Taylor Swift Is Back in the Woods Now, Back in the Woods Now, Back in the Woods Now

Nearly a year after releasing her seventh album Lover, Taylor Swift is dropping her new album folklore at midnight. And judging by the promotional materials, it seems like Swift is back in the woods.

“Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening, but there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen. And that thing is my 8th studio album, folklore,” Swift wrote on Instagram. “Surprise Tonight at midnight I’ll be releasing my entire brand new album of songs I’ve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into.”

In addition to her working with her standby producer Jack Antonoff, what’s new in the Swift universe is her collaborating with Bon Iver (who co-wrote and sings on one of the album’s songs) and Aaron Dessner of the rock band the National (who produced 11 of the 16 songs.) The album’s first music video for the song “Cardigan,” produced in quarantine, premieres Thursday night as well.

Those collaborations, and the fact that the promotional materials look like they’ve been ripped straight from a Free People catalog, suggest that folklore won’t be a pop album, but might be a return to a rootsier, country-adjacent sound. Following Reputation, I speculated that Swift would return to her country sound after the inclusion of “New Years Day,” and she sprinkled a little bit of that on Lover with her Chicks collaboration. Will the old Taylor return? Guess we won’t have to wait long to see!