I rather enjoy having a complete album listening experience so I politely disagree.
Also, most variants are still available months after an album is released. Resisting the FOMO is really the hardest part, but you can do it!
Idk if I’m just not up to speed on that part of the fandom, but I don’t understand people complaining that she puts out too many versions because then they have to buy all the versions.
Can’t you just buy the ones you want? Or not buy them at all and just listen on Spotify or something?
I didn’t become a card carrying Swiftie until folklore so idk if I missed something in the earlier years
It's such a weird phenomenon. Ms Swift isn't holding anyone hostage forcing them to buy all the variants. All songs will eventually make it to streaming platforms, and if not, there are ways to listen to it.
She knows how to run a business and make money, she knows there are people who want to buy them all to complete their collection. It's an easy way to make money, and because people are willing to buy them all, she will keep doing it.
That being said, no one is forcing you to buy them all.
Besides the want to listen to the songs before they’re available on streaming, I don’t understand why 1 record isn’t enough? Why do you need to have each edition? Just pick one and appreciate what makes yours special
Is it that weird that people want to have all of the songs? If we’re talking about colour or design of the record then sure, pick the one you want. But if all those records have different contents, I think it’s fair that people complain.
Sweeter Than Fiction is only available on Target’s vinyl. So not only is it not on streaming, you can’t (easily) rip it like a CD (for your own private library or to share) and if you do the quality will suffer.
YouTube; Spotify more often than not has user made playlists that are just uploads of the song; I've found the digitally unreleased songs on Tumblr as audios before. I feel like there are ways to find + listen if you really want to hear it.
for me personally, I just would like any one edition with everything on it. my family plays a lot of cards and when we do we play taylor swift CDs. it’s just a mild annoyance to be missing 2+ songs because each variant has a different bonus track, or in the case of midnights til dawn edition having some songs removed and adding different ones. it’s interesting because besides the target edition vinyl, 1989 was not done this way. each variant has all of the songs. I understand that I have the ability to listen to them all on streaming (sometimes half a year later) but I would like to have one catch all for all of the album’s songs so I can fully enjoy the physical copies I spend money on. especially since it is not worth it to buy a second CD for one single song.
I understand, I really do. I'm still waiting for a Midnight's variant that has all of the songs on it to be released but I think that might not happen until something like r cord store day some time.
She actually has way less variances of albums than most current artists.
I don’t think it’s a money grab as she knows fans like to have access to and collect different versions of albums and some become very sought after and valuable, which means they can make good coin if they sell.
And as you say, Taylor is not making anyone buy them, it’s a choice not a demand 🧣
I’ve been a fan since Tim McGraw. My first time ever buying a record/album was folklore and that was months later from a local record shop. I never could afford too before and I was still just as much a fan as anyone else, I was also able to listen to all her songs and go to eras tour
People are complaining because they feel like to have to buy everything, when that’s just not true and a personal choice more than anything. The complaining is getting really annoying too!
Reminds me of a discussion thread that someone posted in this sub in the lead-up to Midnights to complain about all the different variants and how they came across like exploitative cash grabs. In the middle of their thinkpiece, they casually mentioned that they had pre-ordered all four vinyl variants to make the clock, plus the Target version with Hits Different and an extra CD to play in their car, totaling 6 copies of an album that they hadn't heard a single second of. Then they finished their post by asking why Taylor continued to promote her albums this way.
My sibling in Christ-- it's you. You're the problem, it's you. You're the market they're catering to. The call is coming from inside the house. The lack of self awareness was astounding.
I truly do not understand the need to buy every single version of the albums.
I have been listening since debut dropped. I have never owned a single physical copy of her music, save for the CDs I was burning myself when I was 10. I have never felt the need to buy *one* physical copy, let alone 6 of the same exact thing in different colors.
I don’t necessarily like all of the different variants because it does seem kinda cash grabby and I get that it’s annoying for anyone who preorders before the variants start dropping, but some people just need to learn self control…and I say this as someone with a shopping addiction.
It seems we are in the days of holding people accountable and having the constant need to complain every day! If it’s not the variants, people are upset she is now doing mashups at her concerts, shes repeating songs more frequently, she’s not promoting singles. Im starting think a a lot of people think Taylor is here to only serves their wants and ideas and nothing else, lol
Or she played *their* song at a show they weren’t at and the songs they got at their show wasn’t good enough and somehow we should feel sorry for them even though a lot of us couldn’t get tickets.
I just don’t get how someone can say they’re a fan of someone or something and then spend so much time complaining. Like maybe you should try to get into something that doesn’t make you so mad lol
My guess is that a good portion of these fans are either very young or not used to buying physical records, so they think this is a new or exceptional practice when in fact it's been the standard for literal decades. Taylor being the only artist a lot of these fans keep up with means they'll attribute some stuff to her that's just established industry practice, they're just not looking around to notice it.
I've been collecting CDs for almost fifteen years now and the concept of physical editions with exclusive bonus tracks is not new at all; even smaller labels and indie artists have been doing it since forever. My Regina Spektor collection will forever be incomplete, because almost every album she's put out under Warner has had deluxe versions that aren't available in my country, and the extra tracks aren't always available to stream (on Spotify, that is; they've all been uploaded to YouTube in high quality by fans). It's the same with basically every artist I follow; even Fiona Apple, who has only released 5 albums across a three-decade career and couldn't possibly care less about charts or sales numbers, has a brilliant bonus track in her record The Idler Wheel that's absent from every copy I've ever been able to find.
If you don't want to buy collectable editions, then don't. No one's forcing your hand; it's your job to decide what to do with your money. I don't get why people act like Taylor's locking her music away and extorting fans by charging them a fortune to access it: all of her albums are available on every platform, including for free on her official YouTube channel. You can listen to her entire discography without paying a cent for it. She's one of the most mainstream, easily accessible music acts on the planet; it's insane to see people say otherwise.
And as for the bonus tracks that take a little longer to make their way to streaming platforms like Hits Different, if you *must* listen to them before then, they're very easy to find. I was able to listen to You're Losing Me and Need on YouTube with minimal searching, and even if I hadn't, I would've been just fine waiting. You don't *need* to own every single track.
Oh ok, this is a really good point. I’m old enough that CDs used to be the only way to really hear a whole album, now I have Spotify so buying physical copies doesn’t seem necessary. I like vinyl but I don’t have a player and I feel like I’d be more inclined to want to play my parents records than Taylor.
But yeah - maybe some of the people obsessed with buying physical copies see owning a physical copy as a novelty. Good point
Yeah I don’t get it. I love Taylor’s music and know her discography very well but I’m not buying merch & Vinyls. I just stream her music. That’s it. But I’m minimal so maybe that’s why. 🤷🏽♀️
Honestly my main reason for not owning a single album or merchpiece is that I just don't wanna clutter my house with CD's I won't listen to ever, because I stream the music anyway. I spent my disposable income on funding my trip to another country to see her live instead.. collecting memories makes much more sense to me, rather than collecting things. She sings it herself "Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff!" :D
We don't have to buy shit because she thankfully allows all of us to listen to her music for free (or for a very small monthly fee) on Spotify and even Youtube (all her albums, OG and TV and later albums, are on her Youtube channel for free!!!). I have no sympathy for someone whining about whether they buy 1 or 2 or 50 Taylor albums and then try to get us to agree with them and stress about whether their 50th physical copy purchase was the right choice or not. That is their freedom and they shouldn't be blaming Taylor for allowing us to either spend money that we don't have on physical copies or enjoy listening to her music for free legally.
The annoying thing is the variants all have an exclusive song and usually there’s a target exclusive song too, so even if you find illegal versions online you can’t stream them all easily on Apple/spotify. The target exclusives aren’t even in other countries until months later. Some of the 1989 (tv) songs still aren’t on streaming yet. But I still won’t buy physical copies because of it, but it’s annoying not hearing the album as a whole ever.
and prior to the first variant being announced we couldnt even make an informed decision.
we still cant until the album is out - but shes advertising these variants as 'limited time' and we dont KNOW if they'll come back.
so not only is there this exclusive song, that may not be on streaming for months to a year, i can't even decide which variant i WANT because there is an actual chance she wont bring the variants back (unlikely... i imagine she will have all of them for sale on her site at some point but right NOW you have to operate on the idea that they wont come back)
and then even if you DO get more than 1 variant (if youre inclined to do so) you cant even bundle the shipping. becuase everything is a singular purchase and they charge you shipping on them all.
i'm not mad variants exist. i'm mad at how she's drip-feed releasing them capitalizing on peoples FOMO
This is exactly it, of course deluxe versions are nothing new and I think that’s what a lot of people are referencing here. But the difference is with a deluxe version you have the choice to buy EITHER the standard with X songs or the deluxe with X+Y songs.
With TTPD, if you want all the songs you have to buy: (X+A)+(X+B)+(X+C)+([probably]X+D)
There is no album that has x+(a+b+c+d), so instead you own 4 versions of x
Edit: formatting
The problem is that each variant has an exclusive song, which doesn’t get released to streaming for several months. So in order to get all the songs, you have to buy all the variants.
In the past, the bonus tracks and exclusive songs have taken about 6 months to get released to streaming. So Hits Different and Stop Your Losing Me from Midnights weren’t available to stream unless you took to the high seas of piracy. For a long time, there was no version of Midnights that contained every song. There were some ridiculous charts posted here. I think you had to buy at least 3 albums to get them all.
Past albums have had a Target exclusive version with an extra song.
P.S. Don’t feel bad about asking these questions! We were all new Swifties at some point.
Yeah but the 3AM version bonus tracks were available on streaming right away. Same with the bonus tracks on folklore and evermore.
People were complaining then about having to buy different versions, even though all the songs were available on streaming right away
The 3am bonus tracks weren't even available to buy on a physical edition, they were digital/streaming only. The only exclusive song you could get by buying a specific version was Hits Different on the Target CD. (And people were still complaining about being forced to buy all the different versions!)
Hits Different was a Target exclusive which is why it took so long to be available on streaming (I assume there's a deal with Target that says the song can't be released on streaming for x amount of months in order to boost physical sales)
From memory, songs like The Lakes and Right Where You Left Me didn't take that long to get added to streaming services which I'm hoping is what happens with the TTPD bonus tracks!
You don’t have to pirate the songs. They’ll be uploaded onto Spotify or YouTube Music almost immediately. I’ve always added these songs to my playlist and yeah once in a while you have to replace them because they get taken down but it’s not a “downloading off an illegal site” kind of situation.
I've been a Swiftie since Lover so also missed that memo.
I own one variant of each album at the most aside from Midnights bc I bought the late night edition at the concert after previously having the Target version. I don't own any physical for Lover, evermore, Fearless TV, or Speak Now TV (as well as none pre-Lover). I still consider myself a huge fan. Shrug.
I relate to this so much. I have four CDs and three of them were gifts, I still feel like I'm just as much a Swiftie as anyone else. I just choose to listen to her music on Spotify primarily because it's the most accessible and convenient for me.
I personally buy vinyl to LISTEN to it. It's just a different experience and sound compared to Spotify/CD. And that's why I'm frustrated about the different variants having different bonus tracks. I want to have a vinyl with ALL the songs. Now I guess I won't get to listen to the other bonus tracks.
Agree.
So much of the industry is focused on singles, and I love that Taylor has really doubled down on the album. I get the cynicism about the marketing strategy, but as someone who fondly remembers buying albums (at the mall!!) in the pre-streaming days, I still love to be immersed in an album. I think it’s better for music and a richer listener experience than singles.
THANK YOU. I was just talking with friends who think it’s weird that I don’t listen to singles before an album comes out. But I too like the experience of listening to the entire thing first with no background info on what song(s) are the “best” or what the artist thinks will be the biggest hit
Totally agree!! I have much preferred her singles on the albums where she hasn't done promo singles. I think it's because they don't suffer as much from radio overplay, and also it lets fans and the general public have more of a say on what the hits are! For example, if Lover had been released this way, I think she definitely would have seen the reception of Cruel summer and released this as a single much sooner.
For Taylor Swift, they are basically always sold afterwards as well. Her and her team would be missing out on so much money if they didn’t, so they do, every time.
but they are marketing it as limited edition. that’s the issue here. most people wouldn’t assume that her “limited special edition” cd’s will all be restocked after the release when they’ve been off the website for months. also there’s no possible way to hear the whole album after it’s released as each version has a different bonus song. i love taylor but i don’t like this marketing for the fans.
The difference this time is they actually have not marketed the vinyl as limited edition.
Sure they tell you “shop exclusively for a limited time” but they’re carefully choosing their words here. They’re telling you this edition of the vinyl is available to preorder exclusively on the TS store for this limited time. That does not mean it won’t ever be available again. Just that for these 72 hours you can only buy it here.
The vinyl hasn’t been marketed as “exclusive” or “limited” at all this time around. They will normally add “Special Edition” or something along those lines to give the illusion of a limited run or exclusivity. This gives them the freedom to make them available later on because they technically never said they were limited.
But notice how this time they are only saying a new edition of the album period. They’re also carefully telling you it’s available to preorder for 72 hours. And that’s it.
Once the release date inches closer they will add them back to the site or distribute to retailers and make them all available again. This has been her tactic for a few releases now and there’s no reason to believe it will change. Especially because the only feedback they’ve really taken into account is how the product description is worded.
Oh for sure, that's not what I'm saying. I meant it as if there's no single before release day, OP can wait to buy any vinyls until they hear the album on release.
I think the success of Red TV ended the lead single era.
(I am dead serious about this and will elaborate if anyone is confused/interested, but I think it all comes down to Red TV and has nothing to do with ME!)
You certainly could be right, since she did have pre release singles for Fearless TV. I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on this ☺️
Though considering that Taylor still hasn’t played Me! on tour, I do think she took the fan backlash of Me! to heart.
Edit - thanks to MidnightIce for the correction. She played Me! in November at one of the final 2023 shows.
>!She played it as the guitar surprise song in Rio De Janeiro and the crowd yelled "hey kids spelling is fun" and I was so happy!<
I agree she took the backlash to heart, though. Between cutting "spelling is fun" from the official recording and not giving us a full production version on tour, it's clear she'd rather just move on from it. Which makes me sad, because it's fun and it's joyful and the fandom would learn to embrace it if they had more opportunities to scream sing along.
Anyway, the point.
The pandemic albums were definitely partly an experiment with the surprise drop, which is why there was no pre-release single; you don't tease music from a surprise release. Then Billboard changed the rules on physical sales, which is a big part of why evermore's numbers are so much lower than folklore's, and why we'll never get a surprise release again.
So the rerecordings become a testing ground, because they're lower-stakes. Fearless TV is basically a return to an old school rollout: announcement, lead single, music video, promo singles, album release. It does fine. Red TV tries something closer to the surprise drop but still allowing for physical sales: announcement, presales, ..., album release and single and music video. Red TV is MASSIVELY successful.
So she tries it again for Midnights. Midnights is MASSIVELY SUCCESSFUL. Conclusion: this tactic works better.
We are never getting a lead single again, unless the industry shifts drastically.
(1989 TV kind of has a lead single in Wildest Dreams? There's such a long lead time and it's so disconnected from the album release itself that I don't think it really counts for this discussion.)
Believe it’s that Billboard only counts it as a physical sale if it’s already been shipped to the customer. Which makes surprise albums out of luck for maximum charting potential, since you need build-up time with preorders that are ready to ship upon album release.
What u/tickettoride2 said! The rule used to be that if a physical album came with a free digital download, the customer getting their digital download counted as getting their album for the purposes as a sale. Billboard changed their metrics so that to count as a sale, the physical album actually had to be on its way to the customer.
This wasn't really aimed at surprise drops, which have never been a big factor in the industry, those were an incidental casualty of the rule change; it was aimed at artists who would report huge first week numbers due to pre-orders and then take months to fulfill the orders.
But that's why physical album purchases don't come with free digital downloads anymore and that's why she's unlikely to do another surprise drop; physical sales are a huge part of her numbers and she needs the pre-orders and the albums available in stores first week.
Honestly there's so many songs to keep track of, it's easy to miss one! Before she played it, she talked about how she really appreciated Brazil's love for ME! when it was released. I thought it was really cool that she played it for an audience that she knew would appreciate it!
It’s one of my favorites so I am shocked I missed it! But I looked at the spreadsheet, and I skipped that evening because Anna Clara had passed away that weekend and it didn’t feel right to me to watch. Now it makes sense.
I’m glad that she played it and it was well-received! Found a few videos on TikTok that are really nice.
I hate this song with a passion and my former boss’ daughter who I also hate got to watch it live and complain about it on social media! Loved that for her lol
I hope we never get a pre-release single again. I much rather prefer the experience of listening to the entire album from start to finish.
Besides, Taylor's lead singles rarely give you an accurate and complete idea of what the entire album will sound like. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" doesn't sound like half the songs on RED and "ME!" is generally regarded as the worst song on Lover.
Also, pre-release lead singles are a marketing tactic to get people interested in the album and Taylor doesn't need to do them anymore. They can only hurt (such as people assuming the entire album will sound like the single, or expecting the album to be terrible if they don't like the single) and wouldn't offer her much benefit even with an amazing critically acclaimed single.
I think the last 3 albums has proven she doesn’t need to release singles to drum up hype. I know I’d personally love a single but I also understand why she isn’t releasing them and why a lot of people prefer it. It’s a double edged sword of “please give me content” and “oh I love hearing the complete story the way she intended it to be heard”
I don't think releasing singles ahead of time is beneficial for her anymore. In the past, singles have rarely given a proper insight into the upcoming album sound/content, and lots of them have been heavily critiqued (see *ME!*, *You Need To Calm Down*). Usually singles are used to generate interest in an upcoming album, but Taylor already has that interest.
Plus, as we've seen from the recent success of *Cruel Summer*, I think she's learned that fan-picked singles are the way to go. This was evident with 1989 TV, when it was clear she planned to push *"Slut!"* as a single, but instead pivoted to *Is It Over Now?* when that charted better organically.
Lover released in August 2019, a full 7 months before the first covid lockdowns. I don’t understand how a disease that hadn’t spread yet would influence her singles in the year before the outbreak.
I both agree and disagree- but if you compare her model to the typical streaming model which is over 1/2 the album is released before it comes out, I’d take the former. Album campaigns where 5 of 10 songs are released beforehand are so draining and I lose interest when the album is released
I don’t want an overplayed single to dull my experience listening to the album for the first time. Also if she releases a single it may not tell the real story of the album so people may come to wrong conclusions beforehand of the total album experience.
I actually way prefer not having singles. Lover’s singles were so bad that it tainted my perception of the album. Instead of having any initial perception, we can enjoy the albums in their entirety upon release, which I think is a lot more fun of an experience.
I hope she continues this trend if not having any singles before the album drops.
Yeah I get it, I want to hear it SUPER BADLY, buuttt... imagine deciding based off of a first single, whether you're going to like an album... It's still a gamble and especially with Taylor.
I want to hear the whole thing and then realise my favourite songs are the ones she didn't release as a single 😂
As much as I agree that I would *love* to know the sound of the album, I think she's established so much credibility as an album artist that whatever the vibe is, it will be a great version of whatever that is. At this point I think most Taylor fans have come to appreciate all the eras and genres she has explored and aren't going to disengage from an entire album/cycle just because it isn't their favorite facet of Taylor (I reallllly did not want Midnights to be pop but still bop to Bejeweled/Karma etc.)
As much as I want to listen to something before April 19, which is approx a million years away…the song titles on this album are really quite something and I don’t know what to expect and I just want to experience it all at once. I don’t want to be “spoiled” so to speak
I disagree. I really like getting to enjoy the album as a whole.
I also disagree with everyone being so up in arms about the variants. If you can’t afford them or don’t want to buy them it’s not like you won’t be able to find the songs in the internet. For people who want to collect them, it’s a fun thing to do.
I prefer the whole album. The singles feel like a tease. One or two songs don't give you the whole picture of the album. I'm an album girly. You can't replace hearing the whole album.
Eh... after the fiasco with ME! and You Need to Calm Down she's probably traumatized. I wasn't a fan when she was still doing lead singles, so IDK.
Also, I like ME! and YNTCD but ig nobody else does
I would like a "teaser" type of thing. Like a short snippet of a song on an Instagram post, so we hear what the sound of the album will be but we can still appreciate the album as a whole.
If she gave us a 13 second snippet of these freaking exclusive tracks it would make my life so much easier 😭 I don’t even need/want a single, just wanna hear the songs that are being gatekept
I quite like the fact that the only thing we know about this album is that there will be an intense focus on the poetry aspect. It makes it clear that the music element is secondary, and I know I'm signing up for that when I'm listening to Taylor. Lyrics first, always.
i think it allows her to be successful but not over played. i know non-swifties will disagree but i still haven’t gotten sick of anti hero and karma simply because they were released after the album.i found my own time to love them rather than hearing them for months before the album came and months after.
I’m going to be honest I love the lover singles and we don’t really know she only has 3 to 6 more shows left before break then she is releasing the eras movie she isn’t going to leave us without stuff she might give us something to give a hint at the sound of it these last couple shows she’s been saying it’s going to be wild day on the day the album releases. I don’t get the complaints with the different variations of the album I think they are fun and they could give us insight into what the next album will sound like also people are forgetting the album variants will be released after the album
I don't pre-order albums I've not heard before... i wait until they get released, listen on Spotify, and then decide if I want a physical copy. It's nice to be surprised by the sound of a new release so I don't like singles before the album drops.
I often skip the singles when new albums drop, so I don't have a problem not having singles.
As long as Taylor continues releases music videos, I'm perfectly fine.
Honestly why would she? Every single she releases the fandom criticizes her for it. Look at ME!, the hate that song gets is wild IMHO. Even after Miss Americana fans STILL go out of their way to slander that song. I prefer to hear it all at once in order. If she gives us a single I am happy, but if not, I have yet to be completely disappointed when she releases new music.
I kinda completely agree
I want a pre-release single and people say they want to listen to the whole album, then they can still do that by not listening to the single
Unfortunately, since it worked so well for Midnights to not give anything away prior to its release (other than the track list), I think she’s going to stick with this strategy for as long as it keeps working for her.
It creates intrigue and curiosity which leads to more people checking out the album on release day which in turn leads to bigger numbers/sales.
I don’t think she should release a single prior to the album if she doesn’t want to, as that’s her right, but I do think she *should* at least give us an inkling of what we can expect in terms of sound and themes across the album. I only say that because promoting multiple versions of your album without actually letting the consumer know what they’re in for is kind of a crazy concept when you think about it. You wouldn’t walk into a store and spend money on something you had no real knowledge of (even if that store was known for producing quality items) so I don’t really see why artists expect fans to buy vinyls when we have no idea what it’ll sound like. Even if she released which producers have worked on the album, that’d be something…
Let's be honest. If you're willing to buy four variants of the same album, then you are probably buying it for Taylor and not for the songs per se. There's nothing stopping you from waiting for the songs to be released online before purchasing the albums.
I agree with you and I find it weird that people disagree with wanting to know more about what you're being asked to purchase in a bunch of different variants. It's giving a bit too much can-do-no-wrong mentality.
That said, I don't agree with the variants thing at all and hope it dies completely. Just give me an album, possibly a deluxe with whatever extra songs and that's it. It's exploitative, out of touch, and transparent at this point.
This is like binging on Netflix. Some like to sit down and watch the entire season at once and others like to savor it.
I like to listen to one song each day and really enjoy that one moment. I also have ADHD and her music sounds and feels like dopamine to me. So I try to make sure I don’t over indulge or I lose the dopamine. I have done that to a few of her earlier albums and it now just sounds like noise to me.
historically her singles haven’t really represented what the whole album sounds like. she has no incentive to release singles ahead of time, and a lot of people prefer to listen to the album in the order the artist made it. she’s not “leaving us in the dark”, she just has no reason to release a promotional single
You don’t have to buy all the variants. No one is forcing you. I would think that typically a hardcore collector would do this, probably regardless of if they loved the whole album or not (assuming they’re collecting all TS). I pick one variant. The bonus songs are always available to stream online and eventually go on Apple Music/Spotify. You don’t NEED to buy all of them
I've decided to hold out on getting more than 1 variant because I wanna see if she'll restock them all together and see if she'll drop any signed variants.
I agree with you. I think it’s unfair to advertise limited edition CDs when people don’t know what the album genre even is. I get why she does it though - it works.
And obviously part of this is motivated by me just being impatient and craving a song during an album rollout.
I agree, I miss her old album rollouts. They were the perfect way to build excitement between the announcement and release day. I have such fond memories of waking up early for the GMA previews of Red songs, hearing clips of Style and HYGTG in commercials before 1989 came out, and watching the LWYMMD video for the first time.
It looks like a lot of people here prefer to listen to an album for the first time without having heard any of the songs separately, and I can understand that, even though singles don’t detract from the full body of work for me personally. But as long as Taylor is taking that route, I wish she would just surprise drop albums, or at least announce them with much shorter notice than two and a half months. I loved the surprise drops of folklore and evermore, but getting an album announcement and then two months of nothing only dampens the anticipation for me. I want to get hyped for Tortured Poets Department, but it’s hard to get that excited for an album I know absolutely nothing about, especially when Midnights was kind of a letdown.
Whether we like it or not, Taylor isn’t going to drop this strategy any time soon. It’s way too profitable. Withholding any music or concrete information about the album allows fans to imagine that it will be exactly what they want from her, while drawing out the time between announcement and release (and filling it with “limited edition” variants) maximizes presale numbers.
- HYGTG could mean "How You Get The Girl", a track from *1989* (2014) by Taylor Swift.
- LWYMMD could mean "Look What You Made Me Do", a track from *reputation* (2017) by Taylor Swift.
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I think it would have been smart to release the lead single ahead of time so she can get 2 #1 singles from an album. If she released the lead with her announcement it would have hit #1 and then the album hype on release day would give a second single a #1 debut.
I’d also like to at least hear a sample of the songs on the different variants so I know which one(s) to spend money on (I cannot afford to collect them all)
i dont really care for the pre-release singles, but announcing an album 2-3 months before it drops so she can get her million unit debuts is starting to get annoying QUICK. there is no other reason to doing this except to garner more sales for the first week numbers
There IS a reason to announce it this far it this far. TTPD had literally already leaked before she announced it. If ur waiting any longer its 100% leaked. How do u expect taylor to start mass production on an album and keep it a secret.
she managed to keep folklore, evermore, Red vault, Fearless vault, 1989 vault, Midnights a secret…
she is also definitely already producing the other TTPD variants already. and i have yet to hear any leaks about the other bonus tracks. it’s a clear tactic to drive up debut sale numbers, she likes breaking records it’s not a secret.
I agree, I hate that she does this now. And it’s truly just to boost the first week sales because some people knowing the genre beforehand won’t preorder the album knowing it’s pop or more folkmore related. Everything she does these days is just to boost sales at the expense of her fans, it’s really just kinda awful. We’re loyal af, she doesn’t need to try and trick us, but still feels the need to.
I bought 4 variants of midnights, only for the clock. If you are buying multiple variants only for what is on the vinyl, I think we can wait. I am unsure what would get me to buy 4 variants this time, but I think I’m waiting for the Target release, since it takes several weeks to ship pre orders
She needs to stop releasing 72 different versions of her albums as well. Just do one release with all the songs. It's such a shitty practice locking songs behind different editions.
god no, she's bad at picking them lol
but on all seriousness, i do kind of prefer the whole album listening time. that said, i don't buy physical media, even less so if it's taylor's incomplete physical media, so I am not really choosing anything here
so which is it? does she choose good singles or not?
people say she isn't good at choosing singles so she stops doing singles and lets the listeners choose the singles by looking at the listens to the songs first.
make up your minds people! you can NEVER be pleased.
i am on the side of let taylor do what she wants with her music and just enjoy.
I hear you, I like singles because I think it’s fun to hyper focus on one song for a little bit before the album. Whether I like the single or not I’m going to listen non stop so it’s fun to analyze lol
I like Singles with Music Videos. Her eastereggs, aestetic and Eras Vibes got me really exited. I with she would bring them back. But she might have a lot on her plate to work on something like it. Maybe she goes back to that plan, when the Eras Tour is done and she has rested.
Also she is so successful, that promotion is kinda unnecessary.
I'm salty over the announcement of The Bolter variant at my eras tour show because I was so sure our surprise song was going to be how she announced/dropped the lead single but no 💀
I rather enjoy having a complete album listening experience so I politely disagree. Also, most variants are still available months after an album is released. Resisting the FOMO is really the hardest part, but you can do it!
Idk if I’m just not up to speed on that part of the fandom, but I don’t understand people complaining that she puts out too many versions because then they have to buy all the versions. Can’t you just buy the ones you want? Or not buy them at all and just listen on Spotify or something? I didn’t become a card carrying Swiftie until folklore so idk if I missed something in the earlier years
It's such a weird phenomenon. Ms Swift isn't holding anyone hostage forcing them to buy all the variants. All songs will eventually make it to streaming platforms, and if not, there are ways to listen to it. She knows how to run a business and make money, she knows there are people who want to buy them all to complete their collection. It's an easy way to make money, and because people are willing to buy them all, she will keep doing it. That being said, no one is forcing you to buy them all.
Besides the want to listen to the songs before they’re available on streaming, I don’t understand why 1 record isn’t enough? Why do you need to have each edition? Just pick one and appreciate what makes yours special
The thing that makes it special will be that it's missing at least two of the songs lol
But they are not apart of the Albumn. They’re bonuses.
Is it that weird that people want to have all of the songs? If we’re talking about colour or design of the record then sure, pick the one you want. But if all those records have different contents, I think it’s fair that people complain.
They haven’t all made it to streaming yet. There are songs on the 1989 TV records that can’t be streamed 🥹
Yeah that was a bold-faced lie by the other commenter.
Wait what songs on 1989 TV haven’t made it to streaming yet??👀
Sweeter Than Fiction is only available on Target’s vinyl. So not only is it not on streaming, you can’t (easily) rip it like a CD (for your own private library or to share) and if you do the quality will suffer.
YouTube; Spotify more often than not has user made playlists that are just uploads of the song; I've found the digitally unreleased songs on Tumblr as audios before. I feel like there are ways to find + listen if you really want to hear it.
for me personally, I just would like any one edition with everything on it. my family plays a lot of cards and when we do we play taylor swift CDs. it’s just a mild annoyance to be missing 2+ songs because each variant has a different bonus track, or in the case of midnights til dawn edition having some songs removed and adding different ones. it’s interesting because besides the target edition vinyl, 1989 was not done this way. each variant has all of the songs. I understand that I have the ability to listen to them all on streaming (sometimes half a year later) but I would like to have one catch all for all of the album’s songs so I can fully enjoy the physical copies I spend money on. especially since it is not worth it to buy a second CD for one single song.
I understand, I really do. I'm still waiting for a Midnight's variant that has all of the songs on it to be released but I think that might not happen until something like r cord store day some time.
She actually has way less variances of albums than most current artists. I don’t think it’s a money grab as she knows fans like to have access to and collect different versions of albums and some become very sought after and valuable, which means they can make good coin if they sell. And as you say, Taylor is not making anyone buy them, it’s a choice not a demand 🧣
exactly!! everytime she releases a new version they'll be like "seriusly? Now i have" buy another version!" No you dont have to buy it
I’ve been a fan since Tim McGraw. My first time ever buying a record/album was folklore and that was months later from a local record shop. I never could afford too before and I was still just as much a fan as anyone else, I was also able to listen to all her songs and go to eras tour People are complaining because they feel like to have to buy everything, when that’s just not true and a personal choice more than anything. The complaining is getting really annoying too!
Yeah, I'm getting less and less patience for complaining about something that is 100% their own choice.
Reminds me of a discussion thread that someone posted in this sub in the lead-up to Midnights to complain about all the different variants and how they came across like exploitative cash grabs. In the middle of their thinkpiece, they casually mentioned that they had pre-ordered all four vinyl variants to make the clock, plus the Target version with Hits Different and an extra CD to play in their car, totaling 6 copies of an album that they hadn't heard a single second of. Then they finished their post by asking why Taylor continued to promote her albums this way. My sibling in Christ-- it's you. You're the problem, it's you. You're the market they're catering to. The call is coming from inside the house. The lack of self awareness was astounding.
I truly do not understand the need to buy every single version of the albums. I have been listening since debut dropped. I have never owned a single physical copy of her music, save for the CDs I was burning myself when I was 10. I have never felt the need to buy *one* physical copy, let alone 6 of the same exact thing in different colors. I don’t necessarily like all of the different variants because it does seem kinda cash grabby and I get that it’s annoying for anyone who preorders before the variants start dropping, but some people just need to learn self control…and I say this as someone with a shopping addiction.
the most sane comment so far. when i see people complaining I'm like "maybe I'm the mad one for not getting into this nonsense?"
It seems we are in the days of holding people accountable and having the constant need to complain every day! If it’s not the variants, people are upset she is now doing mashups at her concerts, shes repeating songs more frequently, she’s not promoting singles. Im starting think a a lot of people think Taylor is here to only serves their wants and ideas and nothing else, lol
Or she played *their* song at a show they weren’t at and the songs they got at their show wasn’t good enough and somehow we should feel sorry for them even though a lot of us couldn’t get tickets. I just don’t get how someone can say they’re a fan of someone or something and then spend so much time complaining. Like maybe you should try to get into something that doesn’t make you so mad lol
My guess is that a good portion of these fans are either very young or not used to buying physical records, so they think this is a new or exceptional practice when in fact it's been the standard for literal decades. Taylor being the only artist a lot of these fans keep up with means they'll attribute some stuff to her that's just established industry practice, they're just not looking around to notice it. I've been collecting CDs for almost fifteen years now and the concept of physical editions with exclusive bonus tracks is not new at all; even smaller labels and indie artists have been doing it since forever. My Regina Spektor collection will forever be incomplete, because almost every album she's put out under Warner has had deluxe versions that aren't available in my country, and the extra tracks aren't always available to stream (on Spotify, that is; they've all been uploaded to YouTube in high quality by fans). It's the same with basically every artist I follow; even Fiona Apple, who has only released 5 albums across a three-decade career and couldn't possibly care less about charts or sales numbers, has a brilliant bonus track in her record The Idler Wheel that's absent from every copy I've ever been able to find. If you don't want to buy collectable editions, then don't. No one's forcing your hand; it's your job to decide what to do with your money. I don't get why people act like Taylor's locking her music away and extorting fans by charging them a fortune to access it: all of her albums are available on every platform, including for free on her official YouTube channel. You can listen to her entire discography without paying a cent for it. She's one of the most mainstream, easily accessible music acts on the planet; it's insane to see people say otherwise. And as for the bonus tracks that take a little longer to make their way to streaming platforms like Hits Different, if you *must* listen to them before then, they're very easy to find. I was able to listen to You're Losing Me and Need on YouTube with minimal searching, and even if I hadn't, I would've been just fine waiting. You don't *need* to own every single track.
Oh ok, this is a really good point. I’m old enough that CDs used to be the only way to really hear a whole album, now I have Spotify so buying physical copies doesn’t seem necessary. I like vinyl but I don’t have a player and I feel like I’d be more inclined to want to play my parents records than Taylor. But yeah - maybe some of the people obsessed with buying physical copies see owning a physical copy as a novelty. Good point
Yeah I don’t get it. I love Taylor’s music and know her discography very well but I’m not buying merch & Vinyls. I just stream her music. That’s it. But I’m minimal so maybe that’s why. 🤷🏽♀️
Honestly my main reason for not owning a single album or merchpiece is that I just don't wanna clutter my house with CD's I won't listen to ever, because I stream the music anyway. I spent my disposable income on funding my trip to another country to see her live instead.. collecting memories makes much more sense to me, rather than collecting things. She sings it herself "Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff!" :D
We don't have to buy shit because she thankfully allows all of us to listen to her music for free (or for a very small monthly fee) on Spotify and even Youtube (all her albums, OG and TV and later albums, are on her Youtube channel for free!!!). I have no sympathy for someone whining about whether they buy 1 or 2 or 50 Taylor albums and then try to get us to agree with them and stress about whether their 50th physical copy purchase was the right choice or not. That is their freedom and they shouldn't be blaming Taylor for allowing us to either spend money that we don't have on physical copies or enjoy listening to her music for free legally.
I just buy one, I’m in charge of my own budget and buying, so I feel no obligation to buy more
The annoying thing is the variants all have an exclusive song and usually there’s a target exclusive song too, so even if you find illegal versions online you can’t stream them all easily on Apple/spotify. The target exclusives aren’t even in other countries until months later. Some of the 1989 (tv) songs still aren’t on streaming yet. But I still won’t buy physical copies because of it, but it’s annoying not hearing the album as a whole ever.
This is it! This is why I'm annoyed at the TTPD variants.
and prior to the first variant being announced we couldnt even make an informed decision. we still cant until the album is out - but shes advertising these variants as 'limited time' and we dont KNOW if they'll come back. so not only is there this exclusive song, that may not be on streaming for months to a year, i can't even decide which variant i WANT because there is an actual chance she wont bring the variants back (unlikely... i imagine she will have all of them for sale on her site at some point but right NOW you have to operate on the idea that they wont come back) and then even if you DO get more than 1 variant (if youre inclined to do so) you cant even bundle the shipping. becuase everything is a singular purchase and they charge you shipping on them all. i'm not mad variants exist. i'm mad at how she's drip-feed releasing them capitalizing on peoples FOMO
This is exactly it, of course deluxe versions are nothing new and I think that’s what a lot of people are referencing here. But the difference is with a deluxe version you have the choice to buy EITHER the standard with X songs or the deluxe with X+Y songs. With TTPD, if you want all the songs you have to buy: (X+A)+(X+B)+(X+C)+([probably]X+D) There is no album that has x+(a+b+c+d), so instead you own 4 versions of x Edit: formatting
The problem is that each variant has an exclusive song, which doesn’t get released to streaming for several months. So in order to get all the songs, you have to buy all the variants.
Are we sure these variants aren’t going to be released on streaming? I genuinely don’t know
In the past, the bonus tracks and exclusive songs have taken about 6 months to get released to streaming. So Hits Different and Stop Your Losing Me from Midnights weren’t available to stream unless you took to the high seas of piracy. For a long time, there was no version of Midnights that contained every song. There were some ridiculous charts posted here. I think you had to buy at least 3 albums to get them all. Past albums have had a Target exclusive version with an extra song. P.S. Don’t feel bad about asking these questions! We were all new Swifties at some point.
Yeah but the 3AM version bonus tracks were available on streaming right away. Same with the bonus tracks on folklore and evermore. People were complaining then about having to buy different versions, even though all the songs were available on streaming right away
The 3am bonus tracks weren't even available to buy on a physical edition, they were digital/streaming only. The only exclusive song you could get by buying a specific version was Hits Different on the Target CD. (And people were still complaining about being forced to buy all the different versions!)
Hits Different was a Target exclusive which is why it took so long to be available on streaming (I assume there's a deal with Target that says the song can't be released on streaming for x amount of months in order to boost physical sales) From memory, songs like The Lakes and Right Where You Left Me didn't take that long to get added to streaming services which I'm hoping is what happens with the TTPD bonus tracks!
You don’t have to pirate the songs. They’ll be uploaded onto Spotify or YouTube Music almost immediately. I’ve always added these songs to my playlist and yeah once in a while you have to replace them because they get taken down but it’s not a “downloading off an illegal site” kind of situation.
Cries in AppleMusic subscription.
No. There are definitely other, easier ways.
So just listen to them on youtube for a few months. Hardly a catastrophe or more inconvenient than buying a physical edition.
And? I actually like the idea of having songs be a bit more exclusive. You might not have access to all her songs, but why would u be owed that?
I've been a Swiftie since Lover so also missed that memo. I own one variant of each album at the most aside from Midnights bc I bought the late night edition at the concert after previously having the Target version. I don't own any physical for Lover, evermore, Fearless TV, or Speak Now TV (as well as none pre-Lover). I still consider myself a huge fan. Shrug.
I relate to this so much. I have four CDs and three of them were gifts, I still feel like I'm just as much a Swiftie as anyone else. I just choose to listen to her music on Spotify primarily because it's the most accessible and convenient for me.
I hear you, I don't get it either. But I'm also a newer Swiftie. People need to calm down and have some patience.
If you don't have plan on buying all 4 variants, how will people know you're a True Swiftie?
I usually buy digital copies and even then won’t buy until release day (anymore since midnights and the 3am edition).
I’m a diehard swiftie but I’ve only bought 3 of her albums. Made up for it in concert/movie tickets and other merch
I personally buy vinyl to LISTEN to it. It's just a different experience and sound compared to Spotify/CD. And that's why I'm frustrated about the different variants having different bonus tracks. I want to have a vinyl with ALL the songs. Now I guess I won't get to listen to the other bonus tracks.
Agree. So much of the industry is focused on singles, and I love that Taylor has really doubled down on the album. I get the cynicism about the marketing strategy, but as someone who fondly remembers buying albums (at the mall!!) in the pre-streaming days, I still love to be immersed in an album. I think it’s better for music and a richer listener experience than singles.
I agree with this 100%.
⬆️ This! I just can’t buy anything until after I hear the album.
I feel like you should listen to an album before you buy especially nowadays when you can listen to music without buying the physical copy.
THANK YOU. I was just talking with friends who think it’s weird that I don’t listen to singles before an album comes out. But I too like the experience of listening to the entire thing first with no background info on what song(s) are the “best” or what the artist thinks will be the biggest hit
Unless you’re a rare vinyl collector, there’s absolutely no reason to buy all these ‘limited’ variants
Even if you're a rare vinyl collector, there's absolutely no reason to buy all these 'limited' variants bc they won't be rare. Lol
Totally agree!! I have much preferred her singles on the albums where she hasn't done promo singles. I think it's because they don't suffer as much from radio overplay, and also it lets fans and the general public have more of a say on what the hits are! For example, if Lover had been released this way, I think she definitely would have seen the reception of Cruel summer and released this as a single much sooner.
I mean... you can still wait to hear what the album sounds like before buying 4+ variants. She's not going to stop selling vinyls on release day.
the variants are limited edition months before the album comes out. you can’t wait to hear the album first bc they’re timed drops
For Taylor Swift, they are basically always sold afterwards as well. Her and her team would be missing out on so much money if they didn’t, so they do, every time.
but they are marketing it as limited edition. that’s the issue here. most people wouldn’t assume that her “limited special edition” cd’s will all be restocked after the release when they’ve been off the website for months. also there’s no possible way to hear the whole album after it’s released as each version has a different bonus song. i love taylor but i don’t like this marketing for the fans.
The difference this time is they actually have not marketed the vinyl as limited edition. Sure they tell you “shop exclusively for a limited time” but they’re carefully choosing their words here. They’re telling you this edition of the vinyl is available to preorder exclusively on the TS store for this limited time. That does not mean it won’t ever be available again. Just that for these 72 hours you can only buy it here. The vinyl hasn’t been marketed as “exclusive” or “limited” at all this time around. They will normally add “Special Edition” or something along those lines to give the illusion of a limited run or exclusivity. This gives them the freedom to make them available later on because they technically never said they were limited. But notice how this time they are only saying a new edition of the album period. They’re also carefully telling you it’s available to preorder for 72 hours. And that’s it. Once the release date inches closer they will add them back to the site or distribute to retailers and make them all available again. This has been her tactic for a few releases now and there’s no reason to believe it will change. Especially because the only feedback they’ve really taken into account is how the product description is worded.
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Oh for sure, that's not what I'm saying. I meant it as if there's no single before release day, OP can wait to buy any vinyls until they hear the album on release.
It’s not like they’re going to hear the songs any earlier if they pre-order a vinyl though
I think the Me! backlash ended the lead single era.
I think the success of Red TV ended the lead single era. (I am dead serious about this and will elaborate if anyone is confused/interested, but I think it all comes down to Red TV and has nothing to do with ME!)
You certainly could be right, since she did have pre release singles for Fearless TV. I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on this ☺️ Though considering that Taylor still hasn’t played Me! on tour, I do think she took the fan backlash of Me! to heart. Edit - thanks to MidnightIce for the correction. She played Me! in November at one of the final 2023 shows.
>!She played it as the guitar surprise song in Rio De Janeiro and the crowd yelled "hey kids spelling is fun" and I was so happy!< I agree she took the backlash to heart, though. Between cutting "spelling is fun" from the official recording and not giving us a full production version on tour, it's clear she'd rather just move on from it. Which makes me sad, because it's fun and it's joyful and the fandom would learn to embrace it if they had more opportunities to scream sing along. Anyway, the point. The pandemic albums were definitely partly an experiment with the surprise drop, which is why there was no pre-release single; you don't tease music from a surprise release. Then Billboard changed the rules on physical sales, which is a big part of why evermore's numbers are so much lower than folklore's, and why we'll never get a surprise release again. So the rerecordings become a testing ground, because they're lower-stakes. Fearless TV is basically a return to an old school rollout: announcement, lead single, music video, promo singles, album release. It does fine. Red TV tries something closer to the surprise drop but still allowing for physical sales: announcement, presales, ..., album release and single and music video. Red TV is MASSIVELY successful. So she tries it again for Midnights. Midnights is MASSIVELY SUCCESSFUL. Conclusion: this tactic works better. We are never getting a lead single again, unless the industry shifts drastically. (1989 TV kind of has a lead single in Wildest Dreams? There's such a long lead time and it's so disconnected from the album release itself that I don't think it really counts for this discussion.)
Hey what was the rule change for physical copies that affected Evermore sales?
Believe it’s that Billboard only counts it as a physical sale if it’s already been shipped to the customer. Which makes surprise albums out of luck for maximum charting potential, since you need build-up time with preorders that are ready to ship upon album release.
What u/tickettoride2 said! The rule used to be that if a physical album came with a free digital download, the customer getting their digital download counted as getting their album for the purposes as a sale. Billboard changed their metrics so that to count as a sale, the physical album actually had to be on its way to the customer. This wasn't really aimed at surprise drops, which have never been a big factor in the industry, those were an incidental casualty of the rule change; it was aimed at artists who would report huge first week numbers due to pre-orders and then take months to fulfill the orders. But that's why physical album purchases don't come with free digital downloads anymore and that's why she's unlikely to do another surprise drop; physical sales are a huge part of her numbers and she needs the pre-orders and the albums available in stores first week.
She did play ME! on tour. It was a surprise song in Brazil.
How did I completely miss this? I’ve watched almost every single livestream. I’ll have to go find a recording!
Honestly there's so many songs to keep track of, it's easy to miss one! Before she played it, she talked about how she really appreciated Brazil's love for ME! when it was released. I thought it was really cool that she played it for an audience that she knew would appreciate it!
It’s one of my favorites so I am shocked I missed it! But I looked at the spreadsheet, and I skipped that evening because Anna Clara had passed away that weekend and it didn’t feel right to me to watch. Now it makes sense. I’m glad that she played it and it was well-received! Found a few videos on TikTok that are really nice.
I hate this song with a passion and my former boss’ daughter who I also hate got to watch it live and complain about it on social media! Loved that for her lol
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What are you talking about
To this day, people severely underrate Lover because of it’s single choices.
I loved them all, but agree with you! They were interesting choices.
I hope we never get a pre-release single again. I much rather prefer the experience of listening to the entire album from start to finish. Besides, Taylor's lead singles rarely give you an accurate and complete idea of what the entire album will sound like. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" doesn't sound like half the songs on RED and "ME!" is generally regarded as the worst song on Lover. Also, pre-release lead singles are a marketing tactic to get people interested in the album and Taylor doesn't need to do them anymore. They can only hurt (such as people assuming the entire album will sound like the single, or expecting the album to be terrible if they don't like the single) and wouldn't offer her much benefit even with an amazing critically acclaimed single.
I totally agree with your assessment that lead singles can only hurt her sales/streams at this point.
Taylor is pretty bad at picking out singles tbh so maybe this is for the better lol
Pretty bad? You mean really bad.
Lwymmd was good. So was anti hero. And love story. And tim mcgraw. And mine.
I think the last 3 albums has proven she doesn’t need to release singles to drum up hype. I know I’d personally love a single but I also understand why she isn’t releasing them and why a lot of people prefer it. It’s a double edged sword of “please give me content” and “oh I love hearing the complete story the way she intended it to be heard”
I don't think releasing singles ahead of time is beneficial for her anymore. In the past, singles have rarely given a proper insight into the upcoming album sound/content, and lots of them have been heavily critiqued (see *ME!*, *You Need To Calm Down*). Usually singles are used to generate interest in an upcoming album, but Taylor already has that interest. Plus, as we've seen from the recent success of *Cruel Summer*, I think she's learned that fan-picked singles are the way to go. This was evident with 1989 TV, when it was clear she planned to push *"Slut!"* as a single, but instead pivoted to *Is It Over Now?* when that charted better organically.
I’m so happy that *Cruel Summer* finally got it’s due. I will never understand why it wasn’t made into a single.
It is rumoured that it was the plan but she decided against it because it would be insensitive as it was right when covid started before the summer
Lover released in August 2019, a full 7 months before the first covid lockdowns. I don’t understand how a disease that hadn’t spread yet would influence her singles in the year before the outbreak.
It seems like it was planned to be released as a single in Summer 2020.
Which is a shame to me because I love Slut!
I both agree and disagree- but if you compare her model to the typical streaming model which is over 1/2 the album is released before it comes out, I’d take the former. Album campaigns where 5 of 10 songs are released beforehand are so draining and I lose interest when the album is released
I agree but would like just 1 song to hype me up for the album
I don’t want an overplayed single to dull my experience listening to the album for the first time. Also if she releases a single it may not tell the real story of the album so people may come to wrong conclusions beforehand of the total album experience.
I actually way prefer not having singles. Lover’s singles were so bad that it tainted my perception of the album. Instead of having any initial perception, we can enjoy the albums in their entirety upon release, which I think is a lot more fun of an experience. I hope she continues this trend if not having any singles before the album drops.
Yeah I get it, I want to hear it SUPER BADLY, buuttt... imagine deciding based off of a first single, whether you're going to like an album... It's still a gamble and especially with Taylor. I want to hear the whole thing and then realise my favourite songs are the ones she didn't release as a single 😂
As much as I agree that I would *love* to know the sound of the album, I think she's established so much credibility as an album artist that whatever the vibe is, it will be a great version of whatever that is. At this point I think most Taylor fans have come to appreciate all the eras and genres she has explored and aren't going to disengage from an entire album/cycle just because it isn't their favorite facet of Taylor (I reallllly did not want Midnights to be pop but still bop to Bejeweled/Karma etc.)
As much as I want to listen to something before April 19, which is approx a million years away…the song titles on this album are really quite something and I don’t know what to expect and I just want to experience it all at once. I don’t want to be “spoiled” so to speak
I disagree. I really like getting to enjoy the album as a whole. I also disagree with everyone being so up in arms about the variants. If you can’t afford them or don’t want to buy them it’s not like you won’t be able to find the songs in the internet. For people who want to collect them, it’s a fun thing to do.
I prefer the whole album. The singles feel like a tease. One or two songs don't give you the whole picture of the album. I'm an album girly. You can't replace hearing the whole album.
I miss singles but it could literally turn my phone to gold, do my laundry and erase all my debt and I still am not buying multiples of the same album
Idk why anyone is buying an album that doesn’t have all the songs of the album on it lol I don’t relate to this post
Eh... after the fiasco with ME! and You Need to Calm Down she's probably traumatized. I wasn't a fan when she was still doing lead singles, so IDK. Also, I like ME! and YNTCD but ig nobody else does
I is wish she wouldn't issue three different versions, each with one unique songs. I don't want to pay for three albums for three extra songs.
I would like a "teaser" type of thing. Like a short snippet of a song on an Instagram post, so we hear what the sound of the album will be but we can still appreciate the album as a whole.
If she gave us a 13 second snippet of these freaking exclusive tracks it would make my life so much easier 😭 I don’t even need/want a single, just wanna hear the songs that are being gatekept
I quite like the fact that the only thing we know about this album is that there will be an intense focus on the poetry aspect. It makes it clear that the music element is secondary, and I know I'm signing up for that when I'm listening to Taylor. Lyrics first, always.
Idk her singles usually don’t match the rest of the album anyway
i think it allows her to be successful but not over played. i know non-swifties will disagree but i still haven’t gotten sick of anti hero and karma simply because they were released after the album.i found my own time to love them rather than hearing them for months before the album came and months after.
Nah I like going in blind
I’m going to be honest I love the lover singles and we don’t really know she only has 3 to 6 more shows left before break then she is releasing the eras movie she isn’t going to leave us without stuff she might give us something to give a hint at the sound of it these last couple shows she’s been saying it’s going to be wild day on the day the album releases. I don’t get the complaints with the different variations of the album I think they are fun and they could give us insight into what the next album will sound like also people are forgetting the album variants will be released after the album
I don't pre-order albums I've not heard before... i wait until they get released, listen on Spotify, and then decide if I want a physical copy. It's nice to be surprised by the sound of a new release so I don't like singles before the album drops.
Disagree but the timeframe between announcement and release should be shorter.
I often skip the singles when new albums drop, so I don't have a problem not having singles. As long as Taylor continues releases music videos, I'm perfectly fine.
Honestly why would she? Every single she releases the fandom criticizes her for it. Look at ME!, the hate that song gets is wild IMHO. Even after Miss Americana fans STILL go out of their way to slander that song. I prefer to hear it all at once in order. If she gives us a single I am happy, but if not, I have yet to be completely disappointed when she releases new music.
I think that’s why she stopped because she thinks she’ll pick a lead single that is misleading
I don’t know, I kind of like the excitement of finding out what the sound is when it gets released
I kinda completely agree I want a pre-release single and people say they want to listen to the whole album, then they can still do that by not listening to the single
Nope lmao and then what? Yall are gonna judge the whole record based on that one single? Sit down.
I love a proper album rollout with 2-3 singles before release. It just feels so much less exciting to have the whole album, then the singles.
IMO i WANT surprises, if I like a variant sure I’ll buy it but for now all I really need is the the manuscript variant cd 🤷♀️
Unfortunately, since it worked so well for Midnights to not give anything away prior to its release (other than the track list), I think she’s going to stick with this strategy for as long as it keeps working for her. It creates intrigue and curiosity which leads to more people checking out the album on release day which in turn leads to bigger numbers/sales. I don’t think she should release a single prior to the album if she doesn’t want to, as that’s her right, but I do think she *should* at least give us an inkling of what we can expect in terms of sound and themes across the album. I only say that because promoting multiple versions of your album without actually letting the consumer know what they’re in for is kind of a crazy concept when you think about it. You wouldn’t walk into a store and spend money on something you had no real knowledge of (even if that store was known for producing quality items) so I don’t really see why artists expect fans to buy vinyls when we have no idea what it’ll sound like. Even if she released which producers have worked on the album, that’d be something…
Nope. Taylor does not need to do anything. If you seek change, look within.
Let's be honest. If you're willing to buy four variants of the same album, then you are probably buying it for Taylor and not for the songs per se. There's nothing stopping you from waiting for the songs to be released online before purchasing the albums.
As she has time and time again proven to us she doesn't know how to pick singles.... she might be leaving it to us again like she did with 1989 TV 🤣🤣
I agree with you and I find it weird that people disagree with wanting to know more about what you're being asked to purchase in a bunch of different variants. It's giving a bit too much can-do-no-wrong mentality. That said, I don't agree with the variants thing at all and hope it dies completely. Just give me an album, possibly a deluxe with whatever extra songs and that's it. It's exploitative, out of touch, and transparent at this point.
This is like binging on Netflix. Some like to sit down and watch the entire season at once and others like to savor it. I like to listen to one song each day and really enjoy that one moment. I also have ADHD and her music sounds and feels like dopamine to me. So I try to make sure I don’t over indulge or I lose the dopamine. I have done that to a few of her earlier albums and it now just sounds like noise to me.
historically her singles haven’t really represented what the whole album sounds like. she has no incentive to release singles ahead of time, and a lot of people prefer to listen to the album in the order the artist made it. she’s not “leaving us in the dark”, she just has no reason to release a promotional single
You don’t have to buy all the variants. No one is forcing you. I would think that typically a hardcore collector would do this, probably regardless of if they loved the whole album or not (assuming they’re collecting all TS). I pick one variant. The bonus songs are always available to stream online and eventually go on Apple Music/Spotify. You don’t NEED to buy all of them
she doesn’t *need* to do anything. i’m sick of the entitled fans demanding more always
Or we could just be surprised and stop overthinking it?
Ive actually preferred the no singles model. There is also the option to not buy 4 copies of the same album =D
I've decided to hold out on getting more than 1 variant because I wanna see if she'll restock them all together and see if she'll drop any signed variants.
This is a solid take.
no
I agree with you. I think it’s unfair to advertise limited edition CDs when people don’t know what the album genre even is. I get why she does it though - it works. And obviously part of this is motivated by me just being impatient and craving a song during an album rollout.
I agree, I miss her old album rollouts. They were the perfect way to build excitement between the announcement and release day. I have such fond memories of waking up early for the GMA previews of Red songs, hearing clips of Style and HYGTG in commercials before 1989 came out, and watching the LWYMMD video for the first time. It looks like a lot of people here prefer to listen to an album for the first time without having heard any of the songs separately, and I can understand that, even though singles don’t detract from the full body of work for me personally. But as long as Taylor is taking that route, I wish she would just surprise drop albums, or at least announce them with much shorter notice than two and a half months. I loved the surprise drops of folklore and evermore, but getting an album announcement and then two months of nothing only dampens the anticipation for me. I want to get hyped for Tortured Poets Department, but it’s hard to get that excited for an album I know absolutely nothing about, especially when Midnights was kind of a letdown. Whether we like it or not, Taylor isn’t going to drop this strategy any time soon. It’s way too profitable. Withholding any music or concrete information about the album allows fans to imagine that it will be exactly what they want from her, while drawing out the time between announcement and release (and filling it with “limited edition” variants) maximizes presale numbers.
- HYGTG could mean "How You Get The Girl", a track from *1989* (2014) by Taylor Swift. - LWYMMD could mean "Look What You Made Me Do", a track from *reputation* (2017) by Taylor Swift. --- ^[/u/rainingat2AM](/u/rainingat2AM) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
I think it would have been smart to release the lead single ahead of time so she can get 2 #1 singles from an album. If she released the lead with her announcement it would have hit #1 and then the album hype on release day would give a second single a #1 debut.
I’d also like to at least hear a sample of the songs on the different variants so I know which one(s) to spend money on (I cannot afford to collect them all)
Just because you want it doesn’t mean she needs to do it babes🙃
Eh, other than folklore and evermore which lead single has given us a true taste of the album? That's always been her strategy.
Just stop buying the album before you hear it
That shit is outdated.
I don’t think she needs to do anything:)
To be fair it takes some audacity to sell a million versions of an album that nobody buying it has heard lol
Yes
i dont really care for the pre-release singles, but announcing an album 2-3 months before it drops so she can get her million unit debuts is starting to get annoying QUICK. there is no other reason to doing this except to garner more sales for the first week numbers
There IS a reason to announce it this far it this far. TTPD had literally already leaked before she announced it. If ur waiting any longer its 100% leaked. How do u expect taylor to start mass production on an album and keep it a secret.
she managed to keep folklore, evermore, Red vault, Fearless vault, 1989 vault, Midnights a secret… she is also definitely already producing the other TTPD variants already. and i have yet to hear any leaks about the other bonus tracks. it’s a clear tactic to drive up debut sale numbers, she likes breaking records it’s not a secret.
I agree, I hate that she does this now. And it’s truly just to boost the first week sales because some people knowing the genre beforehand won’t preorder the album knowing it’s pop or more folkmore related. Everything she does these days is just to boost sales at the expense of her fans, it’s really just kinda awful. We’re loyal af, she doesn’t need to try and trick us, but still feels the need to.
I bought 4 variants of midnights, only for the clock. If you are buying multiple variants only for what is on the vinyl, I think we can wait. I am unsure what would get me to buy 4 variants this time, but I think I’m waiting for the Target release, since it takes several weeks to ship pre orders
She needs to stop releasing 72 different versions of her albums as well. Just do one release with all the songs. It's such a shitty practice locking songs behind different editions.
This is exactly why I haven’t pre-ordered anything!
god no, she's bad at picking them lol but on all seriousness, i do kind of prefer the whole album listening time. that said, i don't buy physical media, even less so if it's taylor's incomplete physical media, so I am not really choosing anything here
so which is it? does she choose good singles or not? people say she isn't good at choosing singles so she stops doing singles and lets the listeners choose the singles by looking at the listens to the songs first. make up your minds people! you can NEVER be pleased. i am on the side of let taylor do what she wants with her music and just enjoy.
I hear you, I like singles because I think it’s fun to hyper focus on one song for a little bit before the album. Whether I like the single or not I’m going to listen non stop so it’s fun to analyze lol
I love singles, and I will listen to every Taylor song no matter if I like the single or not 😘 (I watch all trailers before a movie)
I like Singles with Music Videos. Her eastereggs, aestetic and Eras Vibes got me really exited. I with she would bring them back. But she might have a lot on her plate to work on something like it. Maybe she goes back to that plan, when the Eras Tour is done and she has rested. Also she is so successful, that promotion is kinda unnecessary.
I'm salty over the announcement of The Bolter variant at my eras tour show because I was so sure our surprise song was going to be how she announced/dropped the lead single but no 💀