Who hasn’t heard of renowned singer-songwriter Taylor Swift?

Last year on December 11, she released her ninth album, Evermore, just two days before her 31st birthday. She announced it on various social media platforms only 16 hours before its release.

Swift announced this new album only five months after her previous one, Folklore, both of which she had been working on during quarantine. Swift has explored multiple genres in the past albums, but Evermore and Folklore are her first attempts at alternative and indie music.

Evermore blew up on its first day and won many awards. It had 66.3 million streams worldwide and 37.4 million streams in the United States on Spotify on the day of its release. By the end of the first week, one million copies sold globally. Seven out of the 15 songs in Evermore were in the top 10 most-streamed on the platform worldwide. The lead single, “Willow,” was the album’s biggest hit, debuting at number one on the Billboard Top 100 Songs chart. Additionally, the album holds the record for the third-best female debut on Spotify. Swift was also the fastest woman to collect six number-one albums in the United Kingdom.

Evermore was written and produced with the combined effort of producers and musicians who had previously worked with Swift. Jack Antonoff, a longtime collaborator of Swift who worked with her on 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019) and Folklore (2020), was one of two producers who helped put the latest album together. Aaron Dessner, another producer, produced 16 out of 17 tracks of Evermore; his twin brother, Bryce Dessner, composed the orchestration. Swift and actor Joe Alwyn, whom she has confirmed to be her boyfriend, wrote the songs “Champagne Problems,” “Coney Island” and “Evermore” together.

Along with the tremendous attention Evermore received, various fun facts have been revealed about the album. On both Evermore and Folklore, Swift used the 13th track to pay tribute to her grandparents. A song in the former album is named after Marjorie Finlay, Swift’s grandmother, who passed away when Swift was 13. Meanwhile, Folklore’s “Epiphany” honors her grandfather’s role in the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II.

Although Evermore is critically acclaimed, one might wonder how good it truly is. Sawsane Salhi (V) says, “It isn’t my type of music, but I appreciate the song ‘Willow.’” She says she likes the song’s message, which Swift states are about “intrigue, desire and the complexity that goes into wanting someone.”

The Daily Bruin, the student-run newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles, shows love for the album: “It’s clear that ‘evermore’ is certainly no B-side album pieced together from the cutting room floor, though if ‘coney island’ is any indicator, just a few more snips would have done some good. But with more folk sounds than ‘folklore,’ Swift’s ninth studio album is an escapist fantasy almost as enticing as its counterpart.”

Swift has come out with two albums in the last five months, and still never seems to disappoint. While there are no signs that Swift is creating another album, Swifties and many other listeners are eagerly anticipating her future projects.