Taylor Swift took to social media Thursday to announce the release of her latest album Reputation.
The 27-year-old pop star added the message ‘Let the games begin’ while promoting the official availability of her sixth studio album that earlier was leaked online.
The 10-time Grammy Award winner also debuted a new song New Year’s Day that aired during ABC’s popular political drama Scandal.
Sixth album: Taylor Swift took to social media on Thursday to announce the release of her sixth studio album Reputation
Swift played piano while performing New Year’s Day in October in the candlelit living room of her Rhode Island home in front of 100 hand-picked fans, according to ABC.
It was Swift’s first public performance of new music in three years.
The singer announced the album’s release with black and white title cards and a colorful Instagram snap of herself in a rainbow mini, matching jacket and golden heels .
Swift’s fans were infuriated when they found out that Reputation was leaked earlier Thursday ahead of its midnight Friday release.
Ruined it for everyone: The singer is shown earlier this week on Instagram in a post about waiting for the album’s release
Game on: Taylor included the message ‘let the games begin’ with the announcement
Out now: Reputation was released as scheduled on midnight Friday after earlier being leaked online
Special performance: Swift debuted her new song New Year’s Day on Thursday during the airing of ABC’s hit political drama Scandal
Intimate performance: The singer performed the song in October in the candlelit living room of her Rhode Island home in front of 100 hand-picked fans
One angry Twitter user wrote: ‘People leaking reputation, obviously you’re talentless and lifeless. We know y’all are closeted Taylor Swift stans after all. This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.’
Another poster tried to reason with the people sharing the album: ‘To the Taylor Swift ‘fans’ trying to leak #Reputation stop and think: Why are you going to ruin her chance of getting amazing sales? If you love her so much don’t do it. So disrespectful.’
One fan @literaryswift mused: ‘I couldn’t listen to leaks idk it feels wrong to listen to a taylor swift album for the first time if it’s not on release night screaming about each song with the rest of the fandom’
Links to the songs were shared on multiple message boards and file-sharing websites on Thursday morning but taken down as quickly as they were put up.
‘Talentless and lifeless’: Some fans were angry about the leak
‘Feels wrong’: This fan wrote that it wouldn’t be right to listen to it before the official release
Stop and think: This fan tried to reason with the people sharing the album
Swift and her music label, Big Machine Records, have not commented on the leak.
The Bad Blood singer was forced to share her track listing for the new album on Wednesday after the song names were also leaked online days earlier.
The singer had been teasing fans with daily social media posts, including two snaps of her cute cat Olivia Benson on Thursday with captions like ‘Waiting for #reputation like…’
The first release from the album was Look What You Made Me Do back in August, which coincided with Swift’s social media comeback after time away from the spotlight.
Highly anticipated: Reputation officially dropped at midnight Eastern Time on Friday November 10
Too cute: Swift has been teasing fans with daily social media posts, including two snaps of her cute cat Olivia Benson on Thursday
The single topped the charts in more than a dozen countries including the US and UK and its music video became the most-watched video within 24 hours.
Look What You Made Me Do also marked the continuation of Swift’s feud with rapper Kanye West, 40, dating back to his interruption of her acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs in 2009.
The singer appeared to lambaste West yet again in the 13th song of her new album This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.
Speech interrupted: Swift in her 13th song appeared to continue her feud with Kanye West, shown interrupting her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV VMAs in New York City
Swift appeared to reference making up with West at the Grammy Awards in February 2015 with the lyrics: ‘It was so nice being friends again/There I was, giving you a second chance/But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand’.
She also apparently referenced the phone call that Kim Kardashian surreptitiously recorded of her husband asking to include a Swift reference in his song Famous.
West called Swift ‘that b****’ in his song while also alluding to wanting to have sex with her.
Swift in her tune sings: ‘And therein lies the issue/Friends don’t try to trick you/Get you on the phone and mind-twist you/And so I took an ax to a mended fence’.
Making up: Kanye and wife Kim Kardashian, with Jay-Z in the background, are shown with Taylor in February 2015 at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles apparently making up
Her strongest gibe may have been her allusion to West’s public falling out with close friend Jay-Z: ‘But I’m not the only friend you’ve lost lately/Mm mmm/If only you weren’t so shady’.
Swift from the new album also has released ‘…Ready for It?,’ ‘Gorgeous’ and ‘Call It What You Want.’
Pre-orders for Reputation which include purchases at iTunes, Target, Walmart, Amazon and Swift’s website, had already hit an astonishing 400,000 units.
The huge number was double the number of pre-sales garnered by her last album 1989, which she released back in 2014 to major accolades.
The singer’s last three albums – 1989, 2012’s Red and 2010’s Speak Now – have each sold over a million units in their debut weeks.
The songstress was forced to release the track list earlier this week after it also leaked online