Taylor Swift‘s Loveralbum is finally here. But last night, ahead of its release, she dropped the video for the title track.
Of course, this means that her fans jumped into deep analysis mode as they took in each frame, found so many hidden Easter eggs, and developed some theories. In the video, we see a little girl at Christmas time opening her presents. One of them is a snow globe, and soon we’re taken into the house inside the globe where Swift and her “lover” reside. We see the couple laughing, loving, dancing, fighting, throwing parties, and diving into a fish bowl together. You know, living their lives.
At the end, the camera pans out to show that the little girl is their daughter—a very sweet touch that I must admit choked me up a little bit.
Watch the video for yourself, below, and then let’s break down what it all means.
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The house.
The home inside the snow globe has seven rooms, which fans think represent Swift’s seven albums.
One fan also noted that the rooms are lit in color while the outside is dark, seemingly a reference to the lyrics in “Out of the Woods” from 1989: “The rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming color.”
Another thought it was a reference to the dollhouse in 13 Going on 30.
Nobody loves a hidden message quite like Taylor Swift. Need proof? Just look at the detective work done by Swifties on her whole body of work: They go over her singles, albums, videos, magazine covers, and Instagram captions with a fine-tooth comb for fan theory-yielding easter eggs. And now, apparently, even Capital One commercials aren’t immune.
Let’s dig into the history of Swift’s hidden messages for a second. She’s long loved to sneak easter eggs in her songs and art. A prime example of this? Her video for her single “Me!” In April, Swift released the video for her collaboration with Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie. In it, she planted possible clues about everything from upcoming song titles to a comment on her relationship with Joe Alwyn.
“I love that they like the cryptic hint-dropping,” Swift told Entertainment Weekly in May about her fanbase’s obsession with finding every detail in her work. “Because as long as they like it, I’ll keep doing it. It’s fun. It feels mischievous and playful.”
She’s kept her word: On Friday, Capital One dropped a new commercial for its Savor card. In the 30-second spot, Swift stars as both herself and in various restaurant staff roles, from a diner waitress to a bartender. Along the way, she shared plenty of secret messages, all of which were quickly discovered and shared by her fans on social media.
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Needless to say, Twitter was delighted—and fans quickly launched their investigations.
There are fours and Katy Perry references everywhere.
Taylor Swift dropped her new single, “ME!,” at midnight on Friday, and it’s simultaneously exactly what fans expected and nothing at all. The song is large, colorful, and fun—the polar opposite of her last lead single, “Look What You Made Me Do.” And the same thing can be said for the music video, which dropped alongside the song.
It’s quite literally an explosion of glitter, rainbows, and happiness. At one point, Swift’s dancing in the street with dozens of women in matching pastel suits. Later, she’s doing choreography with Brendon Urie (who’s featured on “ME!”) outside an Oz-like utopia. Butterflies, unicorns, and hearts are literally everywhere. Swift’s cats even make an appearance. The video is joyous, simply put, and heavily-inspired by Lisa Frank, as far as I’m concerned.
With so much sensory overload, though, you may have missed a few Easter eggs Swift planted in the video. The pop singer is famous for injecting hidden meanings and “clues” into her work, and this video is chock-full of them. Below, check out all the ones fans are currently buzzing about.
Toward the end of the clip, Swift is wearing cowboy boots as she dances with Urie. This could potentially be hinting at a return to her country roots with #TS7.
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There’s a photo of the iconic girl group on the wall at the beginning of the video. Even more evidence Country Taylor is coming. Fingers crossed for a collab.
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This word is written in large, neon letters and planted in the middle of the video. So obviously we’re getting a song called “Lover.” Or maybe that’s the album title.
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Olivia and Meredith co-starred with their mom!
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Swift said in her YouTube Q&A there’s a secret in her video she’s been keeping for months. Could this new cat be what (or who) she was hiding?
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Swift infamously said, “I’m sorry, the Old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, ’cause she’s dead” in “Look What You Made Me Do.” But on “ME!” she doesn’t have the same hang-up (pun intended).
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A not-so-subtle nod to this being her seventh studio album.
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She turns into a bunch of butterflies at the top of the video. The old aesthetic is gone, and a new one is here.
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Swift shouts this during the song’s bridge. Fun fact: Swift actually competed in spelling bees as a child.
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It’s April. Why is there a Christmas tree in Swift’s video? Maybe it’s a reference to the fact she grew up on a Christmas tree farm.
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Let’s get to the good stuff. When the shot of Urie and Swift in marching band outfits goes wide toward the end of the video, we see they’re outside a dreamlike, hybrid city of London and the United States. Specifically, we see the Capitol Building and Parliament, a.k.a where laws are made in both countries. Perhaps this is hinting that Swift and her British boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, will be merging their lives soon.
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So maybe this is her way of denouncing all the rumors she and Alwyn are headed for an engagement.
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You’ve done it again, Taylor Swift. Now I’ll be obsessively analyzing this video for the next three days.
