Lover is Swift’s seventh album in 13 years.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s hotly anticipated seventh studio album Lover is due out Aug. 23 and we’re here to make sure you’re 100% ready for it. Whether you want to stream or download it, or buy a physical copy (or, you know, do all three), follow our instructions to ensure you’re prepared for launch day (and the YouTube livestream event that precedes it).
Three tracks from the album — ME!, You Need To Calm Down and The Archer — are already out in the world and available to stream. But this Friday will see the arrival of a fourth song, the title track Lover. According to Vogue, which has already heard the track, it’s a “romantic, haunting, waltzy, singer-songwritery nugget: classic Swift.”
A fifth song, The Man, has also been heard by Vogue, and is described by the publication as a “thought experiment” about how Swift’s career (and related adventures and misadventures) would be perceived if she were male.
With the album 18 tracks long, that means there are still a Swiftian 13 songs that we know nothing about, other than that they’ll obviously be lyrical and melodic masterpieces. Do you want to hear them? Of course you do, so use the time between now and then to prepare.
If you’re a Spotify subscriber, the streaming service has a handy tool that lets you automatically pre-save the album and any pre-release singles to your Spotify Library as soon as they become available.
Apple Music has a similar feature that lets you pre-add the album to your library, but if you really want to support the album and you like having your own music, you can also pre-order tracks on iTunes.
Deezer
Deezer subscribers will not be left out of the Lover streaming bonanza. The service will have Swift’s new record, just as it has the rest of her discography.
Lover already has 4.9 stars on the Google Play Store and it’s not even out yet. That’s the power of Taylor for you. You can pre-order the album now so that it will be ready and waiting for you in your downloads on launch day.
We’re only days away from you being able to say: “Alexa, stream Lover by Taylor Swift!” You’ll be able to stream Swift’s new album for free through Amazon Prime Music Unlimited, and listen offline too. Amazon also gives you the option of buying the album as a download or in a physical format.
Deluxe versions
In the age of streaming, you might think you don’t need to buy physical copies of an album. But if you’re a Swiftie you might be missing out if you don’t invest in at least one of the four deluxe versions of Lover.
Each version contains a different set of Taylor’s diary entries, handwritten lyrics and archived photos, along with spare pages for you to add your own journal entries. You’ll also get two bonus audio memos, a poster and a lyric book. Head to Target on launch day to purchase it, or to Swift’s website for more details and merch bundles that include the album.
Launch day partays
The album’s release week will also see a number of special events that you can tune in to from across the US, including a concert live from New York’s Central Park on GMA on Aug. 22, and an exclusive town hall on SiriusXM’s Hits One on Aug. 23.
On Aug. 22, Swift will also be going live on YouTube at 5pm ET (2pm PT, 10pm GMT) to perform a song, take questions, talk with Stella McCartney about their new fashion collaboration and debut a brand new music video.
As if that wasn’t enough, on Aug. 25 Swift will be performing at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her award-nominated videos for ME! and You Need To Calm Down are available on YouTube now.