Well, Taylor Swift has done it again! The superstar surprised everyone with a last-minute announcement that she would be releasing her second album of 2020 on Friday, December 11. Evermore continues the woodsy indie romance of Grammy-nominated Folklore which was released in July. Folklore was recorded in secret during the lockdown with collaborators including Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner. Evermore also has Bon Iver on another track, another featuring Aaron Dessner’s band The National, and another with Haim. Swift also surprised fans even further with a music video for the song ‘Willow’ which was released at the same time as the album.
Getty Images/Entertainment/Tasrightmanagement2020
The singer announced on Twitter that her 9th studio album in the most Taylor Swift way. “I’m elated to tell you that my 9th studio album, and folklore’s sister record, will be out tonight at midnight eastern. It’s called evermore. To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in. I’ve never done this before. In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. There was something different with folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning.I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them. And I loved creating these songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB, and Justin Vernon. We’ve also welcomed some new (and longtime) friends to our musical kitchen table this time around…”
Swift then released Evermore’s tracklist and explained the significance of its release. She wrote, “Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now. You’ve all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something! I also know this holiday season will be a lonely one for most of us and if there are any of you out there who turn to music to cope with missing loved ones the way I do, this is for you.”