Taylor Swift will release her seventh studio album, ‘Lover,’ on August 23, the singer-songwriter announced through an Instagram Live stream.
It is the first album under the 29-year-old artist’s new multi-year contract with Republic Records and Universal Music, the change coming after she concluded her stay with Big Machine Records, the UMG-distributed, Nashville, Tennessee-based independent label that launched her career in 2006.
Her live stream session also included an announcement that the music video for the second single from the album, ‘You Need to Calm Down,’ would be released on June 17, ahead of the August release of the album. The lead single from the album, ‘ME!,’ featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco, was released April 26.
The album will be released in standard and deluxe editions, the latter, she noted, consisting of four different versions that will be exclusive to Target stores. It’s akin to the campaign she created with her previous album, ‘Reputation,’ for which the CD came in deluxe versions with two different editions of magazines crammed with photos and text aimed at her most ardent fans.
“Everything in them is unique,” she said, adding that along with the additional visuals, the deluxe versions will include two bonus audio tracks documenting “the full creation of two of the songs on the album I really love.”
‘Reputation,’ like each of her three previous studio releases, logged sales of more than 1 million copies in the first week of release, despite a steady decline in music sales in recent years as consumers have increasingly traded buying for streaming.
Swift also teased a ‘Lover’-inspired collaboration with designer Stella McCartney.
“She’s been a friend for a really long time, and she’s also a woman I respect so much,” Swift said. “I’ve worn a lot of her clothes. She adds so much whimsy and imagination and romance to the clothing she designs.
“She’s heard the new album, and this new collaboration is inspired by the ‘Lover’ album. I’m really, really honoured that she’d want to collaborate in this way.”
The news comes on the heels of the declaration of peace earlier this week between Swift and her on-again, off-again frenemy, Katy Perry.
Perry posted an Instagram photo of a plate of chocolate chip cookies, under the words written in red icing “PEACE AT LAST,” bookended by red peace symbols, and tagged with the message “feels good @taylorswift,” although Swift’s actual Twitter handle is @taylorswift13.
