Back in April, Taylor Swift dropped "ME!" with collaborator Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco. Fans have eagerly anticipated word of new music ever since, but Swift has been suspiciously silent about her forthcoming seventh album — until now.
On Thursday afternoon, Swift went live on Instagram to announce a brand-new song off of her upcoming album and share a few huge details about her forthcoming project.
Swift loves sharing things with her fans directly, be it through clues in her projects or through social media. In her Thursday Instagram live, she finally laid it all out on the table. To recap Swift's livestream, here's what we learned:
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Her New Single Is Called "You Need To Calm Down"
And it's dropping tonight at midnight ET. Yesssss!
Her New Album Is Called Lover
As fans suspected, those clues in her "ME!" music video were the real deal. Lover is the title of TS7, and it will reportedly be more "romantic" than any other album before it. While Swift clarified that "romantic" doesn't necessarily mean all love songs, I think it's safe to say that quite a few tracks will be about her longtime love Joe Alwyn. (Hopefully not "You Need To Calm Down," though.)
A Music Video Is Dropping June 17th
Unlike "ME!", there will be no music video to go with the release of "You Need To Calm Down." No word yet on whether Katy Perry will appear — or be a collaborator on the single.
The Album Drops In August
Swift revealed that the album drops August 23 and that fans can pre-order it now. Why August 23? Add up 8 + 2 + 3 and you get Swift's favourite number 13. Of course!
She Broke An Apple Music Pre-Add Record Before The Album Even Dropped
Apple Music revealed that Taylor Swift became the woman artist with the most pre-adds on the first day, surpassing Ariana Grande's record with thank u, next. Swift racked up 178,600-plus pre-adds worldwide on their platform during the first 24-hours, starting on June 13. She has kept going since then, and is at more than 222,400 pre-adds and growing as of June 16. Apple Music revealed that Swift also now holds the record for most pre-added pop album in its first day worldwide.