Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 08/13/2012 at 7:55 PM News

The Popdust Files: taylor swift

Well, when Taylor Swift invites several dozen of her best buddies to a chat in person in Nashville (and over the internet everywhere) and says she’s gonna be revealing some secrets, she certainly doesn’t half-step with the headlines. Not only did Taylor Swift announce some of the details of her new album—her fourth, entitled RED—she also announced the eminent release of the album’s lead single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” out on iTunes later tonight, and debuted the song live for her audience.

First, here’s what we learned about the new album:

• It’ll be out Monday, October 22nd.
• It’s titled RED because it’s mostly about “all pretty much about the tumultuous, crazy, insane, intense, semi-toxic relationships that [Taylor's] experienced in the last two years,” and “there’s nothing beige about that experience.”
• There are 16 songs on the album, not even including bonus tracks, her longest album to date. “I wrote so many songs for this album, and it was really hard to get it down to 16,” explained Taylor, thanking her label for allowing her to be minorly self-indulgent.
• There are a ton of co-writers and producers on the album—”All my songwriting and producing artist heroes,” gushes Taylor—though she’s not revealing who just yet, beyond Ed Sheeran, who she co-wrote a duet with while sitting on a trampoline (of course), and Swedish pop guru Max Martin, somehow the first time the two have worked together.
• There are a lot of songs about specific boyfriends she’s had in the last two years, but again, no names. “I’m not trying not to be too cryptic with it, but I’m also not trying to give it all away,” claims Taylor.

And then, there’s the single:

• The title, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” is also the main hook of the chorus, but despite the title, the song has a very breezy feel to it. In fact, the “We” is song by Taylor as more of a “WHEE-EEEEE!!” and while singing along, fans threw up their hands like they were on a roller-coaster ride.
• As you can probably guess, the song is about a relationship that Taylor swears she’s done with. The whole thing can probably be summed up by the song’s spoken word section (and yes, there’s a spoken word section), in which Taylor relates to a friend, “So he called me and he’s like ‘I still love you’ and I’m like ‘This is exhausting and we are never getting back together…like, ever.’”
• The whole thing has remarkably little to do with country music—unsurprising, considering the direction Taylor’s lead singles have been heading with “Love Story” and “Mine”—and instead just sounds like the best-written Avril Lavigne or Michelle Branch song in at least a half-decade.
• Taylor makes a reference to her ex finding solace in “some indie record that’s much cooler than mine.” Awesome.
• The whole thing is very catchy and fun and it’ll probably be a sizeable hit—just hearing it once, it’s still stuck in our heads an hour later, always the mark of a quality pop song—though it definitely feels very high school, and doesn’t exactly scream “maturity” or “emotional growth” for the now 22-year-old Taylor. (Then again, her new maybe-boyfriend is still actually in high school, so…)

An exciting night for Taylor Swift fans, no doubt. Look for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” on iTunes tonight at midnight—and, in all likelihood, on the top of the iTunes chart tomorrow morning. In the meantime, here’s audio of the song recorded from the live chat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIeaOvcB3kc

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran have done a duet? asdfghjkl this will be perfect.

— harry styles. (@obeynialler) August 13, 2012