It's been less than 12 hours since Taylor Swift's team painted social media orange and ignited the internet into another "new music is coming" inferno.
And now a countdown on the singer's website has tossed a match into a gasoline-drenched fandom. The glittery orange backdrop is counting down to 12:12 a.m. ET on Aug. 12. When Swift releases a new album, it will be her 12th.
The hints kept coming throughout the night as a clip featuring the singer on her boyfriend's podcast landed at 9 p.m.
Swift's marketing team, Taylor Nation, posted a 12-photo carousel earlier this morning of red-orange outfits from the Eras Tour and included one of her and Sabrina Carpenter. The caption read, "Thinking about when she said, 'See you next era....'" with a burning heart emoji.
Shortly before, Swift's boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his podcast "New Heights" shared an image with a silhouette of a mystery guest and a bedazzled orange background. The episode will air Aug. 13, a date that happens to include Swift's favorite number. Her label, Republic Records, liked the post.
Is Taylor Swift going to announce new music on the 'New Heights' podcast? Why fans think so.
Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce have been on a break from the podcast but are coming back for a "very special episode."
In the clip released at 9 p.m. Swift is seated next to Travis Kelce.
"Such a nice color on you," Swift says.
"Yes, I know. It's the color of your eyes, sweetie," Travis responds. "It's why we match so well."
"We're about to do a f***ing podcast," Swift says.
On the first page of her Eras Tour book, Swift shared a photo of her in a red-orange bodysuit next to a letter she ended with the phrase, "See you next era..." In the letter, she said, "There's nothing I hate more than doing what I've always done."
She's never announced an album on a podcast or included a boyfriend when sharing the news.
'We never painted by the numbers'
Kayla Wong is a walking encyclopedia of dates and statistics surrounding Swift. The "Data Swiftie" has been compiling data since the singer released her first, self-titled album in 2016.
"Looking back on how she's made official announcements, I don't consider her first two of debut and 'Fearless,' because in both cases she was talking about them for a while," Wong says over Zoom. "She announced 'Speak Now' on a live stream from Nashville. Same with 'Red.'"
Wong walks through every release. "1989" was a livestream from New York City. For "Reputation," the singer deleted all of her social media to start again. "Lover" was a livestream. "Folklore" and "Evermore" were surprise announcements on social media, released within 24 hours of her posts. For the rerecord of "Fearless (Taylor's Version)," Swift submitted a video to Good Morning America. "Red (Taylor's Version)" was a social media post six months before the fall release.
Then came her award show announcements. Swift revealed "Midnights" at the Video Music Awards, and "The Tortured Poets Department" at the Grammys. Finally, she announced "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" and "1989 (Taylor's Version)" at stops along her record-shattering Eras Tour.
"The average time between an announcement and release is 66 days," Wong says. "There have been a couple of anomalies, like 'Folklore' and 'Evermore' were one day between the announcement and the drop, and 'Red (Taylor's Version)' had a 147 day gap. But consistently she hits the two month mark."
August seems to be a favored month of the business mogul.
"For four of the albums, she announced in August and released in October," Wong says. "If you count an August announcement only, that has happened five times for 'Red,' '1989,' 'Reputation,' 'Midnights' and '1989 (Taylor's Version).'"
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Taylor Swift's website is counting down. How she announced previous albums
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