Taylor Swift announces new album during historic VMAs speech
Sunday was a big night for Taylor Swift at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, when she became the first artist to win the ceremony’s biggest award, Video of the Year, three times. She also made the biggest headlines on Sunday with her onstage announcement that a new Taylor Swift album is on the way.
Swift, who won video of the year in 2015 for “Bad Blood” and then in 2019 for “You Need to Come Down,” chose another moonperson for “All Too Well: The Short Film” on Sunday. With this, the singer-songwriter made VMA history as the first artist to win Video of the Year with an entirely self-directed clip (she co-directed “You Need to Come Down” with Drew Kersh) and take home the title. Video of the year category with longest entry.
“All to Well,” which clocks in at 10 minutes, also won for best longform video and best direction. (This was Swift’s second Best Director win in the 2020 category for “The Man.”) In her 2022 Video of the Year acceptance speech, Swift noted that she was “overwhelmed by the fact that at first. In VMA history, there are four directors nominated in the Video of the Year category.”
The 10-minute “All To Well” is Swift’s re-recorded version of her 2012 Red Album’s “Taylor Version,” but also remakes her back catalog — a long-term project she launched after Scooter Braun bought and sold the rights to Scooter. Her master recording — Swift is still focusing on new music, of course. So, as the VMAs came to a close on Sunday, she wrapped up her speech by teasing, “I kind of made up my mind that if you were so generous as to give it to us, I thought it would be a fun moment. Just wanted to tell you that my new album is coming out on October 21st. And I will tell you more at midnight…”
An hour later, Swift excitedly announced the arrival of Midnights, her 10th studio album. Describing the record as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life,” she tweeted: “We wake up in love and fear, confusion and tears. We stare at the walls and drink until they don’t speak back. We walk around in our self-made cages and pray that – at this moment – we don’t make some terrible life-altering mistake. It is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey of nightmares and sweet dreams. The floor we speed and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lantern burning and search – hoping that when the clock strikes twelve … we will find ourselves.”
Midnights will be Swift’s first full-length release since her 2020 Grammy-winning companion album Folklore and its companion record, Evermore. Her second new original song in 2021 is “Carolina”, which she wrote for the film “Where the Crawdads Sing”. If that single gets an Academy Award nomination for best song next year, Swift could make awards show history again with a double-nomination: “All Too Well: The Short Film” is eligible for an Oscar. Best Live Action Short category according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The 2022 MTV Music Awards will take place on Sunday, August 28 in Newark, N.J. It took place at the Prudential Center here and was co-hosted by Nicki Minaj, LL Cool J and Jack Harlow. Minaj received the Video Vanguard Award, while the Red Hot Chili Peppers were presented with another lifetime achievement honor, the Global Icon Award. Other performers include K-pop group BLACKPINK, country crooner Kane Brown, Italian glam-rock band Maneskin, emo giants Panic! At the Disco, EDM star Marshmello and Latin sensations Anita, Bad Bunny and J Balvin along with Khalid, Lizzo, Eminem and Snoop Dogg.
