The Meaning Of Taylor Swift's New Album Will Make You Feel Warm & Fuzzy
Well, it's finally happened, Swifties. Taylor Swift's seventh studio album title has been announced. The "ME!" singer made an announcement on Twitter on June 12 that at 5 p.m. ET on June 13, she would be doing a special Instagram live to let fans in on some intel. This immediately got fans' heads spinning, hoping it was an album announcement, and low and behold... they were right! The album is called Lover and it will be released on Aug. 23, complete with 18 songs. As is always the case with Swift fans, the fandom has already jumped into theories about the meaning of Taylor Swift's Lover.
To quickly rewind, in a video teaser posted to her Twitter on June 12, Swift said "Hey guys, so at 5 p.m. Eastern tomorrow I'm going to be doing an Instagram live. Just filling you in on some stuff, and things, and you know. I hope you're free tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern on the Instagram."
Fans immediately did a full swan dive into developing theories about what this announcement could have meant. Given that Katy Perry posted a photo of a place of cookies commemorating the end of the Perry/Swift feud just a few days before, fans felt that the announcement might have been about a collaboration between the two former rivals.
Swift has already released one single from the upcoming album — "ME!" featuring Brendon Urie. It's common for artists to release two singles before dropping an album. (A recent example would be the Jonas Brothers' "Sucker" and "Cool" singles dropping before Happiness Begins released.) So a second single drop with Perry would be an exciting development for Swifties. Alas, the big reveal wasn't exactly that, but a a different (equally thrilling) thing.
This is the video Swift posted to her Twitter on June 12.
On June 13, Swift revealed the title and release date of her new album on Instagram:
Technically, a release with Perry *could* still happen, because from the sound of it, Lover will be, well, all about spreading the love.
"ME!" ushered in Swift's new era of music, and with it, came an entirely new aesthetic on her social media platforms. Where the Reputation era was dark and bleak and full of snakes, this new era takes the complete opposite route. Literally. Swift is going from a dark and twisty serpent to a sparkly, romantic cupid. And with a title like Lover, there's not too much dissecting for fans to really do.
Her Instagram is a glittery rainbow kind of aesthetic, and her costumes for all of her performances since the release of "ME!" have been filled with pastel and rainbow color schemes. She's essentially implying that she's gone through a major glow up since the darker times that inspired the songs Reputation, and Lover fits perfectly into that narrative.
Swift has also been doing the most political activism of her entire career (which — no tea, no shade — is still less than a lot of other artists have done) over the last few months, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in her home state of Tennessee. So she's clearly trying to send a clear message of support to her queer fans with this rainbow motif and album title. Essentially, Lover seems to mean that she and her fans are all glowing up together in 2019.
Lover is now available for pre-order and will be available on Aug. 23.
