On Reddit, fans immediately connected it to backlash Swift has faced in recent years, particularly during The Tortured Poets Department. That album not only arrived as a surprise double release but also came with a flood of vinyl variants — a strategy that drew fire for both its cost to fans and its environmental footprint.

"I was feeling a complete pivot at this point in time, and I want the album to feel the way my life felt," Swift said of the album, which will come out Oct. 3.

Like many era-defining pop stars, Taylor Swift makes history everywhere she goes and with just about everything she does. Take, for example, her first visit to boyfriend Travis Kelce‘s New Heights podcast on Wednesday night (Aug.