It seems that time has moved dreadfully slow for fans since Taylor Swift (“No Body, No Crime”) revealed the name and release date of her tenth studio album at the VMAs as she won an award for “Video of The Year.” During her acceptance speech, Swift thanked everyone and ended it with a major announcement. 

“I had sort of made up my mind that, if you were going to be this generous and give us this,” Swift said. “I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand new album [“Midnights”] comes out October 21.” 

On Instagram, Swift describes the focus of her new album to be about “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life,” though it is not yet clear what that will sound like. The key anecdote with which fans have become obsessed is that 13 is Swift’s favorite number. This is where fans began to come up with various theories about “Midnights.”

Swift announced the album will consist of 13 tracks, but the song names were not yet shared. The vinyl had only shown “Track 1,” “Track 2,” and so on, but when Swift posted a TikTok of limited-edition vinyl, fans noticed that parts of the video were blurred out. If you look closer at the blurred tracks, you can see they are way longer than the mock-up photo. 

In the midst of fans racking their brains about what the tracks could possibly be named, Swift posted a TikTok. Starting on Sept. 21, she told her fans that track 13 would be called “Mastermind” and has been dropping track names every few nights at midnight in a tidbit she refers to as, “Midnights Mayhem with Me.” As of Oct. 7, Swift had released all of the track names, “Lavender Haze,” “Maroon,” “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” “Labyrinth,” “Sweet Nothings,” “Anti-Hero,” “Midnight Rain,” “Question…?” “Vigilante Sh*t,” “Bejewelled,” “Karma,” and “Snow On The Beach” featuring Lana Del Ray (“Arcadia”).

Fans do not know what the vibe of Swift’s new album will be. A multitude of people have shared their theories of what it could be like. For example, based on the three special-edition records with new album art, “Midnights” may be inspired by the music of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. TikToker, @mrperfectlyfine13 pointed out that the electric piano Swift is laying next to in the jade-green cover was manufactured between the mid-’70s and early ‘80s. If used, the sound of “Midnights” may be more like the Carpenters (“We’ve Only Just Begun”) or The Mamas & the Papas (“Twelve Thirty”), as TikToker @kelseylikesthings pointed out. Swift revealed that the back of the collectible vinyl became a clock, and the images seem to confirm the ‘60s-to-’70s sound. 

Target classified the album as pop, but as TikToker @thethriftyswiftie noticed, Swift’s other albums, like “Folklore,” “Evermore” and “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” were also inaccurately classified as pop albums. Conversely, Apple Music categorized “Midnights” as rock. 

When Swift revealed that the name of track 11 to be “Karma,” she chuckled. Fans believe that Swift is intentionally hinting that an old speculated theory about her unreleased studio album, “Karma,” which was supposed to be released in 2016 as her sixth studio album, is true. She did not release “Karma” because she went into hiding due to the media and released “Reputation” in 2017 instead.

Other questions fans have been anticipating are if Swift will go on a “Midnights” tour and who else may be collaborating with Swift on certain tracks. If fans know anything for sure, though, Swift is not going to make it easy on her fanbase. Especially, since she is notorious for planning years ahead of time and throwing fan theories off when they get too close. 

“Midnights” will be released at midnight on Oct. 21 on all platforms. 

Image from Entertainment Tonight  via YouTube