As of Friday 21st October, our beloved T-Swift will have officially reached double digits in the album count, with her 10th studio record, Midnights, set to grace streaming services just as the clock turns 12 on Friday morning. Ten LPs in, the pop icon’s now a dab-hand at an album rollout, as evidenced by the vast critical and commercial success of her two previous releases, surprise records, folklore and evermore, and as she continues to drip-feed Midnights-related hints, the singer-songwriter looks almost certainly set to blitz charts and hearts the world-over once again.

Our gal Swift’s walked a sinuous path since her self-titled debut in 2006, breaking through internationally in 2008 with Breathless single “Love Story”, before establishing her place firmly in pop’s stratospheric ranks with the likes of 2012’s Red and 2014’s 1989. And of course, not only sharing new material at a steadier pace than other global pop heavyweights – looking at you RiRi’ – she’s also re-recorded much of her back catalogue due to legal disputes, keeping us going with “Taylor’s Version” re-releases in recent years.

So, as we enter a new era of Swiftie history, school yourself on the key info we know so far on “Midnights” before the album drops…

Unlike some artists’ releases, there’s no tracklist secrecy with Midnights ahead of it dropping, and in fact, Swift’s been tantalising us with a track reveals each day over the past few weeks, like a mini advent calendar, but sweeter. We now know them all, so without further ado, the full 13 tracks are as follows:

“Lavender Haze”
“Maroon”
“Anti-Hero”
“Snow On The Beach” featuring Lana Del Rey
“You’re On Your Own, Kid”
“Midnight Rain”
“Question…?”
“Vigilante Shit”
“Bejeweled”
“Labyrinth”
“Karma”
“Sweet Nothing”
“Mastermind”

Track four ofMidnights features none other than Lana Del Rey on “Snow On The Beach”. Swift had high praise for her fellow icon, describing her as “one of the best musical artists ever,” when she took to Instagram to announce her appearance. “The fact that I get to exist at the same time as her is an honour and a privilege,” she continued, “and the fact she would be so generous to collaborate with us on this song is something I will be grateful for for life.” According to Swift, the track is about falling in love in such a blissful way that it feels unreal – like snow on the beach.

Swift announced that a video for “Anti-Hero”, the record’s lead single, will be released on the same day as the album itself, at 8am EST (1pm BST). She describes the track as one of her favourite songs she’s ever written. “I’ve not delved this far into my insecurities, in this detail before,” she said in an Instagram video. The track is said to focus on her reckoning with the scale of her life as a worldwide star. A second, currently unspecified video is due to drop on Tuesday 25th October.

Swift once again took to Instagram to share that Midnights features four different versions of the physical copy, each with a different album jacket, that when assembled together, forms a clock. Now, purchasing an album four times merely to achieve this effect does seem like a tall order, but then again, imagine the interior design possibilities of having such a formation hung on your wall.

Midnights was made primarily with producer Jack Antonoff, who lent his production to Taylor classics like “Lover” and “Out of the Woods”. We’ve been treated to an inside glimpse at the pair’s time working on Midnights, via a behind the scenes montage video Swift shared on Instagram. However, despite Antonoff’s heavy influence, boyfriend Joe Alwyn and actor Joe Alwyn co-wrote track “Sweet Nothing”, and no-less than The Batman and Wonderland Spring 2022 cover star, Zoë Kravitz, pulls through with co-writing credits on tracks 11 and one, “Karma” and “Lavender Haze”.

Taylor Swift confirms a ‘Midnights’ tour is happening on her UK website.

All fans who pre-order the album through October 21 on the official UK store will get a special presale code. pic.twitter.com/0ENQX898fF

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 17, 2022

Of course, the only thing better than bathing in a Taylor Swift record is hearing it in the flesh, and it would appear we will get to do just that, with show dates planned in support of Midnights. The news was seemingly confirmed on her UK website in a message advertising that fans who pre-order the record will be eligible for a special release code “for forthcoming and yet to be announced Taylor Swift show dates”. Details of when or where the shows might take place are unspecified, however, by all accounts it would appear we’ll have the opportunity to flock to a stadium or arena near us before we know it.

In an extremely handy move, Swift shared an animation of a scribbled down release week schedule on Instagram this week, detailing all of the happenings in the days in and around the album dropping. Two events that were particularly notable are appearances on chat show heavyweights, the US’ ‘Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and The Graham Norton Show across the pond in the UK. She will be hitting the sofas and hopefully stepping on stage on the 24th and 28th October respectively.