And cue the screaming Taylor Swift fans… She has just stunned the world again.
After months of speculation and questions from fans, the 24 year old began posting vague clues about an upcoming surprise on instagram. Her first hint was a video during which she pressed the elevator button for the 18th floor repeatedly. She followed this up the next day with a screen shot picture of her phone’s lock screen timed at 5:00. Finally, the clues were pieced together in an announcement: she would host a live chat on yahoo on August 18 (this past Monday) at 5pm.
Admirers had no idea what to expect, but all were hoping for at least a clip of a new song or an album release date. Swift went above and beyond. Not only did she fill the world in on her new album, but she also debuted the music video for the album’s first single.
The song “Shake it Off” and the complementing video are truly unlike anything Swift has ever done before, but her traditional life message is still present. Her outlook is simple: “haters are gonna hate, hate, hate” but she’s “gonna shake, shake, shake, shake it off”. She disguises the moral with a catchy pop melody that will no doubt get stuck in your head and pairs it with a cleverly devised video.
Swift’s fifth studio album 1989, made available for pre-sale after the live chat, has already made it’s way to the top of the charts on iTunes. The 13 tracks will officially be available on October 27. Swift disclosed that she will keep up the tradition of inserting codes into her lyrics, but the album will have many other interactive features. For the physical copy she plans to include an envelope of 13 Polaroid photos and three “bare” tracks she recorded into her phone.
Other than that, Swift has simply said her album will be “a rebirth”. It’s her self-declared “first official pop album”, and she said she “woke up every single day not wanting, but needing, to make a new style of music” during the album’s writing process. To accomplish this, the artist said she turned to past genres for inspiration and included new writers and producers.
Fans are anxiously waiting to get their hands on a copy of Swift’s new masterpiece. No one knows for sure what to expect next from Swift, but if her sneak peek is any indication, it will definitely be worth the wait.
