Are We In Our Countdown Era?

Kait Smith, contributor

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Rumors had been swirling for weeks that a new Taylor Swift album was coming. First, a Swedish producer made a comment about needing to finish Taylor’s project before starting something new. Then we heard industry rumblings, then Taylor was announced as a special guest on the New Heights Podcast, and then a countdown shows up on Taylor’s website. 

 

When the clock struck 12:12 on Monday August 12 we got some answers, TS 12 was coming, it was called The Life of a Show Girl and we would need to tune into the podcast to learn more. The album artwork was blurred out, we had no release date, we just got a link to pre-pre order the vinyl. Did I wait in a 55 minute queue to order...sure did. Does Taylor deeply impact my sleep schedule...she sure does. 

 

Wednesday afternoon another countdown started, this time the orange door from the end of the Era’s Tour was featured. As the timer got closer, the door moved closer to the bottom of the screen and new doors pop up. As I’m sure you can imagine the Swiftys, myself included, collectively lost our minds. We were counting down to 7pm, when the podcast dropped, but what else was going to happen? Four CD variants, this time, I got distracted by the podcast and missed my chance to order one or all of these. Do I have a CD player? Nope, don’t have a record player either…

 

While we spent several days dissecting and rewatching the podcast (a review of that coming once I’ve fully wrapped my head around it), Taylor continued to plot. Monday a brand new countdown clock appeared… This time two new Vinyl variants appeared.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?? 

 

We’ve now gone from Midnight, to 7pm, to 2pm. Has Taylor heard us? Are we going to have earlier releases? She did tell us that The Life of a Show Girl is a complete album, there is no surprise music coming unlike when Midnights and Tortured Poets Department kept us up til all hours (although many believe that might not be true). 

 

While as always with Taylor, I have more questions than answers, I’ll be over here waiting for the next countdown ready to buy whatever she gives me.