What Time Will Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’ Be Released?

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Taylor Swift’s seventh studio album Lover is set to be released at 9 p.m. PST on Thursday, August 22, or midnight EST on Friday, August 23, depending on your time zone. If that is too late for you to stay awake, you can stream and listen to it at your convenience.

Generally, albums become available around midnight EST on streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. This has been the case for Swift’s previous releases, 2014’s 1989 and 2017’s Reputation. On occasion, these platforms will throw a curveball at listeners.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’ Will Be Released at Midnight ET on Friday, August 23

Take Kanye West’s 2018 album Ye for example. It was originally scheduled for release at midnight on June 1, but it wasn’t made available until the following afternoon. A similar thing happened with Chance the Rapper’s recent album The Big Day. While it was slated for release at midnight EST, it wasn’t released on streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify until the afternoon of the next day.

Swift has been teasing the release of Lover for several months. When she announced the release date on Instagram, she also talked about the sonic direction of the album, and how it will differ from the darker-themed Reputation. “I’ve been so, so, so honored,” she said. “This album, in tone, it’s very romantic. Not just simply thematically, like it’s all love songs or something. The idea of something being romantic…it doesn’t have to be a happy song. You can find romance in loneliness or sadness or going through things in your life… it just looks at those things through a romantic gaze.”

Swift Said That the Album Is ‘Romantic’ In Tone & a Departure from Her Last Release

The pop superstar also talked about the recent spats she’s had with the likes of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, which led many fans to deem her “cancelled” or say that she was past her prime. “A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience,” she admitted. “I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.”

“I realized I needed to restructure my life because it felt completely out of control,” Swift continued. “I knew immediately I needed to make music about it because I knew it was the only way I could survive it. It was the only way I could preserve my mental health and also tell the story of what it’s like to go through something so humiliating.”

Swift also said that Lover is her favorite album to date. “There are so many ways in which this album feels like a new beginning,” she eagerly revealed. “This album is really a love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic, wonderful glory.”