These enduring melodies broke through cultural and language barriers
Taylor Swift has stated that as long as her fans like it, she'll keep dropping hints. "It feels mischievous and playful," she explains.
Sources: (Glamour) (People) (Parade) (BuzzFeed) (Today) (Yahoo)
See also: Meet Taylor Swift's many enemies
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."
Swifties sleuthed that William Bowery was a pseudonym for her then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, as his grandfather's name was William and the pair hung out at the Bowery Hotel on first meeting in 2016.
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.
Taylor Swift has a tradition of embedding cryptic clues in her music, videos, and social media posts. These Easter eggs encourage fans to solve a riddle, speculate on the meaning behind a subject, or crack a code about her next moves. And they always leave everyone, even the most casual of fan, super curious!
Intrigued? In this gallery, we take a look at the imaginative scavenger hunt Taylor Swift has sent her fans on over the years. Click on for a true discovery!
On 'Should've Said No,' capitalized letters spell the name "Sam" repeatedly. It's speculated to refer to an ex-boyfriend who cheated on her.
Swift reused the caption "Not a lot going on at the moment" again in November 2020, sparking speculation that she was about to release another album just months after the release of 'Folklore.'
Fans speculate and develop theories about who her songs reference based on the details in the lyrics. But Swift does not confirm whether these theories are correct, leaving people guessing.
The surprise release of her eighth album 'Folklore' in the summer of 2022 would later reveal that the post was an Easter egg.
One day before the announcement of the release of 'Evermore' (which would be her ninth album), the singer included nine tree emojis in a tweet.
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.
One of the songwriters credited on the album 'Folklore' and the following album 'Evermore' was an unknown person named "William Bowery."
Fans also speculated about the names of the characters in songs on the album. Fans guessed Betty was a reference to Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' third daughter. In a radio introduction, Swift confirmed the characters in the story were named after her friends' kids.
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."
She also posted images from a Entertainment Weekly photoshoot captioned "Tis the damn season," which would later be revealed as a song title on her new album.
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.
Swift describes the number 13 as her lucky number. Born on the 13th, she had used the number 13 throughout her music and makes references to it in videos.
In her Disney+ film, Swift confirmed the cryptic clue was indeed referring to Alwyn, saying "William Bowery is Joe, as we know."
For the albums 'Fearless,' 'Speak Now,' and 'Red,' capitalized letters throughout the lines in her songs formed a code.
In her early albums, Taylor Swift would drop hints through capitalized and uncapitalized letters in the lyric booklets for her songs.
On the song '22,' capitalized lyrics spell out the names of her then four closest friends: "ASHLEY DIANNA CLAIRE SELENA."
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.
Swift explained she had been dropping hints about her life in her songs since she was a teenager. It's a habit that goes back to the beginning of her songwriting.
On 'Folklore,' the 13th track on the album is about her grandfather. Track 13 from 'Evermore' is a tribute to her grandmother, Marjorie.
Her fans are known in their own right as "Swifties" and the artist has cultivated a unique relationship with them over her career.
In a later released version of the album, track 19 'Would've, Could've, Should've' refers to a relationship she had aged 19. Fans speculate the track is about John Mayer.
The album created media buzz for its coded lyrics about events in Swift's life ranging from her relationships with Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston, to her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Swift deleted all the posts from her Instagram account on releasing the song 'Look What You Made Me Do.' The video contains clues that fans think hint at her run-ins with Kanye West.
In 2017, Swift released her 'Reputation' album. This is where she stopped leaving hidden messages in the liner notes of her songs.
Swift addressed the speculation around the song meanings and who they were attributed to in the album prologue, stating there would be "no further explanation. There will just be reputation."
She switched things up for '1989,' where fans needed to decode messages through uncapitalized letters in the text.
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.
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.
The single 'Me' from 2019 revealed two Easter eggs: the title of her single, 'You Need to Calm Down,' and the title of the new album, 'Lover.'
The cryptic clues in Taylor Swift's music
Her lyrics and social media tell a story you may be unaware of
MUSIC Curiosities
Taylor Swift has a tradition of embedding cryptic clues in her music, videos, and social media posts. These Easter eggs encourage fans to solve a riddle, speculate on the meaning behind a subject, or crack a code about her next moves. And they always leave everyone, even the most casual of fan, super curious!
Intrigued? In this gallery, we take a look at the imaginative scavenger hunt Taylor Swift has sent her fans on over the years. Click on for a true discovery!