Taylor Swift fans held their breath. Until the release of midnightsher tenth studio album presented this Friday, the singer had not released the slightest note of the 13 songs that make it up.
In addition to two albums presented by surprise in 2020, Folklore Y Increasingly, midnights It will be Taylor Swift’s first album to be released without being preceded by promotional singles. An unprecedented tactic for the singer -and, perhaps, for American pop- that did not prevent her from securing a rhythmic rise. Thanks to social networks, to the most direct channels to address the public, to the ability of her fans to build the wildest theories from the smallest detail … and to the gigantic billboards in Times Square. Why seduce the radio or appear on television when the followers number in the hundreds of millions?
One stone, six shots
A specialist in treasure hunts – the release dates of her singles or the titles of her albums are often the subject of weeks of clues and speculation on the Net – Taylor Swift has changed her habits to midnights. At the end of August, the singer cut the usual path by killing six birds with one stone: with a simple post on Twitter, the 32-year-old star revealed both the release of a new album, its title, its cover. , the number of songs it contains and its release date, as well as a note of intent to explain the concept.
Since then, not one passage on a popular talk show, not one piece sent to radio, not even an interview transcribed on glossy paper. Because, with her community on social media and record release numbers for each album, Taylor Swift is one of the few artists who no longer depends on traditional communication channels.
Serial indices
It is, therefore, on these new platforms where the rest of the operations were carried out. In addition to some posts on Instagram, to present the various editions or the themes that he will evoke in his texts, he communicated mainly on TikTok. In a series of videos called “Midnights Mayhem With Me,” released from September to October, the singer revealed the album’s song titles one by one.
In addition to keeping her fans spellbound over time, this strategy allowed the singer to create intrigue among her fan community, thanks to the simpler staging. In each one of the tablets -which add up to millions of views- the interpreter of Willow he pulled out a song number using bingo, before picking up an old-fashioned phone to announce the title. And the audience immediately noticed that in two of the cases she was holding the receiver upside down: track 8, watchful shitand track 3, anti hero. For two other ads, he put the phone to his right ear instead of his left ear.
The layman will see insignificant details or miss them altogether. But for the “Swiftosphere”, these can only be clues. So for weeks, fans have been spreading theories about its meaning, from Twitter to Reddit. Why these changes of scenery to announce these songs? Collaborations, upcoming clips, singles? So many questions that will keep fans on high alert until the release of the album, waiting for the answers.
Taylor Swift partially cleared up the mystery (and confirmed some theories) on Monday, revealing her weekly release schedule, still on social media. In the 2020s, fans in particular discovered that they were going to be invited to participate in a challenge on YouTube shorts (equivalent to TikTok) on Friday. But mostly that one clip anti hero It would be broadcast that same day before another clip, next Tuesday. If the phone is upside down, it means the corresponding songs will come with a clip, it will be watchful shit.
It also teased a new conundrum, promising a “special and really chaotic surprise” for Friday in the early hours of the day. His fans are clear: this is the announcement of a tour, the first since 2018 due to the coronavirus. The answer will come in the middle of the night and probably many will stay awake.
Words revealed… months ago
Last week, the singer kicked off a new chapter in her promotion by revealing some of her song lyrics…on giant billboards around the world. Times Square in New York, London, Sao Paulo, Nashville: passers-by around the world have seen a few verses from this tenth album appear on giant screens, as part of a partnership with Spotify.
One of them perfectly captures the treasure hunts that Taylor Swift plays with her fans. Last night in Mexico, the lyrics “breathe, breathe, breathe deep, exhale” appeared on a billboard. And immediately netizens remembered that last May, upon receiving an honorary doctorate from New York University, Taylor Swift said these very words: even before midnights it was announced, he had revealed a text of his future album without anyone noticing.
Despite everything, the artist of the 11 Grammy Awards will find next week some more classic promotional channels, to accompany the launch of midnights, including his appearance on two popular talk shows. But fans are already preparing to analyze his interviews to try to discover a coded message. Perhaps in the re-recordings of their first albums, desperately awaited for months? The continuation of the following Instagram post.
Source: BFM TV
