NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 12: Taylor Swift attends the “All Too Well” New York Premiere on November 12, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Are you ready for it?
Taylor Swift's new album, "Midnights," is set for its release at midnight on Thursday, and after weeks of theories and speculation on the part of her fans, Swift's 10th studio album is all but guaranteed to make waves.
But for all the video hints and teases about the album, what do we actually know so far?
What is "Midnights"?
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Swift announced "Midnights" to her audience of 91.3 million Twitter followers on Aug. 28. It's the 10th studio album she's released, not counting the two re-recordings of "Fearless" and "Red" in 2021.
It's a pop album, at least according to the genre classification system used by Target and Walmart, with a tracklist of 13 songs.
The only collaborating artist on the album is Lana Del Ray, which Swift announced during one of her "Midnights Mayhem With Me" videos posted to TikTok in early October.
In those videos, Swift built anticipation for the album by -- once per video -- spinning a bingo cage full of ping-pong balls with track numbers written on them, then selecting a ball at random to share the name of the song. In the early hours of Oct. 7, she went the extra mile by sharing all five of the remaining mystery track titles.
The videos each got between 3 million and 10 million views.
The mysterious aura built into the lead-up to its release seems to be part of the theme of the album.
"This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams," Swift said in the original album announcement. That statement also featured a dimly-lit, dramatic photo of the singer curled up with her head in her hands.
Tracklist
Here's the full tracklist of songs on Taylor Swift's new album:
1. Lavender Haze
2. Maroon
3. Anti-Hero
4. Snow on the Beach [ft. Lana Del Rey]
5. You're on Your Own, Kid
6. Midnight Rain
7. Question...?
8. Vigilante Shit
9. Bejeweled
10. Labyrinth
11. Karma
12. Sweet Nothing
13. Mastermind
Fans of Swift, well-known for dropping easter eggs in her music videos and song lyrics, have been excitedly dissecting all the available material to guess what surprises might be in store.
Release Date and "Chaotic Surprise"
Earlier this week, Swift posted a video to TikTok that included a schedule of music video releases and other content related to the new album, which comes out at midnight ET on Oct. 21.
Thursday evening, the teaser trailer for the album will be shown during the third quarter of Thursday Night Football between the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals on Amazon Prime Video.
At 3 a.m. ET, or midnight for the West Coast, there will be a "very special chaotic surprise." No further details about the kind of surprise it may be were shared.
At 8 a.m. ET, or 5 a.m. PT, the first music video will be released. It's for the song "Anti-Hero," the third track on the album. Along with it, there will be a "#TSAntiHeroChallenge" in collaboration with YouTube Shorts.
That night, at 8 p.m. ET, lyric videos for the other songs will be released.
On Monday, Swift will appear on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote her album.
On Tuesday, the second music video will be released, though the star did not specify which song the video is for.
The promo schedule ends on Friday, Oct. 28, with an appearance on the Graham Norton Show.
