Entertainment Music Is Swiftmas Coming Early? Taylor Swift Seemingly Starts a Countdown to New Music The superstar surprised her fans on Friday at midnight by starting a countdown on her web site By Melody Chiu Melody Chiu Instagram Twitter Melody Chiu is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE. She has been with the brand since 2009, editing, writing and reporting across all entertainment verticals. She oversees PEOPLE's music and events coverage and has written cover stories on Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Melissa McCarthy, Blake Shelton and Sandra Oh. The Los Angeles native graduated from the University of Southern California and has appeared on Extra!, The Talk, Access Hollywood and Good Morning America. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 13, 2019 12:15 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Taylor Swift. Photo: Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock After not much silence or patience but lots of pining in anticipation, Taylor Swift seems to finally be giving her fans what they’ve been waiting for: new music. When the clock struck midnight on Friday, the Grammy winner, 29, swapped her Instagram, Twitter and Facebook photos to a pastel sky and clouds and included the date “4.26” in her bios. Her web site is also now featuring a countdown clock. (In true Swift form, the superstar’s fans have 13 days to go for whatever excitement is headed their way.) Fans around the world — including in Japan and Melbourne — also spotted billboards bearing the same aesthetic with the URL “aprilTwentySix.com,” which redirects to Swift’s site. Taylor Swift billboard. If it is indeed a single that is dropped on that date, Swift’s new music will be her first since leaving her longtime home Big Machine Label Group and moving over to to Republic Records and Universal Music Group. Fans — who understandably began freaking out — have been speculating for weeks that Swift was gearing up to release her seventh studio album. In late February, Swift posted several Instagram photos that stirred up plenty of excitement among Swifties hoping for new music. She was also photographed several times recently visiting a recording studio. Taylor Swift Nabs Multiple Kids’ Choice Awards Nominations Amid Buzz She’s Releasing a New Album Then at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14, the singer addressed the speculation while accepting the award for tour of the year. “I love your passion, I love your attention to detail, I love how much you care. I love seeing all the things you’re posting online. I just wanted to let you know that when there is new music, you will be the first to know,” she cheekily told the audience. During her last album cycle, Swift hit back at critics of her reputation through her music. Reclaiming the snake — the star’s social media pages were flooded with the reptile after Kim Kardashian West released an edited phone call between the singer and her husband — the superstar went on to smash records with her sixth studio album and world tour. After staying mostly under the radar for months and wiping her social media pages, Swift returned to the public but kept her personal life (including a happy relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn) tightly under wraps. RELATED VIDEO: Taylor Swift Explains Her Latest Album Is All About ‘Finding Love Throughout All the Noise’ “A couple of years ago, someone called me a snake on social media and it caught on. And then a lot of people called me a lot of names on social media,” Swift told her audience on the opening night of her tour in Arizona last year. “And I went through some really low times for a while because of it. I went through some times when I didn’t know if I was gonna get to do this anymore and I guess the snakes … I wanted to send a message to you guys that if someone uses name calling to bully you on social media and even if a lot of people jump on board with it, that doesn’t have to beat you. It can strengthen you instead.”