Taylor Swift’s New Album: Is There Still Hope for a 2016 Release?

Taylor Swift performed her first and possibly only concert of 2016 at the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix, this past Saturday (October 22). Her return to the stage came on the weekend many fans had anticipated the chart-topping singer to announce the surprise release of her latest album.

The Washington Post’s Emily Yahr theorized that October 23, 2016, would be the big day. As proof, she cited the date’s numbers adding up to thirteen (1+0+2+3+1+6). As fans know, the number holds great significance to Swift, who has popularly declared it her lucky number. Earlier in her career, she would boldly Sharpie it on the back of her hand.

While the reasoning was impressive, the new album did not emerge over the weekend. When Yahr spelled out her reasons to support the theory, she offered November 13 as an alternative drop date. So with that date still on the horizon, hope remains alive.

It has been two years since the release of 1989, Swift’s Grammy Award-winning, debut pop record. Her last single from that album was “New Romantics,” which debuted for radio play back in February.

According to Elle, Swift performed a lot of her older hits at the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix concert. Including “You Belong with Me” and “Fifteen,” tracks from her 2008 record Fearless. She also performed her hits “22” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” from her 2012 album Red. The latter of which, she mashed up with her hit “Bad Blood” from 1989.

Ever since her self-titled debut album in 2006, Swift has released a new record once, every two years. If she does not release one by the end of this year, she will have broken from that tradition.

Given that Swift typically releases a single a significant time ahead of her new album’s release and she has not yet, could indicate a new album is further off than fans are hoping.

Swift had previously hinted that her next album might bow later than usual. Back in October 2015, Swift had told NME in her cover story:

“I think I should take some time off. I think people might need a break from me. I’m going to… I don’t know. Hang out with my friends. Write new music. Maybe not write new music. I don’t know.”

There is still hope for new music by Swift before the sand runs out of 2016’s hourglass. While October has been her usual month to drop new music, she previously released her second album, Fearless, in November.

In fact, Fearless was released on November 11, two days before The Washington Post’s projected “backup” date. It is the first and so far only album of her career to be released in that month.

While the weekend did not provide news of a new Taylor Swift album, it did mark an important occasion. It was the 10th anniversary of Swift’s debut record. Yes, it has been a decade since Swift swept onto the music scene with the album that would launch her career and cement her as one of country music’s top young talents.

Taylor Swift would yield her breakthrough hits “Tim McGraw” and “Teardrops on My Guitar.” Along with “Our Song,” a breakout ditty that would become her first single to reach number one on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

After years of blending a pop sound into her music; Swift officially broke away from country with her first official pop record in 2014: 1989. That album went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, which was her first win in the category.

Since the release of 1989, Taylor Swift has had a lot of material to write about it. We only have a little time left in the year to find out if it materializes in an album.

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]