Lover, the album, drops August 23rd. First commentary.

You need to calm down. Okey, we need to calm down.

Here at the Swift Agency, just a guy who assures you JE SUIS CALME, we just received a flood of information via Taylor Swift’s instagram. The new era begins and it’s the Lover Era. Now, I promised myself that I would be honest and upfront with you. There’s some things that I really like. Others I’m not so sure. Now, I remain a fan of the Blonde That Should Really Pick Up The Sparkly Guitar From The Shop, but that doesn’t mean we’re pulling any punches.

First of all, the album is called Lover, which was basically everyone’s top guess. It was my guess, then I thought it was too simple and then I picked it up again for a simple reason. It’s the only thing that looked like a title. This was a case of an entire fandom overthinking something that was in front of us the whole time.

Let’s begin with Taylor’s own description.

This album in tone is very romantic, and not just simply thematically like it’s all love songs or something… Because I think that the idea of something being romantic doesn’t have to be a happy song. I think that you can find romance in loneliness or sadness or going through a conflict or dealing with things in your life. It just kind of looks at those things with a very romantic gaze.

Taylor Swift on Instagram, talking about Lover.

• The album will be released on August 23rd. It’s like the Sparkly Dressed looked at my calendar and picked a weekend after I’m done covering summer festivals and conventions. Unfortunately, my chances to be at the release day/week/weekend are just about zero.
• According to iTunes, the standard album has 18 tracks. ME! is the 16th, which tells a story. It gives me greater hope that ME! bubble-gum-and-candy sound is not the prevalent sound in the album.
• A second single from the album, “You Need To Calm Down”, which is a direct reference to the French convo that T-Swizzle has with Brendon Urie at the start of the ME! video, will drop tonight, June 13, at midnight. We get to hear a different sound of the album, but at 14 it might not necessarily be the defining sound.

• The video for “You Need To Calm Down” will premiere on Good Morning America on Monday, June 17.
• Now for the commercial angle. The album has four deluxe variants available at Target. Each variant will contain 2 songwriting memos, varied original content and a poster that also has several variants. This is a little bit greedy. Sorry, but it is. It’s not new thing or a thing that only Taylor does, but technically you’re this huge star and are releasing 4 different versions of a deluxe… T-Swizzle doesn’t need to rely on that gimmicky way of selling the album several times.
• My advice: Buy the album once, save your money for the tour. Aim for the memories you create by being there, not the ones you purchase from the store.
• The main cover was shot by Valheria Rocha. She’s Colombian. I hope she talked Taylor’s ear off about how she should tour in South America. BECAUSE YOU SHOULD, TAYLOR. OK?
• If you are going to get “You Need To Calm Down” tonight at midnight, you need to make sure not to pre-order Lover first. First buy the track, then pre-order the album so that it counts towards the Hot 100. Or… you could do whatever you want. You are free to make your own choices.

Bonus! Taylor has posted her instagram livestream.

We finally have some new Calendar entries. Yaaas!

• June 13: We learn the TS7 album’s name is Lover. Track 14, “You Need To Calm Down” will release at midnight as the second single.
• June 17: The music video for “You Need To Calm Down” premieres on Good Morning America and then on YouTube.
• August 23: Taylor Swift releases her seventh studio album, Lover.

(Sources: Taylor Swift via Instagram. Featured image and album cover art by Valheria Rocha for Taylor Swift)