Old videos of Taylor Swift have resurfaced online as fans think that years ago the singer was trying to clue them in on her new album.
The pop superstar is due to release her album The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) in April, which she revealed at the 2024 Grammy Awards she had been recording in secret.
Since the early days of her career, Swift has regularly planted clues, hints and callbacks in her music videos, outfits, tour visuals and even the liner notes in her albums. Now fans think she was providing them with Easter eggs about the album during two previous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. They have also come up with the theory that Swift started working on TTPD all the way back in 2021.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Swift for comment on Wednesday.
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“taylor swift actually scares me sometimes,” X user @kiralovestaylor (formerly Twitter) posted to the platform alongside two videos.
In the first clip, Swift is telling Fallon how much she enjoys planting clues for her fans to find.
“When it got out of control was when I realized that it wasn’t just me that had fun with this, that they had fun with it too, and I should never have learned that because then I couldn’t stop,” she said.
“And then all I started thinking of was, how do I hint at things, like, how far is too far in advance? Can I hint at something three years in advance? Can I even plan things out that far? I think I’m going to try to do it.”
In the second clip, Swift mentioned that she previously spoke to Mike Birbiglia, a stand-up comedian and actor, and his wife J. Hope Stein, who is a poet. This is what @kiralovestaylor thinks was a clue about the upcoming album.
“she mentions hinting at things 3 years in advance in 2021 before we even knew about ts10? she’s releasing ts11 in 2024, three years later,” she said in the caption. “Ts10” and “ts11” refer to Swift’s albums Midnights and TTPD.
The fan continued: “the all too well short film has only been around for 2 1/2 years….does it contain easter eggs for TTPD??? she mentions a poet a year and a half ago? she makes deliberate eye contact with the camera.
“at this point, i wouldn’t even be surprised if there were subtle (or major) TTPD references in her NYU commencement speech given IN MAY OF 2022, since that wasn’t even 2 years ago yet.”
At the time of writing, the post had been viewed 374,300 times.
The internet sleuth clearly isn’t alone in her theories, as people took to the comments of her post to share their thoughts.
“The three year video haunts me all the time, ever since I first saw it I’m always checking the dates things happened (I have a bad memory if it’s not a super major thing),” one person posted.
“That’s insane but I’m also confused cause she didn’t start writing it till after midnights so how would she plan it out 3 years ago,” wrote another, before adding: “Unless midnights was turned in WAY before we think.”
“she’s truly a mastermind, i’m always amazed by stuff like this omg,” a third person wrote.
“Oh yeah, she knew. She literally said she would try it,” someone else commented.
But others disagreed with the theory that Swift started working on TTPD three years ago.
“atp [at this point] if she knew she was releasing midnights in ’22 she knew she would probs have an album in ’24. don’t think ttpd specifically is referenced when hinting to stuff pre ’22 bc she said she was working on it for 2 years & she wouldn’t hint at a breakup album 3 years prior imo [in my opinion],” one X user posted.
“Taylor literally said she didn’t start working on TTPD until after she turned in Midnights, which would’ve been around April 2022. Can y’all pls listen to her sometimes?” wrote another.
TTPD is available to pre-order in a number of different packages from limited edition vinyl to cassettes and CDs.
The limited edition versions of the 16-track album include the bonus song The Manuscript, a collectible 24-page book-bound jacket with three handwritten lyrics and never-before-seen photos.
