Anticipation is building as global pop sensation Taylor Swift is about to drop her tenth album, Midnights.
Swift’s first album of new songs in almost two years, scheduled for release at midnight Friday morning in the eastern US, is expected to mark the singer’s official return to pop after 2020’s more alternative and introspective Folklore and Evermore.
Multiple clips purporting to be from the album have already surfaced online.
The leaks first appeared on social media platforms Twitter and TikTok before they were taken down, only for more low quality rips to resurface.
Swift has remained silent on the authenticity of the leaks.
One popular Swift Facebook fan page alerted its followers: “Apparently the entire album has leaked and it’s all over Twitter and TikTok. So if you don’t want any spoilers stay off of those platforms.”
Swift fans – dubbed “Swifties” – had mixed opinions on the leaked music.
“I honestly didn’t expect her at all to continue with Folklore/Evermore,” one said. “While I’d didn’t think she’d be in full folklore mode forget, I was hoping for the more mature sound to be the main with the pop secondary,” another added.
“It’s the baby of Lover, Reputation, 1989 and a tiny bit of Evermore. Pop for sure,” one fan quipped.
Referencing US alt-pop singer Lana Del Rey and the sister trio Haim’s feature on the album, one woman noted: “I really don’t like how males can sing whole verses in Taylor songs and Haim and Lana had backing vocals.”
Our last midnight before Midnights… 🥹🌌https://t.co/jjqUNkpPke pic.twitter.com/d3geVkYUVp
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) October 20, 2022
Swift announced the release of Midnights onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in late August.
While receiving the video of the year award, the singer used her acceptance speech to announce the album.
“I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand new album comes out 21 October. And I will tell you more at midnight,” she said.
Swift later described the 13-track album as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life”.
“This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” she wrote. “The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes 12 … we’ll meet ourselves.”
In the nights leading up to the album release, Swift has been dropping track names at midnight, in a TikTok series she called Midnights Mayhem With Me.
Midnights is likely to become one of 2022’s biggest-selling albums.
