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Brendon Urie and Taylor Swift

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Taylor Swift Delivers New Song "ME!" Featuring Panic! At The Disco's Brendon Urie

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After teasing something new, the pop queen unleashed a dreamy new song and video with some help from Panic!'s frontman
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Apr 26, 2019 - 10:32 am

Look alive, Swifties! Taylor Swift returned today with the surprise release of a new song "ME!" featuring Panic! At The Disco's Brendon Urie.

The song's colorful dreamscape music video is full of retro dance parties, vibrant choreography and even a spelling lesson in the song's bridge. The video concludes with its co-stars dancing beneath the streetlights under a deluge of soft light and bright colors, like a psychedelic take on La La Land.

The new single arrived after Swift dropped several clues to fans before appearing at a mural at The Gulch in Nashville. Swift posted a photo of herself in front of the mural yesterday, via Instagram, which bears the new single's title, writing, “thank you to everyone who showed up, I’ve never been more proud of your FBI level detective skills,” referencing hints she'd dropped in the weeks leading up to the reveal.

Swift's most recent album, 2017's Reputation was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 61st GRAMMY Awards. The popstar also gave her first performance in some time earlier this week, playing a set at Time 100 Gala after being named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world.

Ariana Grande, BTS, Taylor Swift Make Time's Annual "100 Most Influential People" List

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Taylor Swift

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Taylor Swift Plots 2020 World Tour With U.S. Dates For Lover Fest East & West

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Following dates in Europe and South America, Swift will land in the U.S. for Lover Fest East and West, where the pop star will open Los Angeles' brand new stadium
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Sep 17, 2019 - 3:38 pm

Taylor Swift  will be spreading the love in support of her hit album Lover.in 2020, but it may or may not be in a city near you. The GRAMMY winner announced plans for her summer 2020 tour in support of her seventh studio album, including two shows each in Foxborough, Mass. and Los Angeles for Lover Fest East and West respectively as the only four U.S. dates announced so far.

The tour kicks off in Belgium on June 20 and hits festivals in seven European countries before heading to Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 18 then heading to U.S. Swift will then present Lover Fest West with back-to-back Los Angeles July 25 and 26 at the newly named SoFi Stadium. The concerts will serve as the grand opening of the much-anticipated NFL venue. The tour will wrap a double header at Gillette Stadiuim in Foxborough July 31 and Aug 1

"The Lover album is open fields, sunsets, + SUMMER. I want to perform it in a way that feels authentic," she tweeted. "I want to go to some places I haven’t been and play festivals. Where we didn’t have festivals, we made some. Introducing, Lover Fest East + West!" 

Lover was released Aug. 23 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Her sold-out tour for her previous album, 2017's Reputation, was the highest grossing U.S. tour ever, breaking her own record.

Tickets for the new dates go on sale to the general public via Ticketmaster on Oct. 17. 

Taylor Swift on GMA

Taylor Swift performs on GMA

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for ABA

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Taylor Swift To Drop 'Lover' With Collabs From St. Vincent, Dixie Chicks & More

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The GRAMMY-winning pop star teased the new album with a performance of "You Need to Calm Down" and lead single "ME!" on Good Morning America
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Aug 22, 2019 - 1:42 pm

In case you haven't heard, Taylor Swift's seventh studio album, Lover, is dropping tonight at midnight. The newly released tracklist reveals that the pop star collabed with Annie Clark (a.k.a. St. Vincent) the Dixie Chicks, Cautious Clay and more.

To celebrate the 18-track Lover, Swift performed two of its previously released singles, "You Need to Calm Down" and "ME!," along with 1989's "Shake It Off," in Central Park for Good Morning America on Thursday, Aug. 22. On air, she shared this album will be the first of which whose masters she owns outright.

"Something that's very special to me about this album is it's the first one that I will own," Swift said about Lover while sitting down with GMA host Robin Roberts. She also discussed her plan to re-record her first five albums next year, adding, "I think that artists deserve to own their work. I feel very passionately about that."

Watch: Taylor Swift, Katy Perry & More Star In PRIDE-ful "You Need To Calm Down" Video

Earlier this summer, Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine, the label Swift had been signed to until late last year. The deal acquired the rights to the masters from all her recordings with the label. Swift's new deal with Universal/Republic allows her to own her masters, and, as she shared on GMA, her prior contract allows her to re-record her first five albums starting November 2020, which will allow her to gain rights for those recordings.

The new album holds several big collaborations, including the just-released "Cruel Summer," which was co-written by Swift, Clark and Bleachers' Jack Antonoff. It is the first time Swift and Clark, two powerhouse women, have worked together in the studio, although they each worked with Antonoff on their last albums, reputation (on "Look What You Made Me Do" and "New Year's Day") and MASSEDUCTION, respectively.

This time around, Antonoff collaborated with Swift on a majority of the album's tracks, including "London Boy" and "Soon You'll Get Better." The former also features co-writes from Cautious Clay and Mark Anthony Spears, while the latter features vocals from country-pop icons the Dixie Chicks, marking their first new music in 13 years.

More Tay: Taylor Swift & Brandon Urie's "ME!" Breaks YouTube & Vevo's 24 Hour Streaming Records

Lover will be available on all music major music streaming services at midnight tonight. A deluxe edition CD, including copies of handpicked pages of the pop queen's journals from the past 13 years, will also be available on Aug. 23.

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Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

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Taylor Swift Releases Dreamy New 'Lover' Track, "The Archer"

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"There's a lot that's covered emotionally [on 'Lover'], and I really wanted to give you track five before the album came out," the pop heavyweight revealed in an Instagram video
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jul 24, 2019 - 12:51 pm

Taylor Swift has released a third song—"The Archer"—from her forthcoming seventh studio album, Lover. Featuring mythical lyrics and a dream-pop vibe, "The Archer" dropped yesterday evening in an Instagram Live video in which Swift revealed that it's the fifth track (out of 18!) on Lover, and not technically a single. It was produced by fellow GRAMMY winner and past collaborator Jack Antonoff of Fun. and Bleachers.

"The Archer" follows the candy-coated, Brandon Urie-assisted "ME!" and the stand-up-to-the-haters-anthem "You Need to Calm Down." 

More: Watch: Taylor Swift, Katy Perry & More Star In PRIDE-ful "You Need To Calm Down" Video

The 10-time GRAMMY winner shared more details about the new album (transcribed by Elle), due out Aug. 23, during her IG video:

"There's a lot that's covered emotionally [on Lover], and I really wanted to give you track five before the album came out. So track five is kind of a tradition that really started with you guys because I didn't realize I was doing this but…instinctually I was putting a very vulnerable, honest, emotional song as track five," Swift said, adding that "The Archer" offers a different side of the sound fans' will hear on Lover.

"'The Archer' is not the next single. It's just a song I love on the album. I haven't made a video for it or anything. This is just sort of a glimpse into another side of the album I wanted to show you."

She also revealed that the new song isn't the only album track she worked on with Antonoff: "There's a vast part of this album that I worked with Jack Antonoff on. He is phenomenal." They paired up on Swift's last album, 2017's reputation, for "Look What You Made Me Do" and "New Year's Day." He has also lent his production skills on Carly Rae Jepsen's recent album Dedicated and both Lorde and St. Vincent's 2017 GRAMMY-nominated albums, Melodrama and MASSEDUCTION, respectively.

Swift also offered the news that she'll include 110 scanned pages of her journals in the deluxe CD editions of Lover, which she's selected from their pages over the last 13 years, since her self-titled debut LP.

Yesterday, MTV revealed the 2019 VMA nominations, of which Swift is tied with Ariana Grande for most nominations, at 10 each. "You Need To Calm Down," whose star-studded video included the cast of "Queer Eye," RuPaul, Hayley Kiyoko and many more, is up for their main Video Of The Year award.

Watch: Angela Aguilar Covers Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper's "Shallow" For ReImagined

Brandon Urie & Taylor Swift

Brandon Urie & Taylor Swift

Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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Taylor Swift & Brandon Urie's "ME!" Breaks YouTube & Vevo's 24 Hour Streaming Records

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Swift released the track last Fri., April 26, along with a playful candy-colored visual, which she co-directed with fellow GRAMMY winner David Meyers
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
May 2, 2019 - 2:08 pm

GRAMMY-winning pop star Taylor Swift has broken yet another record. Her music video for "ME!," which features Panic! At The Disco's Brendon Urie, now holds Vevo's record as the fastest video to reach the 100 million views.

Via a press release, Vevo revealed the visual hit the 100 million mark in just 79 hours following its release on Fri., April 26. The video replaces Ariana Grande's "thank u, next," which hit the mark in just under four days, following its Nov. 30, 2018 release. Vevo notes that Swift's own "Look What You Made Me Do" previously held the No. 1 spot, following its 2017 release.

More: Taylor Swift Delivers New Song "ME!" Featuring Panic! At The Disco's Brendon Urie

"ME!" also broke Vevo's record for the most views in the first 24 hours, hitting 65.2 million views at that point. That number (all Vevo videos are hosted on now YouTube) also gave Swift the No. 1 spot on YouTube held by a solo artist and a female artist. At the time of this writing, 6 days after its release, the video has earned over 126.9 views.

The candy-colored video has had the Swifties buzzing with excitement, not just for its joy-filled scenes but for all the fun surprises and Easter eggs she hid throughout. Not only is the adorable kitten that Urie gives her in the video now her newest family member, she also hid the otherwise-yet-to-be-revealed name of the album and second single in the video, which she clued fans into the following day on Twitter.

It was directed by Swift and GRAMMY winning video director Dave Meyers, who is known for his stunning music videos, including Travis Scott and Drake's "Sicko Mode," Grande's "God is a woman" and Kendrick Lamar's "HUMBLE.;" which earned them both a GRAMMY for Best Music Video at the 60th GRAMMY Awards.

"Taylor has consistently demonstrated the ability to break records on Vevo. She continues to expand upon a deep history of incredibly striking audio-visual work. Likewise, director Dave Meyers continues a storied career as one of the premier music video directors in our industry. On behalf of the Vevo family, we congratulate Taylor Swift & Republic Records on yet another historic accomplishment," JP Evangelista, SVP of Content, Programing & Marketing at Vevo wrote in the press release.

Swift co-wrote the song with Urie—her first time collaborating with him—and GRAMMY-winning songwriter Joel Little, who earned a win at the 56th GRAMMY Awards for his co-write on Lorde's breakout hit "Royals."

"'ME!' is a song about embracing your individuality, and really celebrating it, and owning it. With a pop song we have the ability to get a melody stuck in people's heads and I just want it to be one that makes them feel better about themselves," Swift said in a recent interview.

Ariana Grande, BTS, Taylor Swift Make Time's Annual "100 Most Influential People" List