The singer released her new album, 'Evermore,' and its lead single on Friday.
Taylor Swift's new album, Evermore, is here -- along with the stunning music video for its lead single, "Willow."
Following in the visual footsteps of her music video for "cardigan" off her folklore album, which came out earlier this year, "Willow" sees Swift following a magical path through her piano and into a fantastical world of wonder.
Featuring fairytale-like scenes of magic, the video follows Swift through different times in life, from childhood to a rustic carnival to a what appears to be a magical coven performing a glowing ritual in a forest.
All the while, she has recurring flirtatious run-ins with a man (played by dancer Taeok Lee) and she follows a glowing, mystical thread that leads her back home, where she's reunited with her mysterious love interest.
The singer directed the "Willow" video herself, sharing on Instagram, "I’m forever grateful to the following creatives who have helped and guided me to be able to direct my own videos: Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, producer Jil Hardin, 1st AD Joe ‘Oz’ Osbourne, Co-1st AD Ev Salomon, Exec Producer Rebecca Skinner, editor Chancler Haynes, set designers Ethan Tobman and Regina Fernandez and visual effects geniuses Grant Miller and David Lebensfeld. Thank you to our medical inspector who made sure every precaution was taken for our safety."
Swift announced the surprise release of Evermore on Thursday morning, sharing with fans that Folklore's "sister record" was born out of continued creative inspiration after the release of her newly GRAMMY-nominated eighth studio album back in July.
"To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs," she wrote on social media. "To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in."
Evermore includes creative collaborations with Jack Antonoff, The National's Aaron Dessner, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, and Swift's boyfriend, Joe Alwyn -- under the pseudonym William Bowery -- all of whom also contributed to Folklore. The album also "welcomed some new (and longtime) friends to our musical kitchen table," including HAIM, and The National, officially.
"I’ve never done this before," Swift wrote. "In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. There was something different with Folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them."
Evermore is out now. See more on Swift in the video below.
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