Entertainment
Taylor's New Single Has a Name!
Her much-anticipated Yahoo Live Stream event isn't until Monday, but we may already know the name of Taylor Swift's new single: "Shake It Off." On Wednesday afternoon, music industry insiders spilled a few details about the new track on Twitter, and some of what we learned will SHOCK you. Well, that might be overstating things just a bit. What we learned might not SHOCK you, per se, but it's definitely surprising!
I've been squawking about new music from Swift for weeks now, so it probably won't come as a shock/surprise/whatever to you that when I first read about "Shake It Off," I hurled my laptop across the room in excitement and immediately began to ugly cry tears of joy. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," the lead single from Swift's last studio album, Red, was released two years ago now. In reality, two years is not a long time to have to wait to hear new music from your favorite artist. Heck, Hilary Duff's poor fans had to wait SEVEN years for her to make her grand musical return! Still, waiting for Swift's new material has been agonizing — bordering on unbearable. But it's almost all over. We made it.
So, what did we learn about Swift's (supposed) new single?
It's a Pop Song With a "Great Message"
Squee! Sorry, country fans, it looks like Swift went the pop route for "Shake It Off." But if you've hung around as a Swift fan this long, chances are you've gotten used to her pop-leaning tendencies by now. What the song's message is all about is still unclear, but I think I have a good guess (we'll get to that in a second).
Taylor Pokes Fun At Herself
Apparently, "Shake It Off" contains the line, "They say I date too much and can't make 'em stay." This is amazing because I'm beyond tired of people slut shaming Swift because she has an active dating life. She's one of the most powerful pop stars in the world right now — OF COURSE SHE'S GOING ON LOTS OF DATES. WOULDN'T YOU BE, TOO? So what, who cares? We should all be so lucky! I hope Swift really lets the haters have it (in a clever way).
It's Not a Love Song!
A tweet that has since been deleted said that "Shake It Off" is NOT, I repeat, NOT a love song. All of Swift's past lead singles have been love songs in some way shape or form, so this is a pretty major departure for her! On the one hand, singing about love is kind of what Swift does best. On the other hand, I think it could be really refreshing to hear her tackle other topics. "Shake It Off" sounds like it could be about "shaking off" what others have to say about us. It's not exactly a fresh concept for pop music, but it is something new for Swift. I'm intrigued...
Who Needs Guitars Anyway?
You read that correctly: Swift's new single either has ZERO guitar in it, or an "insignificant" amount. Now, I consider myself pretty open-minded when it comes to artists experimenting with new sounds, but this seems like it could be a major, major mistake. The guitar is, like, Swift's thing! Horns and the sax have experienced a resurgence in pop music lately (Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty" & "Trumpets," Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop," Ariana Grande's "Problem," Jessie J's "Bang Bang," etc.), so in a way, it makes sense. But it still makes me nervous. But also excited! But also nervous. Ugh, I'm sweating.
The above info confirms the existence of a Swift song called "Shake It Off," but it doesn't necessarily confirm that it's definitely the lead single, or even that it will end up making the album. You never know when a last-minute change could be made! The music industry is tricky like that.
That's all of the details we have so far! Remember to tune in for Swift's Yahoo Live Stream event on Monday, Aug. 18 at 5:00 p.m. EST/4:00 p.m. CST/2:00 p.m. PST.
