With her new concept album Midnights mere days removed from its multi-chaptered release, Taylor Swift has already given fans a pair of videos to further bring these new songs to life.
The latest example of this is the video for “Bejeweled,” directed by Swift. The video, released overnight on Monday, sees Swift enlisting a number of fellow artists and friends to step in for cameo appearances, Haim and Laura Dern among them.
Speaking about the latest Midnights video during an extended appearance on Monday’s Tonight Show, Swift said she wanted the “Anti-Hero” follow-up to serve as “a little twist” on the classic Cinderella story. She also praised her cast, including “one of the most iconic performers” Dita Von Teese, as well as let fans know there is indeed “a psychotic amount” of Easter eggs throughout the video. In fact, Swift said, she has “a PDF file for the Easter eggs in this video” because she couldn’t keep track otherwise.
Elsewhere, Swift reflected on the unique challenges brought on by Midnights, particularly its status as her first “directly autobiographical album” in several years.
‘It’s actually, it’s a concept record, but it’s my first directly autobiographical album in a while because the last album that I put out was a re-record of my album Red,” Swift told host Jimmy Fallon. “So that has some space, you know. I wrote that stuff a decade ago. Folklore and Evermore, it was like story time. It was mythology. … I’m feeling overwhelmed by the fans’ love for the record. I’m also feeling very soft and fragile. The two can exist at once.”
Swift also dove into a reflection on how her writing process has picked up in pace over the past few years, as well as teased potential plans for a return to touring. See more below, including Swift joking about being a “geriatric pop star.”
Midnights is out now. As previously reported, the album (Swift’s 10th) is currently on track for an expectedly massive first week on the charts. Stay tuned.
