Taylor Swift Explains Meaning Behind Cover of New Album '1989'
Swift is going retro for the cover of her new album.
— -- After dancing with fans while debuting her new single "Shake It Off," Taylor Swift revealed the album cover and title for her new release "1989."
During a live stream on Yahoo and ABC News, Swift surprised fans and said, "I have some big news."
The first surprise was the song and the second surprise was the title and cover of the new album, which reflects the year she was born.
"Having been born on Dec. 13 1989, this album is called '1989,'" Swift said.
Watch: Taylor Swift Surprises Fan With New Album
Swift has been working on her new album for two years and said she has changed a lot over the past two years, especially delving into late 1980's music and being influenced by that era.
"The inspiration behind this record, I was listening to a lot of late 80's pop ... I really loved the chances they were taking, how bold it was," she said. "It was apparently a time of limitless potential, the idea you could do what you want be what you want ... the idea of endless possibility was kind of a theme in the last two years of my life."
The cover of the album is a Polaroid of herself, cutting off her face at the eyes with T.S. at the bottom left and "1989" at the bottom right. Swift is wearing a shirt featuring flying seagulls.
"That photo you are seeing is a Polaroid we took, we took the album photos on Polaroids," she explained. "It was kind of an accident, so I figured why not make that photo the album cover?"
The album is in stores Oct. 27 and Swift said fans will actually get packets of real Polaroids inside the album -- 13 each, but different packs with different photos in each.
"For the record this is my very first documented pop album," she added.