On Aug. 28, after winning her second VMA of the night, Taylor Swift announced during her acceptance speech that something big would be publicized at midnight. Fans frantically watched the clock on Swift’s website, eagerly expecting another rerelease of one of her older albums. However, Swifties were shocked to learn that Swift will release a brand new album on Oct. 21 titled Midnights.
From Swift’s nod to her album Reputation with her diamond-encrusted dress to selling 1989 and Speak Now merch on her website, Swifties were certain that a rerelease was on the horizon. However, should Swifties have known that Midnights was coming next? Swift is known for leaving “Easter eggs”, or subtle hints, in interviews, songs, and social media posts, so how did Swifties not see this coming? Here is a breakdown of the Easter eggs Swift left that hinted at the release of her new album, Midnights.
1. The Summer I Turned Pretty
In one of Amazon Prime’s summer hits, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Swift’s rerecorded song, “This Love (Taylor’s Version)”, debuted in the trailer. On Instagram, Swift posted the trailer for the series with a caption revealing that “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” would be released at “m i d n i g h t”.
While most people were focused on her rerelease, Swifties neglected to see the way midnight was emphasized at the end of the caption, alluding to Swift’s new album. Swift’s Easter egg flew under the radar for most fans.
2. Where the Crawdads Sing
In another Instagram post, Swift announced the release of her new song “Carolina” for the movie Where the Crawdads Sing. In this post, Swift explains how she wrote “Carolina” in the middle of the night, which is also the theme of her upcoming album. Moreover, the song “Carolina” has a mysterious feel to it, with references to dreams and loneliness scattered throughout it.
3. The Completion of the “Lover House”
In Swift’s music video for “Lover”, a single off her 2019 album, Swift takes the audience through a house with nine rooms, each characterized by a different color. Fans have theorized that each of the rooms represents one of her albums based on their colors. Now that Swift has announced Midnights, fans have realized that her new album is the finishing touch to the house: the winter’s midnight sky.
4. Songs Referencing Midnight
Swift has revealed in the past that she leaves Easter eggs for future projects during her work months— sometimes even years before releasing them. In many of Swift’s songs, such as “Style”, “happiness”, and “New Year’s Day”, she references midnight or her songs take place in the middle of the night. Even though some of them may just coincidentally reference midnight, this could have been a purposeful decision by Swift. With this theory, she could have been referring to this album since her Fearless era in 2008. In Swift’s song “You Belong With Me”, from her album Fearless, she references her love interest driving to see her in the middle of the night. Could this have been the beginning of Swift’s trail of Easter eggs leading up to her VMA announcement?
While these theories are in no way apparent, a very detail-oriented Swiftie could have guessed that Midnights would be Swift’s next big album, or at least an upcoming project. However, most Swifties fall victim to Swift’s endless stream of Easter eggs, leading them in the wrong direction, or possibly the right one? It is hard to say.
3 Comments