Taylor Swift fans are famous for their detective skills, and have proved time and time again that they can crack almost any code the Easter egg-loving singer throws at them. But this new theory — that Swift has selected 1989 as her next re-recorded album and has a release date on the books — has truly entered confused math lady meme-territory.
It's not necessarily that the theory seems completely out of left field — in fact, the clues make sense and the math (as usual, all Swiftian roads lead to her lucky number 13) adds up. But when they're all compiled together, these particular Easter eggs just seem so much more galaxy brain than the past ones. Remember when all we had to do was comb through Swift's Instagram and count palm trees?
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During a stint on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on April 13 (yep) in which she made a lot of "Hey Stephen" jokes, fans deducted from a series of audio and visual clues that not only is 1989 following her recent Fearless (Taylor's Version) drop, but it's coming soon — between mid-May to sometime in June.
A COMPILATION OF ALL OF THE POSSIBLE EASTER EGGS FROM TAYLOR'S INTERVIEW ON THE STEVEN COLBERT SHOW #1989 #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/Z6C5wD6ngW
— kelsea (taylor's version) 💛💛 (@kelsealovestay) April 14, 2021
At one point in the segment, the singer mentions 1989 by name, and says the words "shake it off," which is the name of the lead single of her 2014 album. But fans believe the biggest clues are hidden in the "mood board" Swift made of Colbert. In it, she includes a photograph of the talk show host from 1989, a seagull that was featured in the shirt Swift wears on the 1989 album art, as well as 8 hearts and 9 stars. One user was also quick to point out that Swift included a picture of a pizza (emblematic of New York) with five pepperonis, as 1989 was the singer's fifth full-length album.
there are so many signs!!
— andre. (@TS8TR4CK) April 13, 2021
1) A 1989 photograph of Stephen Colbert on the top left
2) Seagull which is on the shirt on 1989 album cover
3) 8 hearts, 9 stars which leads to ‘89 #1989TaylorsVersion 🥳 pic.twitter.com/LNvSRJjGBJ
Then comes the math: Swift references 1989, "You Need To Calm Down," "Shake It Off," and "Hey Stephen" in the Colbert segment. One fan theorizes that when you put together the 5th album, Lover's track 14, 1989's track 6 and Fearless's track 4, that means the single will drop on May 14, and the album will be out on June 4. Both dates land on a Friday, and both add up to 13. To back up the May 14 theory, another Swiftie noticed that the singer started joking that she knew Colbert's social security number, the digits of which add up to 14.
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YNTCD, Shake It Off and Hey Stephen are the mentioned tracks. mentioned album - 1989
— andy (taylor's version) (@renjunrush) April 14, 2021
1989 = 5th Album
YNTCD = Track 14
Shake It Off = Track 6
Hey Stephen = Track 4
connecting it to my theory last April 8th.
we got the dates.
so single May 14th
& Album on June 4th? pic.twitter.com/xHHVA9OKVP
And if that wasn't enough sleuthing, one fan backed up the theory by pointing out that she's at 499 posts on Instagram, and her 500th could be the announcement of 1989 (Taylor's Version), a re-recording of her fifth album.
Coincidence? With Swift, never.
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