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Lover

August 23, 2019

"Lover" is the seventh studio album by Taylor. It was released on August 23, 2019, through Republic Records. The album cover photo was taken by Valheria Rocha. There are four deluxe versions of the album.

ANNOUNCEMENT

"Lover" is Taylor's first release with Republic Records, after leaving Big Machine in November 2018. Fans began speculating about the album as early as February 2019, and Taylor alluded to this in a speech at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards the next month, saying that fans “will be the first to know” about new music.

She told Entertainment Weekly that she finished the record in late February 2019, the day that she posted a now-infamous photo of palm trees on her Instagram. The following days she changed up the aethethic of her then rather dark Instagram feed, which lead fans to believe that new music was imminent:

"I posted that [picture] the day that I finished the seventh album. I couldn’t expect [my fans] to know that. I figured they’d figure it out later, but a lot of their theories were actually correct. Those Easter eggs were just trying to establish that tone." -- Taylor Swift

Taylor indirectly announced the record when she posted a thirteen-day countdown to social media, which was also featured on billboards in cities like New York and London. After posting the countdown, she posted new pictures to social media every day leading up to the release of the lead single, “ME!”, featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco on April 26th.

Acting as an elaborate Easter egg hunt, Taylor confirmed that all information about her upcoming album, such as the title overall, is hidden throughout the music video for “ME!”— the lead single for the release. She announced the album and its August 23 release date officially on June 13, 2019, during an Instagram Live. During the same session, she revealed that “You Need to Calm Down” would be the second single.

MOVING ON FROM REPUTATION

Taylor told "Entertainment Weekly" about the contrast between "Lover" and her previous album, 2017's "reputation":

"This time around I feel more comfortable being brave enough to be vulnerable, because my fans are brave enough to be vulnerable with me. Once people delve into the album, it’ll become pretty clear that that’s more of the fingerprint of this — that it’s much more of a singer-songwriter, personal journey than the last one."

-- Taylor Swift

COMPOSITION

Taylor described the album as a romantic one, stating that it was "not just simply thematically, like it’s all love songs or something. The idea of something being romantic, it doesn’t have to be a happy song. You can find romance in loneliness or sadness or going through things in your life… it just looks at those things through a romantic gaze."

In a radio interview with Zach Sang, Taylor stated about "Lover":

"There isn’t ever one song that could sum up what the album is, but I knew that this one felt like, it felt like a celebration— it felt like something that could make you feel good, and like, I just want that right now for people, and I want to feel that way when I perform it. …I wanna feel good and positive and hopeful. And I think that a song is kind of like a mantra if you think about it. If you get a song stuck in your head, that’s the message you’re telling yourself— whether it’s intentional or not, whether it’s conscious or not." -- Taylor Swift

ALBUM ART

A stark contrast to the harsh, black-and-white emblem of "reputation", the cover art of "Lover" features Taylor over a vibrant background of light yellow, pink, and blue. She has a pink glitter heart around her right eye, and the tips of her hair are dyed blue, probably with Good Dye Young poser paste. The album title is emblazoned across the top in magenta glitter. The title and the logo were teased in the music video for “ME!”. The album art was shot by Valheria Rocha, who also shot other photos of the "Lover" era. Rocha is a Colombian portrait photographer who also specializes in collage art. She is currently based in Atlanta, GA.