After days of toying us with a series of cryptic reptilian social media posts, Taylor Swift has finally revealed the drop date of her new album and first single, which she announced via social media this afternoon.
Here’s what we know so far:
The first single will be released tomorrow evening, August 24. We’re hoping that given all of the angst Taylor has dealt with in the last year (remember the day of the receipts?), and the creepy snake posts on Twitter and Instagram, that she’s gone all gothy Trent Reznor on us. Time to own that bad bitch reputation.
Speaking of reputation, that’s the name of her new album. “Reputation” will be released on November 10, according to her socials. Swift posted what looks to be the album art, and she looks pretty badass, looking flawlessly barefaced, wearing a dark, bold lip and wet-look hair. A roughed-up sweatshirt and chain choker complete the look, which we can only describe as “health goth“. Another sign she’s gone to the dark side: the medieval-esque, calligraphy font used for the album title, which has notably been used by Kanye for his “Life of Pablo” merch. That’s probably not a coincidence, as some fans have noted online (side note: the font has also been used by a number of streetwear brands including Vetements, so maybe Taylor is channelling that cool factor). Meanwhile, the black and white, spare background is layered with news articles and headlines referencing her name — an obvious nod to the amount of ink spilled about her in the last year, due to the Kim and Kanye controversy and her very public relationship with Tom Hiddleston. All of this, and the fact that those “headlines” are overlaid over her face have some wondering if she’s playing the victim card with the new album, but only time will tell.
After staying out of the spotlight for much of the last year (a wise decision, given we had hit peak Taylor several times over), she’s ready to emerge back into our lives and consciousness again. But will this be a new, different Taylor? We can’t wait to see. Elaine Lui at LaineyGossip said there’s a rumour that Swift will show up at the MTV Music Awards this weekend, which is being hosted by her reported nemesis Katy Perry. Oh, what a show that will be if she does.
