Taylor Swift finally let her fans know about her upcoming album on Monday, showing off the cover art, announcing that it will include 16 new tracks, will hit stores Oct. 22, 2012, and will be titled "Red."

She announced the long-awaited news about her new album via a special Taylor Swift live chat Monday evening on YouTube and the Google+ social network, during which she also surprised her legions of fans watching along online with her first performance of the first single off the new "Red" album.

The live chat/concert took place starting at 7 p.m. EST in Nashville, Tennessee, where it was filmed live in front of a select audience of lucky fans, who had travelled from far and wide to see their idol live and learn about the album they've been waiting so long for.

"Hey, it's Taylor. So I really wanna talk to you about something. I would love it if you would join me Aug. 13 for a live webchat," Taylor Swift told her fans in a pre-live-chat YouTube video she posted on her website on Aug. 7. "You can ask questions, I wanna share some news with you, some really cool news, I'm not going to go into it too much but it's cool ... I'll see you there."

Taylor Swift, who resides in Nashville, is one of pop music's most popular young female artists. Only 22 years old now, she learned to play guitar at the age of 12 and has taken the world of pop country by storm in the ensuing years.

She has since won six Grammy Awards, ten American Music Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, six Academy of Country Music Awards and thirteen BMI Awards, and has sold millions of records worldwide.

"Speak Now," her last smash hit studio album was released Oct. 25, 2010, so it's been quite the wait for her fans who have been hankering for some new songs. But now they at least know how long they have left to wait. They're counting down the days until Oct. 22, when "Red" hits the shelves.

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