Taylor Swift has revealed details of a new album, titled Midnights, which tells the stories of “13 sleepless nights” from throughout her life.
The pop superstar first surprised fans with the announcement during a winner’s speech in the closing moments of the MTV Video Music Awards, and later shared details on social media.
Confirming the record will be released on 21 October, Swift shared what appears to be a cover photo, as well as a description of the music, writing: “We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears.
“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.
“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.”
Swift won the awards for best longform video, best direction and overall best video for All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) at the MTV VMAs.
The best video win makes her the only artist in history to be awarded the prize three times, following wins for Bad Blood in 2015 and You Need To Calm Down in 2019.
Accepting the final award of the night at the fan-voted MTV ceremony, Swift thanked her supporters, who she said had “emboldened” her.
“I had sort of made up my mind that if you were going to be this generous and give us this [award] that it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand new album comes out October 21,” she said.
Midnights will follow Folklore and Evermore, Swift’s forays into indie and folk which were released just five months apart in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2021, the star released re-recordings of two of her early albums, 2008’s Fearless and 2012’s Red – remaking works from her back catalogue following a high-profile dispute with music mogul Scooter Braun, who purchased the rights to her pre-2019 music.
All four albums topped the charts in the UK and US, with Midnights likely to follow.
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The re-recording of Red, released in November 2021, secured Swift her eighth consecutive UK chart number one and became her fifth in less than three years.
She currently matches Kylie Minogue for solo artists with eight official UK number one albums – the only female artist to have more is Madonna, who has 12, according to Official Charts UK.