Swifties only have two days to wait until Taylor Swift comes out Midnights, and the pop star builds anticipation by offering them sparse clues and details to find. This includes cryptic billboards it has started placing in partnership with Spotify in random cities around the world, timed to reveal one word at a time of the new record, always at 12 o’clock sharp.
One of two new lyric reveals was released via a billboard placed in a train station in São Paulo, Brazil, at midnight local time (11 p.m. ET), featuring glowing purple letters and the lyrics : line.”
A second billboard appeared an hour later (12 p.m. ET) on the side of Nashville’s 1720 West End building, displaying the words “Have you ever asked someone to kiss you in a crowded room?”
“Now I’m standing alone in a crowded room… in Nashville,” read a post on the second billboard on Spotify’s official Twitter account, referencing a lyric by Swift. Speak Now track “History of us”.
Swift started hiding Midnights lyrics in plain sight on Monday (October 17), when she and Spotify staged an electronic billboard in the mecca of electronic billboards: Times Square in New York City. At the stroke of midnight, a massive vertical sign at one end of the square lit up with the words “I shouldn’t be left to my own devices”.
Then the singer-songwriter unveiled a billboard in London revealing just five words from a Midnights song: “I polish really well.”
These metropolitan lyrical reveals are just one of the many ways Swift has partnered with Spotify as it rolls out Midnights, his 10th studio album arriving Friday (October 21). The 11-time Grammy winner also shared exclusive videos with her fans via the music streaming service explaining her inspirations for the record; “Self-loathing”, “fantasizing about revenge”, “wondering what could have been” and “falling in love” are the subjects of four of the total five videos that have been uploaded to the Midnights Spotify pre-registration page so far.
Come midnight Thursday morning (October 20), fans could very well have another lyric billboard to ponder – only time will tell. However, it is confirmed that a teaser for Midnights will be released in the third quarter of Thursday night football that same day.
Check out the new Taylor Swift lyrics billboards in Nashville and São Paulo below:
