Taylor Swift's new album evermore has officially arrived and so has the very first music video from the project for her song "willow."
In the "willow" music video, directed by Swift, we see a throwback to the magic piano from her "cardigan" music video, which takes her into a few different worlds as she tries to reunite with her childhood love via a glowing string. In the end, he shows up in the same cabin she returns to in front of her piano.
During the premiere on of the video on YouTube, Taylor wrote in her live chat, "Specific songs from folklore actually helped inspire the worlds you’ll see in this video, and I used a narrative plot device from a lyric on folklore to tell the story."
Elsewhere in the chat, she added of the visual, “You’ve seen my co-star in this video somewhere before. One scene represents how I feel about fame. There’s a scene to represent each season throughout the journey of the video."
Eagle-eyed fans quickly began piecing together which songs connect back to this music video. One fan noticed that the string that Taylor is following in the "willow" music video could be tied to folklore's "invisible string." In fact, Taylor sings in that song, "All along there was some/ Invisible string/ Tying you to me?
And, of course, "willow" begins where "cardigan" left off in front of her magic piano, as noted by this fan:
Evermore is Taylor's ninth album and comes just over four months after the release of folklore, and showcases 15 brand new songs (17 on the deluxe version), including "Willow," as well as features from Bon Iver (who also appeared on folklore), The National, and Haim. And continuing on from folklore, Taylor worked with Jack Antonoff and The National's Aaron Dessner as producers.
A true surprise, Taylor announced evermore the day before its release in a lengthy note to fans on social media. She explained:
"To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. 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. I’ve never done this before. 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."