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taylorswiftstyle · 4 months

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Favourite Outfits of 2023: Taylor Swift Style

Swifties have lived many lives in 2023.

The Eras Tour saw Taylor visit 24 cities across 4 countries over 66 dates. The record-breaking tour spurred an official theatrical release of its setlist that comfortably sits north of three hours in addition to the many hours we’ve collectively spent livestreaming at home - both the canonical Eras Tour set and its more humorous clip montage of the lesser known Errors Tour with all the delightful bloopers and chaos it’s brought us since kicking off in March.

Taylor released two re-recorded versions of her albums (Speak Now and 1989) and appeared to be hard at work at Electric Lady Studios in New York City over the summer - giving us a 2023 refresh on the New York City Fashion Takeover of 2014 as she appeared to be feverishly working on something that will have us all in a chokehold sometime in the next two years, I’m sure.

Throughout the year, the one thing I kept coming back to was familiarity. There's been something to Taylor's style this year that has felt comforting and recognizable but still somehow new and exciting - and perhaps even slightly elevated. Turning it up to 13, some might say. The meta looks of her tour costuming self-referencing all the versions of herself that she has been over the course of her career packaged into one convenient show the most obvious signifier. But the schoolgirl plaids, the sequins, the iconic fall outfits all feel like iterations of who Taylor has always been. But there's something to it that feels a little more powerful, a little more knowing.

From Joever, to #TIAYYKWYAILY, to killasquirles - we’ve had so much to laugh and cry and laugh instead of cry over.

The following is a breakdown of my favourite looks over the last 12 months (not all of which could even be crammed into this intro graphic) as well as my top level thoughts on Taylor’s fashion themes this year.

For more, head to 🔗 patreon.com/taylorswiftstyle

Photos via Getty Images

#tss 2023 outfits

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pinkorchidsinspring · 10 months

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Taylor swifts’ KARMA Album evidence:

Throughout the eras tour Taylor has had pink for Lover on her 7th finger as seen here:

However, in Cincinnati Taylor switched it up between n1 and n2. Taylor had Orange in place of lover.

We could just be clowning around, but this is the same woman who said:

Yeah- nope, so now that we’ve established that we can never be too curious-

Let’s stack up the evidence that karma is a thing shall we?

Her fingernail Easter egg obviously

The song “Karma” closing out every show

The orange door left on the stage at the end of the shows

Her recording at “Electric Lady Studios” all week, -electric just like how she was in light bulbs in the Karma music video.

Electric lady studios being known for producing some of the best rock albums known to man:

The fact that Taylor always fades into her eras, much like how reputation tour ended with color, but Taylor was playing electric guitar at the end of 1989 shows. Very rock esque, yes?

This iconic moment via a Vogue interview a couple months after the 1989 would tour ended, in 2016 over a year and a half before the release of reputation. “Karma is real”.

Not to mention the “bleachella” look that originated because of a vogue covershoot in April 2016. It is assumed that this covershoot was supposed to be PR for “Karma” the album, because reputation won’t come out til October of the next year. -Due to the punk/rocker vibes of all her public outfits during this era.

The clock in “The Man” music video putting (in orange of course) “karma” inbetween “1989” and “Reputation” with the word “missing” above it.

The Orange ensemble in the “look what you made me do” music video

It would make sense that it never ended up being released because of all the kimye drama, Taylor’s rep was “goin’ down” and it wasn’t the ideal time to release an album that wasn’t garenteed to kill the charts via sales like reputation did.

The reappearance of orange, especially on her album symbolizing nails could mean amazing things for karma truthers..🫢

Could Taylor be hinting at the Karma drop?

#taylor swift #gay icons #gaylor swift #blondie #tay tay #karma #karma is real #kimye #bleachella #karma is an album #orange #the 1989 world tour #proof #Pinkorchidsinspringposts

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backup-baby-backup · 10 months

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[Olivia] Rodrigo and [Dan] Nigro recorded Guts between New York and LA. She first began working on “Vampire” at Electric Lady Studios in late 2022, and not only was it the first song she really loved from their songwriting sessions, but the sound also ended up informing the rest of Guts. “It felt like a really good progression forward. It didn’t feel so different from everything that I’ve done on the last album but it still felt fresh and exciting to me. That was a really good feeling. It’s something that we tried to do for the rest of the record.”

-- Rolling Stone

#will this be her let go?#olivia rodrigo

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rock-and-roll-hell · 8 months

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September 18, 1978

KIϟϟ release the solo albums

Studio: (Ace) The Mansion (Connecticut) and Plaza Sound Studios (New York); (paul) Electric Lady and The Record Plant, (New York) and The Village Recorder, (LA); (peter) Electric Lady Studios, (New York) and Burbank Studios (California) and Sunset Sound (Hollywood); (gene) The Manor (Oxfordshire), Cherokee (Hollywood) and Blue Rock (New York)

Genre: (ace & paul) hard rock; (peter) Rock, soul, R&B, jazz ; (gene) Hard rock, pop rock, funk rock, rock and roll

KIϟϟ has claimed that the solo albums were intended to ease rising tensions within the band, also their 1976 record contract did in fact call for four solo records, each of them counting as half an album toward the group’s five-record commitment. Each album was a solo effort (none of the group appeared on another’s album), however all were released and marketed as KIϟϟ albums (with similar cover art and poster inserts). It was the first time that all current members of a rock band had released solo albums on the same day.

it was a chance to showcase their individual musical styles and tastes outside of KIϟϟ, and in some cases to collaborate with contemporary artists. Stanley’s and Frehley’s albums were most similar to KIϟϟ’ hard rock style, while Criss’ album featured an R&B style with multiple ballads. Simmons’ was the most diverse of the four, featuring hard rock, ballads, Beatles-influenced pop and a cover version of “When You Wish Upon a Star” from the Disney film Pinocchio.

Despite the large shipments, none of the albums sold particularly well and were later sold as cut-outs. Of the four, Simmons’s album charted the highest in the U.S., peaking at #22, while Frehley’s spawned the only resulting Top Forty hit single, a cover of “New York Groove”. Frehley’s album has gone on to be the biggest seller since the introduction of Soundscan in 1991.

#kisstory #1978 #the solo albums #kiss #kiss band #kiss army #ace frehley #peter criss #paul stanley #gene simmons #the spaceman #the catman #the starchild #the demon

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likeadevils · 3 months

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Any timeline news bestie?

actually yeah!! a good chunk of news that i need to officially type up and source, but if you want to just take me at my word that i’m not making up interviews:

@1989worldtour and @taylor-on-your-dash found an old interview where taylor says she wrote back to december in new york, meaning it was likely written in early/mid may 2010

in that same interview she also said she wrote mine while on tour, probably in texas (that’s her saying probably texas not me). which would put it march 10-12 2010. the thing that trips me up about that though is scott borchetta said she showed it to him in february, which isn’t a big time difference, but taylor left for the bahamas right after texas. i don’t know exactly what day she left, so it’s possible she flew from texas to nashville’s to the bahamas and recorded the first mine demo then, but unless she did that the next time she could be in nashville would be on the 21st, and the next time she’s in nashville for longer than a day would be march 29, both of which are pushing the february mix up. but no matter what taylor probably wrote it in early march, since all the dates in february were in australia and tokyo, which seem hard to mix up with texas.

in that same interview she said she started mean in her kitchen but then had to leave to go play a show. that could be whenever, but the only 2010 show she played without a show right before/after it was in baton rouge on may 29, where she had two days off before and after it, so speculation but better than the “idk sometime in spring?” that i had it under before

(side salad: you might be thinking claire, is that too many may 2010 songs? and if you’ve read the speak now timeline you might be thinking, but what about long live in the first week of june and the story of us in the second week of june? is that too many songs? and to that i’d say wow, thank you for paying so much attention. but, taylor does go into writing frenzies in the months right before she finishes an album, and she finished writing for speak now in june and recording for it in july, so like. it makes sense that there’d be a cluster right at the end)

nathan chapman, the guy who produced basically every song taylor recorded between 2006-2011, posted a couple photos from the speak now and red sessions! unfortunately we don’t know which song she was making in the speak now picture (my kingdom for speak now studio credits), but the one from red is likely girl at home— it is the only released song taylor made with him at his house after cutting her bangs and straightening her hair

and some super early tortured poets speculation— on october 17, post malone said he’d just hung out with taylor, and on october 20 deuxmoi said taylor had just been in LA working with a new producer. dm is normally absolute dogshit at getting information out of taylor’s camp, but idk about post malone/whatever producer’s side of things. so i’m putting a very shaky maybe on fortnight in october 2023

if anyone has an opportunity to enter electric lady studios please tell me if they have a tan couch in front of a dark wood background. i have crawled through their website and instagram and i can find no such couch but taylor and jack working in a non-electric lady/his house studio would be insane (EDIT JACK BUILT A NEW STUDIO IN LA AND THE PHOTOS I WAS TRYING TO TRACK DOWN WERE PROBABLY TAKEN THERE)

#asks*#timeline*

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seeminglyranch87 · 7 months

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Taylor & Travis Timeline

September 2023 - part 1

September 1 - Ep51, S2 of New Heights airs, Travis says he doesn’t remember what he had been doing the week leading up to recording the podcast, saying “I think I was up in New York”.

Travis also mentions that if he wears a hat and glasses no one recognises him. (x) (x)

Jason Kelce asks

“Have you found out what Taylor Swift thinks of your moustache?”

To which Travis blushes and smiles, saying

“Um yeah we’re not going to bring up Taylor Swift... but something tells me she’s gonna like it”

September 2 - Travis liked a Louboutin IG post about Taylor's legs ; ) (x)

September 6 - New Heights Ep 52 (x) with guest Kylie Kelce on life as an NFL spouse, Jason's Tinder Bio and Setting Up Travis. Personally a favourite episode of mine!

(9:30) When discussing the definition of a "diva" Jason says a diva is" just a famous singer", Kylie looks to Jason with a knowing smile... do they know about Travis' interaction with Taylor?

(20:00) Advice Kylie gives on Travis dating and what he should put on a Tinder profile... "I think you are doing great on your own Trav..."

(25:40) Talking about a tinder profile would Kylie recommend Travis go "Stache or no stache? " Kylie jokingly replies "if they swipe right at your worst, then they'll love you at your best"

(28:00) Jason begins telling Travis how he felt first meeting Kylie after a drunken first date...

Jason tells "it was love at first sight, let me tell you" Kylie replies " he doesn't even believe in love at first sight" Jason responds " I didn't until I met you... it was like fireworks. It was like fireworks exploded the moment she walked through the door..." "I want to feel those fireworks" Travis replies wistfully "It was like you when a movie has like an angel walk through doors and there is only one light on that person" Jason continues "that's what happened, I've always wanted that to happen" says Travis

September 7 - Travis is benched for the Chiefs vs Lions game due to a knee injury (x). Chiefs are defeated 20 - 21. Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City.

September 8 - Taylor is seen at Electric Lady Studios, NYC for a suspected album release party (x)

September 11 - Taylor has dinner with Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Zöe Kravitz, Channing Tatum, Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne at Emilio’s Ballato Italian restaurant in NYC (x)

September 12 - Taylor attends the 2023 MTV VMA's wearing a very reputation-esque custom Versace look and the VMA's afterparty in a demin look with a red lip (x x)

Our girl cleaned up at the VMA's

ET publishes an article (x)

A source tells ET that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and the "Anti-Hero" singer are not officially dating.

A source tells ET, "Travis has been into Taylor for a while and definitely has a crush on her. He is a simple guy that is very funny, charismatic, chill, and loves playing football."

'Kelce', Jason Kelce's Prime Video documentary is released

September 13 - Rumours circulating (x) according to The Messenger

"Taylor and Travis have been quietly hanging out," the source said. "She saw him when she was in NYC a few weeks ago."

September 14 - In an interview on TNF Nightcap (x), Jason Kelce mentions that he saw the rumours about Travis and Taylor but couldn’t comment on their relationship status, saying

"I've seen these rumours. I cannot comment... I don't really know what's going on there, so yeah, I know Trav is having fun. We'll see what happens with whoever he ends up with."

September 16 - ESPN's SportsCenter reporter Adam Schefter & Kevin Negandhi playfully reference Swift's song titles as they allude to Travis & Taylor dating rumours.

"Clearly, Travis Kelce, at this point in time, is trying to Shake It Off and get back out there. He knows how much he's needed and that he's The Man."

"It was a little bit of a Cruel Summer for Travis Kelce with that knee injury but he can see the Daylight, Kevin, he looks like he's Ready For It. And Travis [Kelce] is now tracking to play on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, despite the fact that he was just limited today."

Go to previous update -> August 2023, part 1

Go to next update -> September 2023, part 2

Return to the timeline

#taylor swift #travis kelce #taylor and travis #taylor swift and travis kelce #traylor #87 and 89 #killatrav #seemingly ranch #travis can fight #kelce swift #timeline #tayvis #Taylor & Travis timeline #87 + 13 = 100

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rainbowdaisy13 · 19 days

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Wider theory ask here-all of the burning it down,eclipse imagery the heavy bearding. Someone on her mentioned thinking that Taylor might be “fighting” another Great War behind the scenes again. With the news today that her music is back on TikTok’s AND UMG signed that deal with Hype media and scooter AND this album fulfills the contract with UMG……. Do you think that there’s a record label split announcement coming or an announcement of Taylor doing her own record label. So many pap photos this last year were from Electric Lady Studios…. Idk I just have a weird feeling that there’s something going on behind the scenes with the mount of roses,exposure,deal with the NFL,the leaked emails with Scott swift,the weird paparazzi altercation in Australia etc in addition to the Eras Tour, even Karlies return to modeling,media acquisitions…. You need promotion for a new record label. The whole name of TTPD, department is usually a section of a buisness right? Idk just lots of interesting pieces.The last time I had this feeling it was the Lover era….

I would not be shocked by any major announcement she makes in terms of making her own big moves in the industry—we know she’s supposedly directing something?! That was such a weird little drop last year and then we hear nothing more. I agree she was purposely papped so much at Electric Lady it does seem intentional

Her using the word Chairman has always made me 😒 bc it also seems intentional vs President or CEO or Director which says to me that TTPD is more like an afterschool club or secret society Vs a business

Which now that I’m extrapolating maybe it’s more imagery about her moving away from TS the Business? 🧐

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taylorswiftstylequestions · 8 days

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And I'm begging people to listen to Harry's solo released and unreleased songs and every song he has ever written for 1d and for other people after dating Taylor. You'd find so many lyrical parallel between his and her songs throughout the years. And this album has lots of them too. You'd be surprised by how deep the haylore goes and it's fascinating how people just don't wanna open their eyes to it.

Also, Sarah, did you figure out what she was wearing on fots day, from the photos jack posted?? Seems like she was in studio don't know if electric lady or some else. If it's electric lady then there'll be pap photos pretty sure. I just wanna know the date so bad

So many parallels indeed!

The photo from that day on Jack's Instagram is quite obscured so I can't say with confidence what she's wearing. According to the album booklet Taylor recorded vocals at Electric Lady and Prime Recording (Nashville).

What I find interesting is that there are some photos from EL we have clear documentation on when she entered/exited and so can trace them to a precise day and others that we haven't seen which tells me that perhaps she has been able to get into EL without being seen. Which further tells me it's very interesting the outfits she decided to choose entering/exiting knowing she'd be spotted. And why those outfits for those songs.

#style

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k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9 · 8 months

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𝔎𝔦𝔰𝔰 – 𝔖𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯

#Kiss #Alive!#Strutter #Format:#2 x Vinyl #LP #Album #Released:#Sep 10 #1975 #Hard Rock #classic rock #70's hard rock #70s #Recorded live during the Dressed To Kill tour. Overdubbed and mixed at Electric Lady Studios #NYC #NY #August 1975.#USA

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translatemunson · 1 year

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track one — the ex tapes

warnings: not proofread, don't expect some fluff because there's none this time (sorry).

series masterlist

Eddie Munson is a rock star now. He still doesn’t believe it, but he is. Sold out shows, number one records, fans screaming his name when he goes out to grab a coffee—black with two sugars. When was the last time he visited Hawkins, his hometown? He has no clue, always in and out of hotels and tour buses, he can’t even think about paying his uncle a visit, always opting for sending him plane tickets to Los Angeles.

Oh, Los Angeles is everything that Eddie dreamed of, and so much more. The views, the houses, the parties, half a decade living in the city of angels and he always finds something new about it. However he feels tired. It’s like he’s been writing the same stories that turn up into songs. Still sounds like Corroded Coffin, but it’s the same feeling over and over again.

He tried to change the scenario. A new house, new friends, damn he even listens to the pop radio so he can find new artists. But it’s just the same chords, same singers, same stories over and over again.

Eddie has been struggling a lot with writing new songs. He took like three weeks to gather five songs. This new album is taking longer than normal to be done. And now with the record label asking for a song with more sentimental lyrics, perhaps a ballad, he’s losing his mind.

In one of his drives around the city in his fancy black car — oh God, he misses his van so much, but never finds the time to fix it —, he had listened to this artist. It wasn’t the beat, the synths, the electric guitar in the background or the singer’s voice that got his attention, it was the lyrics. He had written down the name of the song to look up for the songwriter’s name.

And once again, the name Charlie Rogers was written in the credits. This name has been showing up in a lot of songs lately and Eddie wonders where the hell did Charlie come from. Everyone from the pop field worked with her, everyone talks a lot about how she can turn any feeling or story into a masterpiece. Nevertheless, she’s nowhere to be found in magazines or award ceremonies.

Ok, he got it, sometimes songwriters don’t wanna stay in the spotlight and rather focus on writing. But she works with some of the best people in the industry and still no one can get her to show up. Yeah, this kinda bothers Eddie because he would love to add a face to the name of the lady that got him into some pop songs.

After finding her name for the tenth time, he had asked for his manager to book a session with the almighty Charlie Rogers. Both schedules were a pain in the ass to find a good time, but Eddie wanted so badly to work with her he said he could be at the studio at six in the morning. Six in the morning is really early for Eddie Munson.

So there he is, three in the afternoon in the studio, waiting for Charlie to show up for the session. He’s playing the mixtape he made with his favourite songs of hers to get in the mood. And to also study how she writes. He sees a pattern, but she always adds twists and turns on well known feelings and endings.

There’s this song in particular that he really likes. It’s a pop song with darker tones, where she sings about her life experiences and makes California sound like it’s the new state of mind. And he gets the vibes that her ex lover left for California to seek that.

Maybe he’s reading too much in between the lines. Who never left something behind to live the dream? Eddie did. Sometimes he regrets it, but he can’t complain about his life.

But what he can complain about is how late Charlie is. He checks the time and he wasted half an hour in a studio alone, waiting for someone busier than the fucking president to show up. Maybe she’s not coming and he’s doomed to accept any song the label chooses for the album.

Eddie lights up a cigarette and promises he’ll leave if she doesn’t come through that door before he finishes it.

Maybe she doesn’t want to work with a band like Corroded Coffin and decided to cancel at the last minute. He can’t put a finger on Charlie, can’t understand why she keeps herself in the shadows when he bets she could have a career of her own.

The cigarette slowly fades away. The door creaks and he sees the tip of a guitar case.

“I’m sorry, the traffic here was terrible. And my last session was already late and,” you step in the room, “sorry, really. Let’s get started?”

“Y/N?”

Before Eddie can talk, you already turned away and left.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #rockstar!eddie munson #eddie munson #rockstar!eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x f!reader #rockstar!eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson angst #eddie munson x you #songwriter!reader x eddie munson #songwriter!reader x rockstar!eddie munson

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onlydylanobrien · 2 years

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Dylan O'Brien is credited as drummer on "Snow on the Beach" and as crowd applause on "Question…?" on Taylor Swift’s new album “Midnights".

04 Snow on the Beach [ft. Lana Del Rey]

Written by Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and Lana Del Rey

© 2022 TASRM Publishing, administered by Songs of Universal, Inc. (BMI), Sony/ATV Songs LLC / Ducky Donath Music (BMI). Lana Del Rey Publishing Designee / EMI April Music, obo EMI Music Publishing Germany GmbH. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) Assistant Mix Engineer – Bryce Bordone Recorded by Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff Assistant Engineered by Megan Searl, Jon Sher, John Rooney, Jacob Spitzer Recorded at Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY), Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Bobby Hawk’s performance recorded by Dave Gross at Blue Plate Records (Hayworth, New Jersey) Evan Smith’s performance recorded by Evan Smith at Pleasure Hill Recording (Portland, Maine) Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift – Vocals Lana Del Rey - Vocals Jack Antonoff - Drums, Programming, Percussion, Juno 6, Mellotron, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass, Background Vocals Evan Smith – Synths Bobby Hawk – Violin Dylan O’Brien - Drums

07 Question...?

Written by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, VA) Assistant Mix Engineer – Bryce Bordone Recorded by Laura Sisk and Jack Antonoff Assistant Engineered by Megan Searl, Jon Sher, John Rooney, Jonathan Garcia Recorded at Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn, NY), Electric Lady Studios (New York, NY) Dominik Rivinius’ performance recorded by Ken Lewis at Neon Wave Studio (Pirmasens, Germany) Evan Smith’s performance recorded by Evan Smith at Pleasure Hill Recording (Portland, Maine) Sean Hutchinson’s performance recorded by Sean Hutchinson at Hutchinson Sound (Brooklyn, NY) Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ)

Taylor Swift - Vocals Jack Antonoff - Programming, Percussion, Juno 6, Mellotron, Background Vocals Dominik Rivinius - Drums Evan Smith - Synths Sean Hutchinson - Drums and Percussion Rachel Antonoff, Austin Swift, Jack Antonoff, Dylan O’Brien - Crowd Applause

A few songs later is "Snow on the Beach," an ethereal track about realizing that you're falling for someone at the same time they are falling in love with you. Swift co-wrote the ditty with Del Rey and Antonoff (who also co-wrote 10 other songs on the album). But there's also a famous face playing the drums: Dylan O'Brien.

The Teen Wolf actor previously starred in Swift's All Too Well: The Short Film, which released last November alongside the re-recorded version of Swift's album, Red.

The collaboration of sorts doesn't end there, though. Later on Midnights, in the track "Question…?" Swift sings the lyrics, "Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room, and every single one of your friends was making fun of you? But 15 seconds later they were clapping, too?"

A crowd can be heard clapping at this point, and turns out, that group is made up of actual Swift friends in a fun bit of art imitating life. The album's credits reveal that Antonoff, his sister Rachel, Swift's brother Austin, and O'Brien provided the sound effect.

Midnights is available to buy and stream now.

Sources: pitchfork.com & ew.com

#dylan o'brien #taylor swift #taylor swift midnights album #news

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ultra-francesca-mercury · 1 year

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On 9 February 1976, during a break in the tour, Brian May, Roger Taylor and Freddie Mercury pay a visit to Ian Hunter (former frontman of Moot The Hoople), who was in a recording session at Electric Lady Land Studios in New York. They take part in the backing vocals of 'You Nearly Did Me In', produced by Roy Thomas Baker, which would later be released on Hunter's solo album 'All American Alien Boy "

#queen #queen band #freddie mercury #roger taylor #brian may #roy thomas baker #ian hunter #all american alien boy #almanaccomercury

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backup-baby-backup · 6 months

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Cruel Summer: the hit that was meant to be?

Pictured: dramatic reenactment of us waiting for Cruel Summer to be a single for 4 years.

Background

This summer is the apocalypse.

-- Lover Journal entry, dated 29 August 2016

We all know about the cruel summer in question, right? To be fair, technically the cruelty of the summer stemmed from "a desperate summer love that might be doomed from the start" and "some element of desperation and pain in it, where you’re yearning for something that you don’t quite have yet", and not whatever Kim Kardashian was doing on Twitter, but given how those two events occured basically simultaneously, it's not outrageous to claim both experiences informed each other.

In 2018, Taylor went on the Reputation Stadium Tour. Between shows, Taylor started working on Lover, getting into the studio with Joel Little, Frank Dukes and our favourite producer Jack Antonoff. For Cruel Summer, however, there was something special: Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, was a credited writer on the track.

St. Vincent had worked with Jack for her 2017 album Masseduction, so much like how Lana ended up in the studio with Taylor, we can safely assume that Jack brought the two together. On 6 June 2018, St. Vincent mentioned that she had reworked one of her songs from Masseduction, Slow Disco, into a poppier production with Taylor's support. With this in mind, we can probably assume that she had cross passed with Taylor around this time. Taylor was papped recording at Electric Lady (Jack's stomping grounds) on 18 July 2018, which lines up with this theory. [1]

The failed single push

I’m not trying to blame the global pandemic that we had, but that is something that happened that stopped Cruel Summer from ever being a single.

-- Taylor Swift after performing Cruel Summer on tour in Pittsburgh, 17 June 2023

Cruel Summer had been a fan favourite from the get-go. When Taylor held listening parties for a select group of fans, it was the song that most people had positive feelings about. When Lover (the album) dropped in August 2019, it was the third most streamed track from the album, leapfrogging I Forgot That You Existed despite it being the second track. People started to lament the... poorly-received lead singles the album had. (I have nothing kind to say about those two tracks so I won't say anything.)

Then for a while, nothing happened. Taylor released Lover and The Man as singles to various degrees of success. The Man's disappointing (by her standards) chart run probably reignited discussion about how Cruel Summer would have smashed if it were only given a proper push and the GP had understood its talent. Then COVID came along, Lover Fest was delayed indefinitely, and it seemed that the Lover era was over, replaced by Taylor locking herself in with Joe Alwyn and drinking wine.

Then June 2020 came around, and...

Now how do we know that this is true? Apparently, Cruel Summer was added to AllAccess, a website where radio programmers download singles serviced to radio. While I can't verify this myself, I have seen numerous independent sources claim that Cruel Summer was uploaded to the site specifically on 17 June 2020. [2] Some radio website also ran with the story in early June, so I am inclined to believe this.

And it's not like there weren't any official hints...

Top to bottom: Spotify "enhanced album" promo mural, You Need To Calm Down music video, Amazon Music commercial, Lover music video [3]

The catch, however, is the Cruel Summer never got an official add date. An add date is "supposed to tell [radio] stations when to add a record to its playlist". Without an official add date, stations usually won't play your new song unless it's really hotly requested.

So the song didn't get a full label push and quickly died off, despite getting some radio play in 2020 (from anecdotal evidence), not appearing on the charts. And then in July folklore came out of the blue, and with it ended the Lover era, and seemingly all hopes for Cruel Summer world domination.

A music video?

While Taylor HQ is normally as hard to infiltrate as Fort Knox, over the years bits and pieces of information have leaked about her intentions for the rest of the Lover era. Chief among them was, apparently, to officially release Cruel Summer as a single to accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020. A music video was even filmed, before being scrapped when Taylor moved into the mythical forest of folklore.

-- Official Singles Chart (UK), 27 June 2023

Well, would Official Singles Chart lie? They do say "apparently" though, maybe to hedge their bets a little.

The problem with this claim, however, is the timeline. On 27 January 2020, Taylor released The Man as a single. She dropped the music video on Feburary 28th. Assuming a similar rollout for Cruel Summer, the music video would've come out in July. Given how the pandemic had basically put all possible filming activity to a standstill in March, it seems implausible that a music video would be filmed that early in advance, especially without knowing that the pandemic was on the horizon. Or maybe it was fully CGI and filmed in the luxury of her LA house, I don't know.

But I think there's a different catch here. Note how the above source claims that Cruel Summer would have been a single to "accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020", namely Lover Fest. According to the planned Lover Fest schedule, by the summer of 2020 she would be performing in Europe, including headlining Glastonbury.

Now consider Taylor's usual single rollout. Fearless, Sparks Fly, Red and New Romantics were all the last or second-last singles pushed from their respective albums, all of which got tour videos. [4] It seems that given how Cruel Summer would be the fifth single pushed according to the original plans, it most likely would've gotten the tour video treatment as well. Which makes sense: imagine a music video with her performing under broad daylight to huge crowds at festivals!

Cruel Summer 2: The Return of the Hit

With the advent of the pandemic something interesting happened: people started re-discovering old songs and making them into hits again. Catalogue streaming amounted to a whopping 70% of all streams in 2022. Running Up That Hill, a song from the 1980s, went viral again thanks to Stranger Things and this new ability that

Maybe it was because people wanted something familiar to go back to in a world where nothing was familiar anymore. Who knows. Many other music critics have written better articles about this phenomenon. What does matter, however, is that releasing singles from an album from years ago was now commercially viable. Sia, Lady Gaga and The Weeknd all did it to various degrees of success.

So when Cruel Summer, a song which had been among Taylor's most streamed songs for a while, acted as the tour opener on the Eras Tour [5], it would only further gain in popularity from then onwards, even re-entering the Billboard Hot 100 before it was even officially promoted to radio. And so her label moved to capitalize on this trend, and finally released Cruel Summer as a single on 20 June 2023, almost 3 years to the day after its original planned release date.

The million dollar question: would Cruel Summer have smashed if it was released as originally planned?

I'd say no. The general public had already moved on from Lover as the lacklustre The Man performance demonstrates. Besides, without the accumulation of popularity that Taylor had with folklore, evermore, the re-recordings, Midnights and the Eras Tour, who know where her career would've been?

(By the way, even if Cruel Summer had been the lead single there is absolutely no way it passes Old Town Road for #1.)

Timeline

Summer 2018: Cruel Summer is likely written around this time.

23 August 2019: Lover is released.

27 January 2020: The Man is released as a single.

27 February 2020: The Man music video is released.

5-12 March 2020: According to Steve from the IC, band rehearsals for Lover Fest took place during these days, with a whopping 32 songs.

19 March 2020: California enters lockdown due to COVID-19. Taylor was living in Los Angeles at this time.

17 April 2020: Lover Fest is officially delayed.

27 April 2020: Taylor writes cardigan, her first collaboration with Aaron Dessner and the beginning of the concept of folklore.

6 June 2020: Steve posts that cryptic message about folklore, signifying that the album was mostly complete by this time.

17 June 2020: Cruel Summer is uploaded to AllAccess, incidentally the same day as Steve teases cardigan.

20 June 2020: The European leg of Lover Fest would have begun on this day.

20 June 2023: Cruel Summer is officially released as a single.

23 October 2023: Cruel Summer hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Conclusion

Stream Cruel Summer.

[1] Cruel Summer is also the only Lover song to be registered on the US Copyright Office with a creation year of 2018, rather than 2019, suggesting that it was an early cut. (credit: @taylor-on-your-dash)

[2] Surprisingly, people have also claimed that I Did Something Bad was added to AllAccess in a similar fashion.

[3] That being said, if we take that hint in the Lover music video as hinting towards a Cruel Summer single push, this also means Afterglow was also meant to be a single...

[4] Do not quote me on this, Taylor herself didn't acknowledge that chorus of Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince either.

[5] Getaway Car should've been here...

#taylor swift #cruel summer #lover

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