The cryptic clues in Taylor Swift's music
Top music artist -
Taylor Swift is one of the biggest artists in the world. She has sold over 200 million records globally, and her concerts are always major cultural moments.
Fandom -
Her fans are known in their own right as "Swifties" and the artist has cultivated a unique relationship with them over her career.
Lyrics -
Speaking to Jimmy Fallon in 2021, Swift explained that she likes to incentivize fans to read the lyrics of her songs, as the lyrics are what she's "most proud of."
Theories -
Swift gets excited about her fans' theories, enjoying their detective work. She says she "trained" her fans to look for the hint-dropping in her songs.
Early career and albums -
In her early albums, Taylor Swift would drop hints through capitalized and uncapitalized letters in the lyric booklets for her songs.
Messages -
For the albums 'Fearless,' 'Speak Now,' and 'Red,' capitalized letters throughout the lines in her songs formed a code.
'22' -
On the song '22,' capitalized lyrics spell out the names of her then four closest friends: "ASHLEY DIANNA CLAIRE SELENA."
'Style' -
The song 'Style' recaps a relationship in Swift's early twenties. One theory is the title is a play on words: that the song is referencing her relationship with Harry Styles.
'1989' -
She switched things up for '1989,' where fans needed to decode messages through uncapitalized letters in the text.
'1989' -
Decoding the letters in lowercase in the songs of '1989,' a 2012 MTV report found that when taken together the messages contained a story of a relationship that didn't work out.
'Reputation' -
In 2017, Swift released her 'Reputation' album. This is where she stopped leaving hidden messages in the liner notes of her songs.
'Look What You Made Me Do' -
Swift deleted all the posts from her Instagram account on releasing this song. The video contains clues that fans think hint at her run-ins with Kanye West.
No interviews -
At the time, Swift stopped doing any interviews. She reportedly said the Easter eggs in the video were her way of communicating and staying connected with her fans.
'Me' -
The single 'Me' from 2019 revealed two Easter eggs: the title of her next single, 'You Need to Calm Down,' and the title of the new album, 'Lover.'
'Folklore' -
Swift hinted at the release of her album 'Folklore' in an Instagram post shared during the height of the pandemic, captioned: "Not a lot going on at the moment."
Surprise release -
The surprise release of her eighth album 'Folklore' in the summer of 2022 would later reveal that the post was an Easter egg.
Track 13 -
On 'Folklore,' the 13th track on the album is about her grandfather. Track 13 from 'Evermore' is a tribute to her grandmother, Marjorie.
'Midnights' -
In 2022, Swift released her 10th album, 'Midnights.' It contained 13 tracks, that Swift said tell the stories of "13 sleepless nights" scattered throughout her life.