Music

The Internet Is Losing Its Mind Over Taylor Swift’s Surprise Album

'folklore' is dropping in a matter of hours.

by Joseph Earp  24 July 2020
Taylor Swift album Cardigan

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

Late last night, just under a year after the release of her album Lover, Taylor Swift announced she had another in the bag.

folklore (all lower case), a collaboration with Aaron Dessner of The National, was written and recorded over the course of quarantine. That means in a matter of four months, Swift put together her Lover follow-up. And more than that, she’s not sitting on it either. folklore will drop today, July 24, at 2pm, less than a day after it was first announced.

Swift has never released an album so quickly to an announcement before. But, as she explained in a statement, it was an easy decision to make — one guided by the strange disruption of coronavirus.

“Before this year, I probably would’ve overthought when to release this music at the ‘perfect’ time,” Swift wrote. “But the times we’re living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed.”

Needless to say, fans weren’t expecting a follow-up to Lover so soon. At least, most weren’t. A whole month ago, some fans were picking up on certain clues that Swift was putting out, though none guessed a whole album.

The speed! The surprise! It’s all very exciting. So naturally, Swift fans are flooding the internet with memes and reactions to the news.

Truly 2020 is the year that will not stop surprising us. Thanks Taylor Swift.