{"id":2447917,"date":"2019-08-23T09:49:34","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T15:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=875614"},"modified":"2019-08-23T09:49:34","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T15:49:34","slug":"its-a-taylor-swift-world-and-were-all-forcibly-living-in-it-a-timeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/its-a-taylor-swift-world-and-were-all-forcibly-living-in-it-a-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a Taylor Swift World and We\u2019re All Forcibly Living In It: A Timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Did you know Taylor Swift<\/a> released an album today? If not \u2014 how are things, living as you do under a seven-ton rock inside your mossy cave in Xilitla?<\/p>\n

Swift\u2019s 18-track Lover<\/em> dropped at midnight Thursday, yet the record has been undergoing a months-long slow release \u2013 \u00e0 la the most complexly engineered of drugs \u2013 leading all the way back to the start of the year. Her all-out pre-drop promotion this time around can be attributed, in part, to a sea-change in record-company strategy \u2014 labels\u2019 marketing for new albums these days is \u201call about throwing out content,\u201d Savan Kotecha, a songwriter for the likes of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, recently told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a> \u2014 but the intensity of the social-media campaigns, corporate partnerships, and media teasing makes her stand out even from other mega-watt stars<\/a>. On Wednesday, Republic Records\u2019 chairman and founder Monte Lipman said Lover<\/em> had already sold 1 million copies<\/a> before release. No wonder: Below is only a cursory summation of the tireless carpet-bombing promotion blitz that Swift has employed in the run-up to this moment.<\/p>\n

December 31st:<\/strong> Taylor Swift\u2019s Netflix tour documentary Reputation<\/em> comes out as the capstone to that album\u2019s cycle.<\/p>\n

March 6th:<\/strong> Elle<\/em> Magazine publishes an essay<\/a> detailing Swift\u2019s \u201c30 things she learned before turning 30,\u201d in which the pop star reflects on her career thus far from her shroud of forthcoming-new-album enlightenment.<\/p>\n

March 14th:<\/strong> Swift appears at the iHeartRadio Awards adorned with butterfly motifs and pastel tones, teasing the style we\u2019ll see all over the internet for months to come.<\/p>\n

April 13th:<\/strong> Blinding diamonds, hearts, and the fairly unambiguous \u201c4.26\u201d pepper Swift\u2019s social media.<\/p>\n

April 17th:<\/strong> Swift is featured on the cover of Time<\/em>, somehow bending even the background color of the magazine to cohere with her pastel aesthetic<\/a>, as one of its 100 most influential people in the world.<\/p>\n

April 25th:<\/strong> Swift takes a quick trip to Nashville to pose in front of a massive butterfly mural in a parking lot, which will draw mobs of people for weeks to come. (I personally witnessed 25 people huddling in the rain to await their turn to Instagram the mural in the second week of May). She also announces on ABC that her new single \u201cME!\u201d will drop the next day, featuring Panic! at the Disco\u2019s frontman Brendon Urie.<\/p>\n

April 26th: <\/strong>\u201cME!\u201d drops.<\/p>\n