While receiving the top honor at MTV’s annual Video Music Awards, the 32-year-old singer used her acceptance speech to announce that her 10th studio album will be released on October 21. “Guys, I’m so proud of what we made and I know every second of this moment we couldn’t have made this short film if it wasn’t for you, the fans,” she said. she told the crowd while accepting the video of the year award for her song All Too Well (10-minute version). “Because I wouldn’t be able to record my album again [Red (Taylor’s Version)] if it wasn’t you. You encouraged me to do it. And I kind of decided that if you were going to be so generous and give us this, I thought it might be a fun time to tell you that my brand new album is coming out on October 21st. And I’ll tell you more at midnight.” At midnight, Swift’s official website crashed. On social media, he shared the title and cover art of the 13-track album, describing it as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.” “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” he wrote. “The floors we walk and the demons we face. For all of us who have flown and turned and decided to keep the lights on and search – hoping that maybe when the clock strikes 12… we’ll find each other.” Midnights will be Swift’s 10th studio album and her first album of new songs in nearly two years. Last year she released two re-recordings of previous albums, Fearless and Red, as part of her project to re-release her first six albums, which were made while signed to the Big Machine label. She launched the project to reclaim ownership of her work after music mogul Scooter Braun bought Swift’s former record label in 2019 — and with it major recordings from her back catalog. Swift has previously described the sale to Braun as her “worst-case scenario” and has accused him of bullying her in his role as Kanye West’s former manager and Justin Bieber’s manager. It remains to be seen if Swift will continue her path away from the country music that made her a child star and the pop sound of her twenties. Her last two studio albums, Folklore and Evermore, were both released in 2020 and marked her move into folk and alternative music, having collaborated on the albums with National’s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Last year Swift broke a record set 50 years ago by The Beatles, for the fastest amassing three UK No 1 albums. Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Folklore and Evermore reached No.1 in the UK for 259 days, beating the record of 364 days set by The Beatles between 1965 and 1966.
