Three years after the release of 2014’s 1989, and following several public spats with celebrities like Kanye West Taylor Swift aims to clear her name and inaccurate public image on reputation. At a fan event that took place in June 2018, Swift described the record as a story of “finding love throughout all the noise,” referring to how the album transitions from discussing her persona to falling in love with British actor Joe Alwyn.

On its first day alone, the album sold 700,000 physical copies, and it debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, having sold more copies that week than the other 199 listed albums combined. Within a month, the record was certified triple platinum, becoming RIAA’s top-certified album of the year, and even a year after its release, it was deemed the biggest album of 2018 on the Billboard charts.

The album was announced after Swift removed all previous social media presence and uploaded three videos of a snake’s tail, body, and head in August 2017; most considered this a reference to the “snake” nickname she was given after it was revealed she wrote Calvin Harris' “This Is What You Came For” after their breakup, which worsened during public fallouts with Kanye West and Katy Perry.

To promote the album, Swift teamed up with Target to produce two exclusive magazines which feature poetry, paintings, handwritten lyrics, and a behind-the-scenes look at the music video for lead single “Look What You Made Me Do.” She worked with UPS leading up to the album’s release, and partnered with Ticketmaster to help dedicated fans be the first to score tickets to her 2018 tour.