Taylor Swift announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, this past August at the Video Music Awards (VMAs). Swift was nominated for five VMAs, all for the short film she directed and produced for her song “All Too Well: 10 Minute Version (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]” released back in November of 2021. She won three of the categories she was nominated for: Best Direction, Best Long Form Video, and Video of the Year. With these wins, Taylor Swift now has 14 total VMAs. However, her wins were overshadowed by an even bigger announcement that night.
As Swifties know all too well, the VMAs hold extreme significance in Taylor Swift’s life. This began back in 2009 when Swift won Best Video by a Female Artist for her hit song “You Belong With Me” from her Fearless album. When she accepted the award, Kanye West jumped onto the stage, interrupting her and claiming that Beyonce had “one of the best videos of all time.” This was a defining moment in Swift’s career, as the crowd booed West and Swift believed they were negating her win of the award. Following this infamous interruption, Swift and West have had a very delicate relationship.
Swift addressed this controversy years later in her sixth studio album, Reputation. Swift’s Reputation album came after Taylor Swift had not physically been seen by the public eye for an entire year. #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty was the number one trending hashtag on Twitter after Kanye West’s song “Famous” included a line claiming he made Swift famous. Her first single from Reputation called “Look What You Made Me Do” featured many lyrical digs at West and his then wife Kim Kardashian, symbolizing a comeback album where her reputation was being reinvented. In the iconic “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, Swift wore a silver jeweled dress, which her dress at the 2022 VMAs closely resembled. Many Swifties thought that Taylor was going to announce the re-recording of “Look What You Made Me Do” at the awards, due to the fact that the song recently acquired its eligibility to be re-recorded, 5 years after it was released in August of 2017. Swift is currently in the process of re-recording her first six studio albums owned by Big Machine Record Label and executive Scooter Braun in order to own the masters of her work.
Swift’s announcement of Midnights, coming on October 21st, was certainly a surprise, but greeted with enthusiasm nonetheless. According to Taylor Swift’s Instagram announcement, Midnights will be “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [Swift’s] life.” It will feature 13 tracks, Swift’s lucky number. In her continued description of the upcoming album, Swift shared that this album was written in the middle of the night, hence the title, Midnights. When Swift won “Video of The Year,” she accepted the award by saying “I had sort of made up my mind that if you were going to be this generous and give us this, I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand new album comes out October 21st.” This announcement was greeted by an uproar of excitement from the crowd, and Swift posted her formal announcement on Instagram later that night. Many fans have been wondering had Swift not won the award, would Midnights have still been announced when it was? Regardless, Swift making this announcement on the VMA stage in her dress that resembles that of the “Look What You Made Me Do” video and releasing her album on Kim Kardashian’s birthday symbolizes a full circle moment of Taylor Swift’s reinvented reputation.
Midnights will be out in just a few weeks, and fans are eagerly anticipating the album filled with Swift’s thoughts from the middle of the night. Many Swifties believe that this album will include some of her best lyricism yet, taking listeners through “terrors and sweet dreams.” Swifties can meet Taylor at midnight on October 21st, when her tenth studio album is released for the world to hear.