Fans started noticing it around 2012’s Red and “All Too Well” Swift later acknowledged the phenomenon in one of her Instagram Lives leading up to the release of Lover, saying, “I didn’t realize I was doing this, but as I was making albums, I guess I was just kind of putting a very vulnerable, personal, honest, emotional song as track five.

Did her nail polish just tell us the name of her firstborn grandchild? She held a phone to the opposite ear in one of her TikTok videos is she running for president? Are there clues for the next rerecorded album hiding in the bingo-ball cage she used to unveil Midnights track titles? With Swift, anything is possible - well, minus a few guarantees: On a new album, Jack Antonoff will be listed as a collaborator (at least since 2013, when they started working together on the single “Sweeter Than Fiction” for the movie One Chance and never looked back), and track five is going to ruin your day in the best way possible.Įarly in Swift’s career, a pattern started to emerge with the fifth song on her albums, denoting the moment where she really, fully gets cathartic.

When Taylor Swift announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, her fans immediately resumed their favorite hobby: parsing everything the pop star does for subtext. Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photos Courtesy of Taylor Swift/YouTube

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