Taylor Swift has teased us long enough. After months of taunting, and I mean months, I was ready to grab my clown make-up as the final moments of the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards came to an end. But at the very last minute (and after being gone from her seat for over an hour,) Swift made a special announcement while accepting her award for Video of the Year with “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)”: She will be releasing her newest record, Midnights, on October 21, officially closing out the Red (Taylor’s Version) era. The album cover shows Swift in glittery eye makeup and cat-eye liner, holding a lighter. “Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight,” wrote Swift on Instagram. She described the new songs on Twitter as being written “in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.” Sleep soundly, Swifties. The next era has arrived.

Welcome to Taylor Swift’s Next Era, Midnights