“willow” is the lead single of evermore, Swift’s second surprise album of 2020 and her ninth record overall. She released the accompanying music video at midnight EST on December 11th, 2020, alongside the evermore album.

During an interview for Apple Music Awards 2020, Swift revealed that she purposefully chose “willow” as the starting track for evermore because she thought the music that Aaron Dessner had written felt “witchy” and “magical” and that was a great vibe to set for the album.

Swift hinted at this song title twice during the folklore era: the first time being a framed willow tree photo in an Instagram post, and the second one being a subtle reference included in a tweet thanking Rolling Stone for ranking folklore as the best album of 2020.