Taylor's Preparing to Make Her Big Comeback

We only have to wait 56 more days (or 8 more weeks) until we're guaranteed to hear new music from Taylor Swift! On Wednesday morning, it was announced that Swift will be performing at the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 19 and 20. That's great news! Wanna hear some even better news? On Wednesday afternoon, iHeartRadio DJ Kristin Cruz revealed on Twitter that Swift will debut "news songs" at the festival ("songs" plural, as in, more than one). Hold up, I need a minute to sit down. New music from Swift is almost upon us!

Remember how I hypothesized last month that Swift's new album would arrive in either October or November, with the lead single premiering in either August or September? This iHeartRadio Music Festival announcement has allowed me to refine my predicted timeline — Swift's new music might be coming sooner than I thought! Allow me to explain...

I don't think Swift is going to debut the lead single from her fifth studio album with a live performance. A successful lead single helps drive album sales, and I doubt Swift wants to risk an iffy live performance being the general public's first impression of her new music (hey, anything can happen when artists perform live!).

That being said, I think we can expect Swift's lead single to be released prior to her first iHeartRadio performance on September 19 — sometime in August seems probable. If Swift's lead single premieres in August, I'm betting that the album will arrive roughly two months later in October (Swift has followed this release pattern for three out of her four past albums).

To review: In light of the news that Swift will be performing new music at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 19 and 20, I am now predicting that her next album will arrive in October, with the lead single premiering in August. Please accept my apologies in advance if I end up being totally and completely wrong on this (but I don't think I am). Unfortunately, I am not a psychic yet (though I have been practicing and hope to be one someday).

Queen Taylor is coming back to dominate the charts AND take over the airwaves once again. I'm ready.