May 26, 2023
After teasing new music on Instagram earlier this week, Taylor Swift released a second deluxe version of her 2022 album, "Midnights," featuring collaborations with rapper Ice Spice and Lana Del Rey on Friday.
"Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition)" includes a remix of "Karma" featuring Ice Spice, a new version of "Snow At The Beach" – Swift's collaboration with Del Ray – and, on the digital version, Hits Different," a song previously released only on CDs sold at Target.
"Karma" marks Swift's first collaboration with Ice Spice. The New York rapper rose to mainstream prominence after songs like "Munch (Feelin' U)" and "Boy's A Liar Pt. 2" with Pink Pantheress went viral on TikTok. On the remix, Ice Spice follows Swift's catchy chorus with lyrics like "Got you waving pretty white flags, feening for that cash thinking it'll save you, now you're switching up your behavior. It's okay, baby, you ain't gotta worry, karma never gets lazy."
Del Rey, who was the only featured artist on the original "Midnights" release, later told Billboard that she was asked to sing the song's entire second verse but declined because she assumed there would be other artists on the song. The newly released version of the song includes additional backing vocals and a new verse.
Swift is selling CD versions of "Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition)" exclusively at her Eras Tour shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey this weekend. Though the CDs won't include "Hits Different," they will the feature previously unreleased track "You're Losing Me," rumored to be the first song written about Swift's break-up with longtime partner Joe Alwyn earlier this year.
Taylor Swift fans making the trip to North Jersey for the Eras Tour concerts at MetLife Stadium can snag a "Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition)" CD beginning at 12:30 p.m.
Swift has come under fire from fans upset about her rumored relationship with Matty Healy, the lead singer of indie pop band The 1975. Earlier this week, news that Swift had collaborated with Ice Spice on "Karma" prompted backlash due to controversial comments Healy made about the rapper while appearing as a guest on "The Adam Friedland Show" in February.
In the podcast episode, which has since been deleted from Apple and Spotify, Healy said he tried to message Ice Spice on Instagram. He laughed as Friedland and co-host Nick Mullen used derogatory terms about her body and ethnicity, calling her a "chubby Chinese lady" while mocking Chinese and Hawaiian accents, the Washington Post reported.
When Friedland and Mullen asked Healy if Ice Spice sounded like their imitations, he said yes and called her "dumb." He later mimicked a Japanese accent. He apologized for his remarks during a concert in Auckland, New Zealand in April, saying that he's "kind of a bit sorry if he offended (Ice Spice)."
Swift has not commented on Healy's comments in the wake of her collaboration with Ice Spice.
"Midnights," Swift's 10th studio album, became a blockbuster success after its release in October, cementing the singer-songwriter as a global superstar. It sold more than 1.6 million units in its first week, broke several streaming records and took over the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.
During her recent soldout concerts in Philadelphia, Swift waxed poetic about watching the Eagles as a child and told the crowd that she considers Philadelphia to be her hometown. The concerts brought a boost to the city's economy, with Swift fans from across the region crowding subway cars and filling restaurants and hotels, Billy Penn reported.
Swift's next re-recorded album, "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," will be released on Friday, June 7. The original version was released in 2010, when Swift was 20. It features popular songs like "Back To December," "Mine" and "Sparks Fly."
