A new era already! Less than five months after surprising fans with her critically acclaimed album Folklore, Taylor Swift released a companion record titled Evermore on Friday, December 11.
“To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in,” the 10-time Grammy winner, who turns 31 on Sunday, December 13, wrote via Instagram ahead of the release.
Swift told fans that in the past she “always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released.” However, with Folklore, she felt compelled to test a new strategy.
“In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives,” she continued. “So I just kept writing them.”
For Evermore, the pop-country superstar worked with the same collaborators as Folklore: Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, Justin Vernon and her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, who used the pseudonym William Bowery. This time around, she also tapped longtime friends Haim as well as Dessner and Vernon’s respective bands, The National and Bon Iver, as featured artists.
“Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now,” Swift explained of the release date. “You’ve all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something! I also know this holiday season will be a lonely one for most of us and if there are any of you out there who turn to music to cope with missing loved ones the way I do, this is for you.”
The standard edition of Evermore has 15 tracks, including the single “Willow,” while the deluxe physical copy has two bonus songs: “Right Where You Left Me” and “It’s Time to Go.”
Scroll through the gallery below for a breakdown of each song on Evermore!