Taylor Swift releases second surprise 2020 album Evermore — listen now

2020 is turning out to be a year of surprises from Taylor Swift!

Following in the footsteps of the pop star's Folklore, which dropped with just 16 hours of advanced notice in July, Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore, also landed 16 hours after she first announced it on Thursday morning. (It should also be noted that Swift is busy re-recording her old music, too — the jury is still out on if she ever sleeps.)

The album, which you can listen to below, is the "sister record" to its predecessor, according to Swift. It features 15 songs, three of which feature collaborations with other artists — "Evermore" with Bon Iver, "Coney Island" with The National, and "No Body, No Crime" with Haim. Like Folklore, the singer-songwriter wrote the songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Justin Vernon, and someone named "WB" (presumably William Bowery, which is a pseudonym for Swift's boyfriend, Joe Alwyn). A forthcoming deluxe physical edition of the album will feature two new songs, "Right Where You Left Me" and "It's Time to Go."

"To put it plainly, we just couldn't stop writing songs," Swift said of the album on social media Thursday. "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."

She added, "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."

The album is not the only new toy from the pop star, though. She also released the first music video from the record to go along with the first track on Evermore, "Willow."

The video, which is directed once again by Swift, also features the work of acclaimed cinematographer and frequent collaborator Rodrigo Prieto. Swift first teased that a new video was forthcoming in an interview as part of EW's Entertainers of the Year series, in which she revealed that she learned that Joe Biden had won the presidential election while she was on set of the new promo.

All of this comes just shy of Swift's 31st birthday, and true to form, the songstress herself says that is no accident (is it ever?!). "Since I was 13, I've been excited about turning 31 because it's my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now," she wrote on Thursday. "You've all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something!" A Merry Swiftmas, indeed.

Related content:

• Taylor Swift broke all her rules with Folklore — and gave herself a much-needed escape
• Taylor Swift releases first re-recording sample of 'Love Story'
• Taylor Swift unveils William Bowery's identity, and more revelations from Folklore concert film