Swifties, the countdown is over. Taylor Swift has announced that her brand new single “Patient Zero” will be released on Friday, 25 September, ending the mystery surrounding her countdown.

Visitors to Swift’s website had been met with a burgundy curtain, glittering lettering and a clock counting down to 2pm ET, prompting plenty of speculation over what she was preparing to announce. When the timer finally reached zero, Swift revealed “Patient Zero”, writing on Instagram: “I’ve been impatiently waiting to tell you that my brand new single ‘Patient Zero’ will be out on September 25 (!!!!!!!!!!!!)”

Swift has not shared further details about the song itself yet, but with only a few days between the announcement and release, fans will not have long to wait before hearing it. The announcement follows the mysterious activity on Swift’s website that had already sent fans searching for clues, with the countdown now confirmed to have been building towards new music.

Taylor Swift Launches Three “Patient Zero” Collector’s Edition CDs

Alongside the single announcement, Swift has released three collector’s edition CDs for pre-order through her official UK store. Each comes with a double-sided cover, with separate editions for the original song, an acoustic version and a piano version.

The three versions are:

“Patient Zero” CD with Double-Sided Cover – £4.49
“Patient Zero (Acoustic Version)” CD with Double-Sided Cover – £4.49
“Patient Zero (Piano Version)” CD with Double-Sided Cover – £4.49

In the US, each collector’s edition is priced at $3.99 through Swift’s official store. The CDs are available for 24 hours only, while supplies last. Each edition also comes with different artwork and disc designs, meaning collectors already have a decision to make, unless, of course, the answer was always going to be all three.

For CultureCues, Taylor putting a mysterious countdown on her website was obviously going to have Swifties investigating every possible clue, and finding out there is a brand new single waiting at the end of it is a pretty good payoff. We only have three days to wait for “Patient Zero”, and getting acoustic and piano versions alongside it has already given us even more to look forward to. As for those three collector’s CDs? We fear Taylor knows her audience extremely well. Zero patience required this time.

Taylor Swift’s “Patient Zero” is released on Friday, 25 September.

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