Time to clown.

Okay so wow, Taylor has been very active since the awards show. There are so many things I want to discuss. First off, let’s start with that night, shall we?

All of us swifties thought for SURE blondie was comin’ at us with a ‘Look at what you made me do,” drop or something along the lines of Reputation because all her other albums are wrapped up in bullshit lawsuits of people just trying to get money. In the last few months I really have been leaning towards her either releasing an entirely new album, or revisiting Debut– although I still think she wants to record that and drop that album absolutely last – for several reasons.
1. Im not sure she entirely wants to visit that album again. Debut and Speak Now both have a lot of fake country accents to them, and their lyrics to her now may be somewhat immature for her to want to re-record – but I can also see maturing all of those things as somewhat fun to her.
2. It would give the label an opportunity to wait long enough that maybe they’ll just hand her over the rights to her songs without her having to record them again – but who knows.
3. Last album for her to own her own name

The VMAs allowed her to showcase a silver dress, one very similar to her ‘Look at what you made me do” music video, which all was a big point to the day Kanye and her first had their encounter on stage. Either way all of it was iconic, and then she decided to drop it on us on stage, accepting her award, that she has a new album called Midnights coming October 21.

After she announced it – just a lot of things she said during her speech, her outfit, the title of the song, made me think a lot about “New Years Day,” and warm memory – midnights. Although her announcement kind of cycles around this thought of painful midnights- and 13 sleepless nights – I know there will be some good ones in there, too. So here was my initial thoughts about the release. [see video]

Although the dress she wore is definitely a hint at “LAWYMMD” – it definitely has mirrorball vibes – as she kind of describes herself both in the song “mirrorball,” as well as the long pond studio snippets from the documentary. Still trying, still working, still reflecting all sources of light even with her broken pieces- but also representative of a mirrorball at midnight – New Year’s Eve – romance and heartbreak.

It’s so interesting to see her shift from this indie, artistic, almost homely vibe of Folklore and Evermore, back into the spotlight with glitz and glam for this new album.

But oh my god let’s talk about the theories of this new album.

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So originally I had a lot of thoughts about where this content derived from… which I think all of it could be true, to be honest.

My first thought was the fact that 1989, Speak Now, Reputation all have lawsuits ongoing with specific songs – and there is just no way Taylor is going to release those albums without those songs in question. I feel like she perhaps had a quicker timeline then what’s been given to her – so those got pushed back – [trauma referencing the May 13 debacle (lol)]. We KNOW Taylor has enough songs from each of those eras to put together an album. Red had 30 songs total on it – and to be honest Red was never my favorite album – it was always at the bottom for me – but the vault songs catapulted that album into a top ranking for me. There is something so beautiful about someone recreating songs from their past with a new perspective and broader experience – not only in life but in production as well. I think the reason those vault songs hit so hard for me lyrically is I have a feeling some lyrics were updated and changed to be song with a clearer perspective then they were intentionally written and I think that’s just the beautiful basis of life – learning, growing, reflecting.

Anyways, we know she has enough from 1989 and Reputation to create an entire album – and if she wanted us to really have those songs and not have them tied in a lawsuit she definitely could pull them together to release an album that she absolutely know we will purchase.

The second theory is Karma. The lost album [lol]. Now originally this was my number one thought. The album we all thought was scrapped and did in fact exist was coming to light. But – honestly – the more I began to think about it the more I began to think that some other fans were right – This album actually never did exist – although we are missing a lot of Calvin content and her denial to his proposal – but we do kind of get those stories in “Champagne Problems,” and I’m sure some songs from Reputation were changed and adapted to fit that album too. One album that could have possibly gotten pushed back was an album after Lover. Rumored is that Taylor wanted to name Lover “Daylight,” but decided against it.

With that, an old theory arises. She ended Lover, “Daylight,” with a voice memo. An original theory was that she wanted the next album to be about the Midnights that haunted her – but were the nights that led her to Daylight.

Cue Invisible String –

Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven.

Now a lot of people think that this album got scrapped because of COVID. Which, is the third theory that I am actually in on now. Karma probably didn’t exist – and Taylor herself said that she had just stopped working and was just writing in between 1989 and Reputation when she went into hiding. See Video Below.

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the most compelling evidence against karma / the scrapped album theory is that taylor herself in this video from sept 2016 said that she was starting the next album and HADN’T BEEN WORKING and the first two songs she recorded were gorgeous and komh…so… pic.twitter.com/BQFfl39ka5

— the last great aMEGican dynasty (@hologramswift) September 6, 2022

NOW With that being said. Let me show you a few Midnights Images.

This image is her main released image the night of the announcement. Feels pretty 70/80s – feels pretty retro. I do a d o r e this idea of her utilizing past genres and sounds to recreate her past – it all feels very artistic.

But anyways – Taylor always says she plots things 3 years in advance.. and I want to revisit some of these shots I originally discussed in 1989 and how random they felt.

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These images. The feel is very 70’s, very retro. They were kind of at the end of the 1989 era right before ‘bleachella’ happened. But if we look at some of the newly released images from Taylor…

The two top images are 1989 era, the bottom two are the new images from Midnights. Tell me that isn’t the same color spectrum and vibe.
AND THEN LOOK AT HER TIKTOK AND RECENT PHOTO SHOOT.

Hello 70’s sitcom and then old hollywood??? Her hair is so 70’s in these images, and also “with her hair falling into place like dominoes,” okay, gold rush, we know this song is about you from someone else’s perspective.
Any ways, because of this I’m kind of dying on this hill that it’s going to be a retro sounding album, discussing her life with a clearer perspective to hopefully showcase to her fans and listeners that she isn’t stuck in these moments any more, but had the time to finally address and process them. Because that’s how life is.

Finally, this era, if supposed to have clues definitely did in the Lover era.

Midnights is on the left – Lover is on the right.

Overall I am SO excited about this new CD – it can be rock, pop, electric, 70s, 80s, I don’t even care. The fact she sold SO MANY presale orders and literally none of us have heard even a soundbite… her power.

Maybe she meant to call her new album “1979.”

Taylor Swift has unveiled three additional album covers for her October release “Midnights,” each of which is being promised as only being available for the next seven days, as a pre-sale in both vinyl and CD formats. Even more than the more permanent cover that was revealed Sunday night, these album jackets very much look designed to evoke the 1970s, sometimes subtly, sometimes more blatantly. There’s the touch-tone phone. There’s the LP jacket on the floor. (Well, that one evokes the 2020s, too, but the reckless disregard for the treatment of a piece of vinyl, left loose to collect carpet debris, is very retro.)

Variety

I cannot WAIT to recreate and interpret this era when we get more images, more songs, more stories from it. Tay always releases things I need her the most – for a lifeline to distract me from life – and damn she did it again.

Lastly I’d like to take this moment to appreciate Taylor at TIFF and the genuine soul she is that she took a million selfies with fans on a quick break. Posted all over twitter.

We adore you Taylor. Whatever you have for us, it’s going to be amazing and we love you.

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