From the release date to her first single here's the low down on Taylor Swift's Reputation album

You ready?

body confidence quotes Taylor Swift
(Image credit: Rex Features)

You ready?

Words by Jadie Troy-Pryde

Taylor Swift has spent the last twelve months laying relatively low. Her reputation was, of course, damaged following various public feuds: there was the one with Kim Kardashian over whether or not she approved Kanye West's Famous lyrics, then Katy Perry spoke out about what really happened between them during a Carpool Karaoke session, and even ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris went on a Twitter rant refusing to become 'someone new [for her] to bury'. Taylor's Instagram was inundated with snake emojis, she broke up with Tom Hiddleston and his horrendous taste in statement beachwear, and it looked like Taylor's sweet girl image was ruined.

For reference, all of this happened within a three month window.

After stepping out of the limelight for the best part of a year, this week she deleted all her social media posts and started releasing teasers for her new album. And what have we learned so far? She's reclaiming the snake, the album is called Reputation and the artwork looks a bit like a newspaper.

Surprise, surprise - it seems that Taylor's new material is going to be about all the events and people that chipped away at her good girl image. Whilst I love Blank Space and Better Than Revenge as much as the next person, we've previously concluded, if Taylor wants to stay relevant she needs to ditch the clapbacks and diss tracks.

Let's hope her sixth studio album does what she does best - catchy pop music that you can belt out in the car/club/shower.

So what do we know about it so far?

Why has Taylor Swift got snakes all over her Instagram?

When Kim K et al publicly turned on Taylor last year, the popstar was inundated with snake emojis on her social media. It wasn't exactly helped by Kim's declaration that it was National Snake Day.

It looks as though Taylor is reclaiming the insult that she's a snake and is capitalising on it for her next album. The three teaser videos show slithering snakes, with one red-eyed serpent even snapping at the camera. Kinda scary. They also crop up in the video for her first single from the album, Look What You Made Me Do.

Is it a metaphor for Taylor shedding her old skin to become the new, evolved singer we're about to see? Has she been inspired by Game of Thrones to become the Mother of Snakes? Hmm, snakey business.

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What is the name of Taylor Swift's new album?

Taylor has gone with Reputation, which immediately smacks of everything that happened to her in the past year with the whole character assassination stuff. Her first single already contains some stinging clapbacks at her haters, which we were all expecting because we know by now that she loves writing about people in her life.

When will Taylor Swift's Reputation album be released?

According to a recent Instagram post, we can expect the full record on November 10. But in the mean time...

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When will Taylor Swift's first single from Reputation be released?

It's already happened! Are you a true Swifty or not?

The first single, Look What You Made Me Do, dropped this week and the video has already racked up millions of views. And look - MORE SNAKES.

Who is Look What You Made Me Do about?

Taylor talks about a long list of enemies in the song, and promises that they'll 'all get theirs' like she did. But is she talking about Kim and Kanye? Katy Perry? Someone else entirely? Well, lets take a closer look...

Is Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West?

Fans seem to think so, thanks to some subtle references to Kimye in the lyrics. Taylor sings: 'I don't like your game, I don't like your tilted stage,' which could be referring to the literal tilted stage that Kanye used on his Saint Pablo tour.

She also includes a phonecall in the song to declare that the old Taylor is dead - and it was a phonecall that started their entire feud.

The artwork that Taylor released this week had fans thinking she'd be coming for Kimye, too. The layered text is in the same font as Kanye's Life of Pablo album, and it has been designed to look very much like columns in the newspaper.

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Is Taylor Swift Look What You Made Me Do about Katy Perry?

Quite possibly - Taylor sings about her enemy having a 'feast', perhaps a nod to Katy's Bon Appetit, and also talks about karma, a word which Katy has bandied about in interviews about the feud as well as in her own diss track, Swish Swish.

It's also worth pointing out that the MTV VMAs are held this weekend, with many believing that Taylor might make a surprise appearance alongside the show's host - Katy Perry.

Whether the whole album is the diss track everyone's expecting, or something completely different, the proof of Taylor's power is clear - she is still able to create a massive buzz after a year of silence. Hats off to her.

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