Taylor Swift has ended days of speculation about her next album, revealing Reputation will be released in November.
After two days of online teasers with posts of a recoiling black snake video, suggesting the Shake It Off star was ready to strike with a new release, Swift uploaded footage of the reptile attacking on Wednesday – and then announced she was preparing new music.
The first single from the new album will drop on Thursday.
Taylor Swift also revealed the album cover art, which has been shot by Mert & Marcus, via Instagram – it features a stern, no-nonsense Swift staring out from a collection of newspaper headlines bearing her name.
The singer’s last album, 1989, was released three years ago and picked up an Album of the Year Grammy. It spawned the hits Bad Blood, Blank Space and Shake It Off.
Some fans were hoping the snake video, which first appeared on Monday, was a teaser for another big announcement – that Taylor Swift would be ending her feud with Katy Perry by performing with the MTV Video Music Awards host at Sunday’s prizegiving.
Perry quickly shot that idea down in a radio interview, revealing she hadn’t heard from Taylor after suggesting the two former friends should end their row over a 2014 spat surrounding tour dancers they both shared.
Swift wrote Bad Blood about the drama.
Katy recently told The Huffington Post, “I forgive her, and I’m sorry for anything I ever did, and I hope the same from her, and I think it’s actually… I think it’s time. I love her and I want the best for her, and I think she’s a fantastic songwriter, and like, I think that if we both, her and I, can be representatives of strong women that come together despite their differences, I think the whole world is going to go, like, ‘Yeah, we can do this’.
