Known for her coded messages and sneaky easter eggs, the “Love Story” singer has gotten a little more straightforward when it comes to releasing the tracklist for her upcoming album, out Oct. 21.  Though still incorporating a bit of a game into it through vague messaging, one-at-a-time announcements, and a touch of chance, Swift announced the name of track thirteen without any guessing necessary from her TikTok followers. TikTok’s official account teased the news early on Tuesday, Sept. 20, letting everyone know to check in on Swift’s account promptly at midnight later that evening.  “if u need me i’ll be 🏃‍♀️ to @Taylor Swift’s account at midnight ET 🕰️ #SwiftTok,” the platform wrote alongside a brief clip of a clock changing from 11:59 to 12:00.  Swifties joked about a release of new vinyl variants or begged Swift to release an album called “Middays” next so they could sleep. Others hoped for a lead single, and when Swift appeared on the red carpet later that day ahead of accepting Nashville Songwriters Association International’s award for Songwriter-Artist of the Decade, with one attendee sharing a picture of the program showing Swift was scheduled to perform, many were convinced that might be the case.  While Swift did perform at the awards, it wasn’t the lead single. But her midnight TikTok was kind of like a lead single release if you closed your eyes and squinted really hard! Swift didn’t tease us with any lyrics or melodies (at least none that could be immediately deduced), but she did reveal one of the upcoming album’s 13 tracks in a new series the songstress is calling “Midnights Mayhem With Me.” The video opened with Swift sitting awkwardly in a dark mauve velvet upholstered armchair with a brown velvet curtain draped behind her. A bingo roller stood on the end table to her right. “It’s me. Hi,” Swift introduced herself, waving at the camera. “I know that I have a habit of dropping cryptic clues and easter eggs when giving new information about my music, and I’m not here to deny that. But I am here to defy that,” she announced.  “Welcome to a new series I’m calling ‘Midnights Mayhem With Me,’” she said.  Swift played the perfect game show host—matching the video’s elevator music background sound well—as she lifted her hands to show off the bingo roller. “I’m going to be using this technologically advanced device to help me allow fate to decide exactly what track titles I’m going to be announcing and in what order.” As the standard edition of the album has 13 tracks, the cage contained 13 ping pong balls, each labeled one through 13 to represent one track off the album.  As she turned the handle to mix the numbers, she spoke again. “The first track I’m gonna tell you about…” she trailed off as she picked up the winner, smiling giddily as she noticed which number it was. “Track 13! Because, of course.” But she didn’t tell us much at all! “Track 13 is called…” she trailed off again, leaning out of frame and returning with a red, corded phone held up to her ear. “Mastermind.” An echoey vocal effect was placed on the song title alone.  While Swift claimed to be here defying her habit of easter egg teasers, could this somehow be one of them?   But Swifties were more worried about when the next track would be revealed.  “HOW MANY MORE MIDNIGHTS MAYHEMS DO WE HAVE IM SLEEP DEPRIVED,” was a common consensus.  “BLONDIE WE GOTTA DO THIS FOR THE NEXT 12 NIGHTS?? 😭” cried somebody else. With the album dropping exactly a month from today, it’s safe to assume we can expect about three a week for the next four weeks if she intends to reveal the entire tracklist ahead of time, unless she puts a little more of a rush on them and plans a nightly release until the tracklist is complete.  However, her use of the bingo roller to determine “exactly what track titles I’m going to be announcing” suggests that we may not get them all in advance.  Other fans raved over the fun new aesthetic. One even pointed out how Swift’s outfit was very “vintage weatherman.”   “Oh it’s so nice that Taylor named a song after herself 😍” another commenter wrote. “She’s in her host era 😎,” someone else joked.  “This is a new level of unhinged I love it,” another fan spoke for all of us.  Swift is certainly at the level of fame where this kind of promotion and fan interaction is completely unnecessary to get her work out to the masses, but she continues to find new ways to top herself when it comes to delighting her fans. A mastermind, indeed!  More Pop Culture:

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