After surprising the world with the announcement of her 10th studio album at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in August, Swift has continuously dropped track titles, vinyl artwork, detailed explanations for several of the tracks, and even revealed a collaboration on the album that comes out October 21.
Being a Swiftie means being prepared for anything, so in preparation for the release of the album, we gathered everything we know so far about Midnights so that you can be wholly ready.
‘Midnights’ Track Titles
Swift has released a series of short videos on TikTok titled “Midnights Mayhem With Me,” in which she has spun a gold lottery ball cage with balls labeled one through 13—the number of songs on the album—in order to decide which track titles to reveal.
After posting the first video on September 20 (each video coming out at midnight), Swift finally drew the last ball on Thursday night and completed the official track list for the Midnights album.
The track titles are as follows:
Lavender HazeMaroonAnti-HeroSnow On The BeachYou’re On Your Own, KidMidnight RainQuestion. . . ?Vigilante S**tBejeweledLabyrinthKarmaSweet NothingMastermind
Collaboration
Swift revealed the name of Track 4, “Snow On The Beach,” in the final episode of “Midnights Mayhem With Me” on Thursday, and threw in an extra little surprise for good measure.
After thanking everyone for “tagging along with me on this journey, it’s been wild,” Swift pulled the final lottery ball and revealed the name of the track, before adding, “featuring… Lana Del Rey” and ducking away from the camera excitedly.
This will be the first collaboration between the two artists, both of whose music encompasses both tragic teenage melodramas and the bitter femme fatale.
The surprise was met with delight, but some fans had already guessed it was coming, based on the fact that both musicians often share their co-producer/co-writer, Jack Antonoff. Additionally, rumors of the collaboration were sparked when Swift wore a sweater in one clip on her Instagram that looked very similar to one that she wore in a photo of her and Del Rey back in April.
What Taylor Has Said About Some of the Songs
In addition to revealing the names of the tracks through fun videos, the “Evermore” singer has also posted a couple of videos discussing two of the tracks—“Anti-Hero” and “Lavender Haze.”
On Monday, Swift posted a video on Instagram of her on a vintage blue leather chair discussing “Anti-Hero.”
“Track three, ‘Anti-Hero,’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I really don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” Swift said. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized, and that I, you know, not to sound too dark but like I just struggle with the idea of like, not feeling like a person.”
“This song really is a real guided tour throughout all the, you know, things I tend to hate about myself. We all hate things about ourselves, and all of those aspects of the things we dislike and like about ourselves that we have to come to terms with if we’re going to, like, be this person,” she said.
While “Anti-Hero” seems to be a love letter to her insecurities, “Lavender Haze” may be a love letter to her lover, Joe Alwyn.
“‘Lavender Haze’ is track one on ‘Midnights,’ and I happened upon the phrase ’lavender haze’ when I was watching Mad Men, and I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool. And it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the 50s where they would just describe being in love,” she explained in another video, posted on Thursday.
“Like if you were in the lavender haze, then that meant that you were in that all-encompassing love glow, and I thought that was really beautiful. And I guess theoretically when you’re in the lavender haze, you’ll do anything to stay there and not let people bring you down off of that cloud. And I think a lot of people have to deal with this now not just like, quote-unquote, public figures because we live in the era of social media and if the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody, they’re gonna weigh in on it.
“Like my relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. And so this song is sort of at the act of ignoring that stuff to predict to protect the real stuff. I hope you guys like it.”
Now, fans wait in anticipation for 13 more days—conveniently, Taylor’s favorite number.
“Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Newsweek reached out to a representative for Swift for comment.
