The superstar also breaks down his three songwriting styles while accepting the Songwriter of the Decade award from the Nashville Songwriters Association.
Taylor Swift gave fans a physical and virtual surprise Tuesday night: Those lucky enough to be inside Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium saw a performance of “All Too Well,” the 10-minute version; while those online learned the title of a new song. “Mastermind” will appear on Swift’s upcoming album, Midnights, due October 21.
Swift posted the title reveal at midnight, naturally, via TikTok, in a playful new series dubbed Midnight Mayhem with me. Using a “technologically advanced device” (bingo ball cage), Swift chose one of 13 ping pong balls corresponding to the number of tracks on her album. Unsurprisingly, bullet number 13 came out when the singer picked up a red phone to reveal the title.
Swift was in Nashville to receive the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Songwriter of the Decade award at the NSAI’s annual ceremony. In her enlightening speech, the superstar naturally focused on the songwriting part of her creative process, revealing the three imaginary genres she thinks of when writing lyrics: Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics. In her 13-minute speech, Swift also told the crowd the story behind the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” and her dream of “bouncing around in the different musical worlds of my various sonic influences.”
She then gave an emotional rendition of “All Too Well” similar to the one she performed on saturday night live last November. Swift first released the song in 2012 Red and re-recorded it with previously unreleased lyrics for Red (Taylor’s version).
She first announced Midnights at the MTV VMAs in August, describing it in an article later that night as “a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams”.