Taylor Swift to release "evermore," her second surprise album of 2020
Taylor Swift will release her ninth studio album "evermore" at midnight, her second surprise album of the year. The 15-track album is the follow-up to "folklore," which she released just five months ago.
"To put it plainly, we just couldn't stop writing songs," Swift wrote in the announcement Thursday. "To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in."
"Evermore" features some of the same creators that worked on "folklore," like Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, and William Bowery, a pseudonym Swift revealed to be her boyfriend Joe Alwyn. The released tracklist for the album also shows new collaborations with pop sister trio HAIM, and rock band The National.
Swift will also release the official music video for her new song "willow" at midnight. Filmed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift revealed the music video was made with the help of a medical inspector, to keep the cast and crew healthy. Swift said her time in quarantine this summer allowed the artist to record in isolation and let her "imagination run wild, " while still collaborating with some of her favorite artists.
"I've never done this before," Swift wrote. "In the past, I've always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. The singer, who turns 31 on Sunday, called the album a birthday gift to her fans.
"Folklore" holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest opening day for an album by a female artist after being streamed on Spotify over 80.6 million times in the first 24 hours of its release.
Swift also described making "folklore" as less of a departure and more of a return, which helped bring "evermore," into existence. "I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales, " she added. "I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them."