The rollout for Taylor Swift‘s seventh album is barely underway, but it’s already been quite the adventure. Along with a fresh Instagram aesthetic, the unrelentingly upbeat lead single “ME!”, and even a new member of her feline family, Swift’s new era is ushering in the return of something we in the media have long been hankering for: new interviews!
The 29-year-old famously refused to do any press during her brooding reputation era, but she’s (thankfully!) ditched that strategy for her next chapter. On Monday (April 29), for example, she called in to the Zach Sang Show for a brief but illuminating chat that touched mostly on album No. 7 and its sparkly lead single.
“It’s always really difficult to pick a first single for my albums, because I try to make an album that’s so vast in its scope of things,” Swift explained. “There isn’t ever just one song that could sum up what the album is. But I knew that [“ME!”] just felt like a celebration. It felt like something that could make you feel good. And I just want that right now for people. I want that for me when I perform it. I want to feel good and feel positive and feel hopeful.”
The radiance and positivity that “ME!” captures isn’t just for happy times, though — Swift explained that she wants it to be an anthem of self-empowerment that’ll inspire people through their ups and their downs.
“I think one thing to always keep tabs on is the fact that we have to know that there is no happily ever after, where we’re just happy forever. … That’s not naturally how we’re going to feel all the time,” she said. “So even in the moments when I’m feeling really, really low, I think it will be helpful when I get to go on stage and play this song and see other people singing it back to me. It’s not just a song that’s for, like, ‘oh, put this on when you feel good about yourself.’ No, put this on when you don’t feel good about yourself, and maybe that will help you.”
Believe it or not, she’s speaking from personal experience. While discussing what keeps things “fresh” for Swift after all these years, she admitted that she doesn’t always feel inspired and happy from making music. As fans recall, there was a three-year gap between 1989 and reputation, and according to Swift, it was because she needed to take time for her mental health.
“It’s not always fresh for me,” she conceded. “There have been times when I’ve needed to take years off because I just felt exhausted or I felt really low or really bad. You never really have the same process making an album. Right now, thankfully, I feel really energized, which I’m feeling really grateful for. It’s not something that I take for granted, that I feel this energized and this excited about this new music.”
Part of what’s keeping her enlivened, she said, is making her album rollout a fun experience for her fervent fanbase. She said that she tried to “go all-out” by packing her “ME!” video with visual effects, symbolism, and easter eggs, including the top-secret title of her next album, which she confirmed is buried somewhere in there. Check out the interview above to hear her talk more about that, collaborating with Brendon Urie, and the “big story” she plans to tell on her forthcoming, mysteriously titled new project. And until then, please keep the interviews coming, Tay!
