On the evening of October 20, I was in a convention center hall behind a table working the penultimate college fair of my travel season. As I talked to eager parents and indifferent teenagers about college and what my institution could offer them, the constant thought kept echoing in my mind: “How on earth am I supposed to concentrate on anything right now, knowing that Taylor Swift will release a new album in just a few short hours?” But alas, I trudged through the conversations and made it to the end of the fair. The hall began to clear out. Tables started to get packed up. Suitcases opening, closing, zipping up, and rolling out of the convention center, mine included. 7:30pm. My hotel was just fifteen minutes away. Once at my hotel, I showered, laid out my clothes for the next morning, and packed the remainder of my belongings so that my exit from the hotel the next morning would be a seamless one. I checked the time: 8:55pm – just five minutes away from the most anticipated album of the year. I grabbed my noise-cancelling headphones, turned off the lights, and got into bed. I impatiently scrolled through TikToks to pass the remaining handful of minutes until – 9:00pm: I eagerly opened Spotify to find “Midnights” waiting for me at the top of Taylor’s Spotify profile. I pressed play and began to listen.

Continue reading →