Taylor Swift surprised fans by releasing her brand new song “The Archer,” which will be track five on her upcoming album “Lover.”
Swift dropped the new song while doing an Instagram Live on Tuesday. She explained:
[“There’s a vast part of this album that I worked with Jack Antonoff on, he is phenomenal. We’ve worked together for a while and I am so proud of the work we’ve done on this album. I wanted to show you a song that we worked on together. The song is called ‘The Archer’ and I really hope you like it.”]
Taylor revealed some of the Easter Eggs that she’s dropped to tease the song, including the moment in the “You Need to Calm Down” video in which Hayley Kiyoko shot an arrow at the number five and cupids playing in a band during the “Me!” video, and “arrows pretty much everywhere.” Taylor added:
[“It’s not the next single, it’s just a song I love on the album. I know that can be confusing with the songs that come out. I haven’t made a video for it or anything. It’s just a glimpse into another side of the album I wanted to show you.”]
She also said the song is one of the most vulnerable ones on the album. Fans have long theorized that Taylor makes the most emotional song on every album track number five. Past examples include “Delicate,” “Dear John,” “White Horse” and “All You Had to Do Was Stay.”
[“Track 5 is kind of a tradition that really started with you guys because, I didn’t realize that I was doing this, but as I was making albums, I was instinctively putting very vulnerable, personal, honest, emotional songs as track 5.”]
She added that once fans pointed it out, she started doing it deliberately.
Taylor also announced on the live stream that the four deluxe editions of her album – available at Target – will include actual pages from her diaries. The special editions are in honor of Taylor’s 13th year of putting out albums; 13 is Taylor’s favorite number.
Lover, featuring the hits “ME!” and “You Need to Calm Down,” comes out August 23rd.
