Taylor Swift rocked a retro game show vibe — kitschy and sweet — late Tuesday night by revealing the name of a song from her upcoming album “Midnights.”
One. A. A lonely track name.
“Hi. It’s me,” she said in a TikTok video where she sat perfectly perched, legs bent mermaid-like, on a small pouf in front of a crushed velvet curtain. know that I have a habit of dropping cryptic clues and easter eggs when I give you information about new music and I’m not here to deny it. But I’m here to challenge that. Welcome to a new series that I call “Midnights Mayhem With Me”.
Spot the ’70s-style graphics on a title card that reads, appropriately enough, “Midnights Mayhem With Me.”
“I’m going to use this state-of-the-art device,” Swift said, pointing to a small hand-operated golden bingo cage to her right, “to help me allow fate to decide exactly which track titles I’m going to. play, announce and in what order.
Inside the cage were 13 ping pong balls, which she said were labeled 1 through 13, each representing a track from the juggernaut’s upcoming 13-song album.
“So let’s leave that to fate,” said the 32-year-old, who was named Songwriter-Artist of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Assn on Tuesday night. International.
She spun the cage.
“The first track I’m going to tell you about,” she said as a ball fell down the chute, “Track 13!” Then @taylorswift13 from Twitter showed the ball to the camera and intoned, “Because of course.”
(“I’m not convinced they didn’t all say 13,” one person wrote in the comments to the post. “True,” said another. “She’s too funny, I don’t can’t hahahahaja.” Meanwhile, a third growled, “My question is where are the RESTs lmao, I didn’t set an alarm for 1 song.” Oh yes, sir. Yes. You. Did.)
The name of the song? It’s “Mastermind,” which Swift announced in a bright red phone handset that she grabbed off-camera. Oh the mystery. Do we have a spy vibe? Or a “red” atmosphere? An atmosphere of put-your-smartphones-already?
“Midnights” is said to feature the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout Swift’s life. It comes out on October 21. Now the question is, what does “Mastermind” refer to?
It’s time to start interpreting these Easter eggs.
