You had to know, the minute Taylor Swift showed up at the MTV VMAs, that she would win the biggest award of the show, Video of the Year. And that’s exactly what happened. I’m not mad at this. The VMAs aren’t exactly the Oscars, where legitimately no one knows who’s going to win until it’s announced. There are few popstars as big as Taylor Swift and she has limited her appearances over the last few years.  She’s not showing up unless it’s worth her time. 

 

And when she spends the time and shows up, it’s a familiar sight. Taylor always knows the words. 

 

What’s also familiar is the surprise. We’ve already established that Taylor was going to win Video of the Year. So she had something planned during her acceptance speech: an announcement. 

“At midnight…”

When I think Taylor Swift + “midnight”, this is what I hear: 

“Midnight

Come and pick me up 

No headlights”

It’s one of her best songs, in my opinion: “Style”, off her best album, 1989. Her first pure pop album. Also the album that’s been anticipated to be the next one on her re-record list. But instead, she’s releasing something entirely new:

Midnights, the album, will have 13 tracks. Which tracks. That’s her favourite number. Going by the description and the image of her on the album cover, what party makeup looks like when it’s been on for several hours, at midnight or after, often when the worst decisions are made, when the best parts of yourself are reflected back as the worst parts in the mirror…or maybe it’s the other way around…

 

That’s the energy Taylor’s going for. So… like…gritty pop? A little bit 70s, like with a Debbie Harry-Pat Benatar vibe? My mind here goes to Carly Rae Jepsen, whose new album, The Loneliest Time, also drops on October 21. And social media is already talking about Carly Rae’s association with Scooter Braun so eyebrows are raised. 

The thing about Carly Rae, however, is that any hardcore fan of hers will tell you that Scooter mismanaged her previous releases and f-cked it up for her so I’m not convinced here that Taylor is aiming for Scooter via Carly. Not when some corners of queer Twitter are actually celebrating the same day release of it. Here’s a sample – and there’s a lot more of this: 

But there is another coincidence or conspiracy angle to explore. October 21 is also Kim Kardashian’s birthday. 

Um, maybe Taylor didn’t know, LOL forever. 

 

Dates are her thing. She made this announcement at the VMAs 13 years after Kanye interrupted her at the VMAs. 

Are we really going back there, again? 

I would like to believe that she won’t be that obvious. That whatever Easter eggs that are coming, and you know they’re coming, won’t be old eggs but new ones. 

Mostly though, I want Midnights to be more Style. I LOVE that song. And if that’s the energy she’s invoking, for the music, I’m look forward to the day, whatever drama it will inevitably bring.