Taylor Swift fans, the time has finally come - the new album is coming.

In true Taylor Swift fashion, she took to Instagram Live to reveal her new album, speaking directly to her fans as she addressed various rumours and theories about the new music. Her new single You Need to Calm Down, which she released to mark her album announcement, has already been praised for its recognition of the LGBTQ+ community – and the singer has been dropping non-stop hints about the single’s video, which is due to be released tomorrow. 

So, let’s take a look at what we know about Taylor Swift’s new album so far…

The palm tree photo on Swift’s Instagram, which was the first big clue, came in February and fan theories have been in overdrive ever since. Swift’s Instagram posts continued to take on a colourful, glossy, bubble-gum aesthetic – a far cry from the dark and moody Reputation days. She then shared a cryptic post about butterflies and wore a pair of Sophia Webster butterfly heels to attend the iHeartRadio Music Awards. This suggested that the butterfly would be the album’s symbol, much like the snake emoji became synonymous with Reputation. 

All signs pointed to a rebirth. Then, she gave us a date.

The popstar shared a countdown on her Instagram stories and wrote 4.26 in all of her social media bios. The figure also appeared on her website homepage and fans even shared photos of billboards in Japan and Australia which advertised the date. Surely, this was her way of telling us that the new album would land on 26 April?

Not quite. What did, in fact, happen on that date was the release of her upbeat, pop-anthem ME!, which also featured Panic! At The Disco front man Brendon Urie. The video, which followed soon after the single’s release, was host to a number of easter eggs and references which fans took delight in decoding on Twitter. 

If this wasn’t enough to convince fans, there were plenty of theories to support the idea that TS7 was incoming. One Swifty shared a post explaining that 4.26 is the same running time of The Story of Us, which is the seventh song on her Speak Now album. Coincidence? We think not. 

And then on an Instagram live on 13 June, Swift made the announcement we’d all been waiting for. She revealed that her new album, titled Lover, will be coming on 23 August, and will feature 18 (that’s right, 1-8) songs, more than any other album she’s released. 

She also got in to the details of what the album is like.

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

Indeed, if Swift’s recent feed is anything to go by, we are stepping into a much lighter era – potentially pure pop, maybe a bit of country. Love hearts (obviously) feature a lot in the imagery, which is thought to be a nod to Swift’s two-year relationship with The Favourite actor Joe Alwyn.

There’s also set to be a lot of rainbows: we predict the Taylor Swift x Stella McCartney collection she’s launching to celebrate the release of the new album will be full of them, considering Swift’s currently using her music to campaign for LGBTQ+ rights. 

She also used the Instagram Live to announce her new single, titled You Need to Calm Down, which has already topped the charts in America. The song takes on a variety of topics – including people taking shots at Swift on social media – but perhaps most importantly expresses her support for the LGBTQ+ community. The single comes days after Swift shared a letter she wrote to her senator on Instagram which expresses her support for the Equality Act, a new piece of legislation which could protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in their workplace, in their homes and in schools.

She also took to the stage at iHeartRadio’s Wango Tango concert to mark the start of Pride month on the 1st of June with a similar message – the singer donned a rainbow-covered outfit and encouraged the audience to sign her petition which supports the Equality Act. 

So what’s next for Swift? The highly-anticipated video for You Need to Calm Down is set to be released on Monday morning – and the singer has given fans plenty to be excited about. Since the video was announced she’s been sharing shots from the video on Instagram, which feature icing covered in sprinkles, a rainbow cape and an afternoon-tea set up. 

“I wanted you to hear the song first and then see the video,” Swift told fans during the Instagram Live announcement. “The video is very worth the wait, there’s a lot going on in the video, so I wanted that to be a separate discovery.”

Can Monday morning hurry up please?