Taylor Swift: New Single ‘You Need to Calm Down’ Releases at Midnight

Getty Taylor Swift

On Thursday, singer Taylor Swift gathered her 118 million Instagram for a live chat on the social media website at 5 p.m. ET. She posted the teaser video to her 83.5 million Twitter followers as well, assuring whatever she had to say would have a large audience.

Swift was not messing around. She had big, huge exciting news for Swift Nation.

She announced that her next single, “You Need To Calm Down” will be released on Thursday night at midnight ET, and that her upcoming album, entitled “Lover,” will be released on August 23. She also revealed to fans the official cover art which will come in four different deluxe album editions exclusive to Target in a collaboration with designer Stella McCartney.


In addition to revealing the album would include 18 tracks, during the live chat Swift announced, ” There’s a lot I’ve been so excited about for so long and I wanted for the right time to tell you things. I’ve been so honored by your dedication to discovering Easter Eggs… the fact that you care about it, still astonishes me. So, thank you for that. And you’re also really good about it. You’re correct about most of it!”

The “Lover” album is already available for pre-sale on iTunes. And the release date is exactly what fans thought: August 23 = 8.23… 8+2+3… 13.

Prior to the live Instagram announcement, there were numerous topics fans assumed she’d be discussing. Since there are currently rumors flying around her and longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn tying the knot soon, would Swift be announcing she’s indeed engaged? Would she be giving fans the official release date for her next album? Or perhaps, Swift just wanted some quality time to check in with her dedicated fanbase, and talk about cats, or her upcoming summer plans.

The 29-year-old first told her followers that she had news to discuss on Wednesday afternoon. In a selfie video Swift said “I hope you’re free” because she “wanted to fill you in on some stuff, and things.”

It’s been a big week on social media news for the “ME!” singer. The day before announcing her Instagram Live session, Swift sent shockwaves through the pop music world by making a truce with longtime rival Katy Perry. It appears the two artists buried the hatched by baking chocolate chip cookies together, a photo of which Perry posted on her Instagram, geo-tagged the post at “Let’s Be Friends,” and captioned the picture “feels good” with an orange heart emoji.

Confirming the two made amends, Swift liked Perry’s post, and in the comments sections, added a line of 13 pink heart emojis. Swifites and Katy-Cats were quick to assume that this new friendship meant that these two would soon be working on a collaboration together, and hoped Swift’s Instagram Live session on Thursday would confirm such news.

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