Taylor Swift is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished artists currently, with 972 award nominations and 467 wins in her career. These wins include 11 Grammys, 28 MTV awards, and 12 People’s Choice Awards. After 9 studio albums and 2 re-recordings, Taylor is set to release her new album, Midnights, on October 21st. With 4 albums in her discography still needing to be re-recorded and released, fans were shocked when she announced live at the VMA’s that she would be releasing an all-new album.

Blondie is no stranger to dropping hints about upcoming music. In the past, Taylor has always left clues and Easter eggs for fans to speculate about her next move, whether it’s hidden meanings in her lyrics or foreshadowing albums months before release. Midnights is no different, and it has everyone searching for the answers to her newest riddles.

It all started with an announcement after she won the VMA video of the year for her “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” short film. Surprise drops are also something Taylor is familiar with, as her sister albums Folklore and Evermore were both dropped as complete surprises to fans. Senior Anna Ladwig talked about Folklore and what was significant about it. “When Ms. Swift dropped Folklore, I was at home, scrolling through Tik Tok. It came up on my ‘For You’ page because every Swiftie was freaking out.”

We asked what her initial reaction to the surprise drop was to try and get a grasp on what fans thought of it. “The first song I heard from Folklore was ‘Exile,’ I listened to it on repeat but didn’t really enjoy any of the others, even ‘Cardigan.’ Eventually, that poor choice was remedied.” Our final question was if she thinks Midnights will live up to the rest of Taylor’s discography. She told us, “I hope so. Personally, nothing will top Folklore. Evermore has some bops, but the majority of it just doesn’t meet my standards anymore. Folklore raised the bar, and now I can’t lower it. Ms. Swift is on thin ice anyway with her little greenhouse gas incident, so she better pull through.”

After the announcement of Midnights, Taylor was quick to give her fans their first task. Blondie told us to “Meet me at Midnight,” and that we did. That night at midnight, her website revealed the release date, October 21st. This gave fans almost 2 months before the release, which meant the hunt was on. Blondie slowly started dropping hints, including 4 vinyl pressings of the album. At first, it seemed like a normal merch drop, but Taylor eventually revealed that the back covers of all 4 pressings put together made a clock. (I did, in fact, buy all 4 because of course I did). After that, the hottest Tik Tok series dropped. “Midnights Mayhem with Me” dropped on September 22nd, just 1 month before the album’s release. Taylor stated that she would use an old-style bingo cage to randomly announce a track on the album. After coincidentally rolling a 13, her lucky number, she announced the track would be called “Mastermind.” Other tracks announced include “Question…?,” “Midnight Rain,” and “Maroon.”