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The Blue Moonstone Discs
After the album was announced, details regarding physical copies of Midnights were published on Swift’s website — though it took a little bit until after midnight for the page to start working again for fans to be able to see them.
Customers will be able to purchase the record on CD, vinyl and cassette tape, with the first two options including thematically perfect “blue moonstone” marble-colored discs. The vinyl will feature a collectible album sleeve, a full-size gatefold photo and a collectible eight-page booklet with “never-before-seen photos.” The CD package will contain unique disc artwork and a collectible 24-page photo booklet.
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The Limited-Edition Vinyls
In addition to the moonstone discs, three other ethereal versions of the Midnights vinyl were made available to purchase — for just one week. Swift unveiled the special copies herself (at the stroke of midnight, of course) just four days after the album was announced, posing in a cute Instagram video with three vinyls up for sale on her website in her hands on Thursday (Sept. 1).
Titled Midnights: Jade Green Edition Vinyl, Midnights: Blood Moon Edition Vinyl and Midnights: Mahogany Edition Vinyl, each of the three casings boasts an alternate cover photo as well as different-colored lettering for the album’s title and track list. And inside, each of the three discs were a unique, marbled shade of green, orange or brown.
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It Could Make History
If Midnights reaches No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — and she’s already had 10 releases reach the peak position — she would tie Barbra Streisand for the most No. 1 albums by a female artist. Midnights would be Swift’s 11th album to top the chart, which would put her in a tie for third place with Streisand, Bruce Springsteen and Drake for the most No. 1s since the chart originated in 1956. Only The Beatles (19 No. 1 albums) and Jay-Z (14) have amassed more than 11 No. 1s.
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The Title of Track 13
Of course it would be song No. 13 that she’d reveal the title for first! In a video message posted to TikTok at the stroke of midnight on Sept. 21, the singer-songwriter shared with fans, “The first track I’m going to tell you about is Track 13, because of course. Track 13 is called ‘Mastermind.'”
Swift has not yet revealed how often she’ll unveil a new track title before the album’s Oct. 21 arrival.
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The Title of Track 8
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The Title of Track 7
Swift’s third “Midnights Mayhem With Me” answered the question of track seven’s title with another question — literally. As revealed in a Sept. 26 TikTok, the mysterious song is titled “Question…?”
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The Title of Track 6
On Sept. 27, Swift revealed the first song on the Midnights track list to actually include the word “midnight” in its title: “Midnight Rain,” aka track six.
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The Title of Track 2
Loving him was … maroon? In yet another “Midnights Mayhem With Me” TikTok, the “Red” singer revealed she’s adding another color-themed song title to her discography with Midnights track two, “Maroon.”
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The Title of Track 3
Swift’s track three announcement was followed by a special surprise. After sharing its title, “Anti-Hero,” she talked at length about the song in a confessional Instagram video — something she hadn’t done for any of the previously revealed tracks — and said it was one of her favorite songs she’s ever written.
“I really don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” she said in the video, posted, of course, at 12 a.m. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized. Not to sound too dark, but I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person — don’t feel bad for me, you don’t need to. But this song really is a real guided tour through all the things I tend to hate about myself.”
“We all hate things about ourselves,” she continued. “It’s all of those aspects of the things we dislike and like about ourselves that we have to come to terms with if we’re going to be this person. I like ‘Anti-Hero’ a lot because I think it’s really honest.”
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The Title of Track 9
Coming up on the halfway point of “Midnights Mayhem With Me,” Swift on Oct. 5 shared the sparkly song title for track nine: “Bejeweled.”
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The Title of Track 11
The song title announced on episode eight of “Midnights Mayhem With Me” on Oct. 6 shocked Swifties to their very cores. Many had speculated for years that the pop star would release something titled “Karma,” especially after the word was graffitied onto a set piece in her “The Man” music video in 2020.
Lo and behold, “Karma” has finally come in the form of Midnights track 11.
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The Rest of The Track List
Just when you think you can keep up with Taylor, she shakes things up once again. Breaking from her pattern of revealing one song title every couple days, the pop star shared the five final episodes of “Midnights Mayhem With Me” over the course of just a few hours early Oct. 7.
But the night’s surprises didn’t stop there. After revealing the titles of track one, “Lavender Haze”; track five, “You’re on Your Own, Kid;” track 10, “Labyrinth”; and track 12, “Sweet Nothing,” Swift dropped the curtain on the sole collaboration featured on Midnights: “Snow on the Beach,” featuring Lana Del Rey.
Here’s the complete Midnights track list:
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 Shit”
9. “Bejeweled”
10. “Labyrinth”
11. “Karma”
12. “Sweet Nothing”
13. “Mastermind”
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There's a Song About Joe Alwyn
Similar to her Instagram video dedicated to “Anti-Hero,” Swift posted a clip explaining the meaning behind the track “Lavender Haze” — and it’s all about her longtime boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn.
“I happened upon the phrase ‘lavender haze’ when I was watching Mad Men,” she said in the video. “I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool, and it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the ’50s where they would describe being in love.”
“I guess theoretically, when you’re in the lavender haze, you’ll do anything to stay there and not let people bring you down off of that cloud,” she continued. “I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just ‘public figures,’ because we live in the era of social media. If the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody, they’re going to weigh in on it.”
“Like, my relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff — and we just ignore it,” she added. “This song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”
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More on That Lana Del Rey Collab...
Finally giving more details about the Midnights track she made with Lana Del Rey, “Snow On The Beach,” Swift posted a video to Instagram explaining the meaning behind the song’s lyrics and gushed about her longtime love for her newest collaborator.
“The song is about falling in love with someone at the same time as they’re falling in love with you in this cataclysmic, fated moment,” she shared. “You’re kind of looking around going, ‘Wait, is this real? Is this a dream? Is this for real? Is this happening? Is this really happening?’ Kind of like it would be if you were to see snow falling on a beach.”
“Lana Del Rey, in my opinion is one of the best musical artists ever,” she continued. “The fact that I get to exist at the same time as her is an honor and a privilege.”
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Taylor's Release Week Schedule
With four days left until release day, Swift graciously clued fans in to her schedule for the week following Midnights‘ arrival.
Posting a video to her social media accounts at midnight the morning of Oct. 17, Swift showed off her calendar for the coming days — revealing that one day prior to Midnights‘ Oct. 21 release date, a teaser for the album will air during the third quarter of Thursday Night Football on Prime video.
In the hours after the record drops, Swift’s schedule shows that a “special very chaotic surprise” will ensue at 3 a.m. EST, followed by the 8 a.m. premiere of the music video for “Anti-Hero” and the 8 p.m. release of lyric videos for all of the Midnights tracks. A #TSAntiHeroChallenge will go live on YouTube Shorts that Friday as well.
Three days later, the star plans on gracing The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Oct. 24 before dropping a second, not yet identified music video on Oct. 25. Her week ends with another talk show appearance on Oct. 28, this time on The Graham Norton Show.
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Taylor's Main Inspirations
In a video series exclusive to Spotify, Swift shared the core concepts she took inspiration from while writing the songs on Midnights. Uploaded to the streaming service’s pre-save page for her new album, the videos showed the star opening up about how “self-loathing,” “fantasizing about revenge,” “wondering what might have been,” “falling in love” and “falling apart” fueled the sleepless nights she spent writing the songs on Midnights.
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A Handful of Lyrics
In the days leading up to the Midnights release, Swift not-so-sneakily hid a few of the album’s lyrics in plain sight by sprinkling them across light-up billboards sponsored by Spotify in cities all over the world. The first one — a huge display in Times Square — read, “I should not be left to my own devices.”
The second, located in London, unveiled the line: “I polish up real nice.”
The third came in the form of a train station sign in São Paulo, Brazil, which displayed these words across a graphic of purple storm clouds: “Just like clockwork, the dominoes cascaded in a line.”
The fourth lyric reveal went up in Nashville. “Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room?” read a billboard plastered to the side of the city’s 1720 West End building.
Finally, a fifth lyric was uncovered in Mexico City: “Breathe in, breath through, breathe deep, breathe out.” Eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that Swift had used the exact phrase back in May during her NYU commencement speech, three whole months before Midnights was even announced.