MUMBAI: Is it an Easter egg? Baby, just say YES!
Taylor Swift fans deserve a spot in the FBI after decoding her latest round of hidden messages. On Feb. 11, the superstar took to social media to announce Fearless (Taylor’s Version) album-“the updated version her 2008 record with six additional songs-“will be released “soon.” On top of that, she dropped the re-recorded version of her hit song “Love Story” at midnight on Feb. 12.
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And if that wasn’t enough excitement, Swifties also spotted a major Easter Egg in the Grammy winner’s note to her followers: The 31-year-old singer capitalized certain letters in her message, a move fans will remember from Swift’s early album eras when she would leave codes in her lyric book. “when I think bAck on the fearless album and all that you turned into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face,” she began. “this was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed.”
“so before anything else, let me just say that it was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you,” Swift continued. “and for those of you I’ve come to know more recently than 2008, I am ecstatic that I’ll get to exPerience a bit of that feeling with you in the very near future, now that I can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.”
As you can see, Swift capitalized letters A-P-R-I-L, spelling out the upcoming month. She also capitalized the letters N-I-N-T-H, which, in other words, hints at the ninth. So, what does this mean? Well, it’s the release date for her new Fearless album, of course. As music lovers may know, new albums and songs typically get released on Fridays-“and April 9 happens to land on a Friday this year. After Swifties decoded the message, T.Swift confirmed the release date on her website.
But that’s not all! Fans also have a theory about the Fearless (Taylor’s Version) album cover photo. As eagled-eyed Swifties have pointed out, the singer appears to be wearing the male lead’s shirt from her “Love Story” music video, which could have a deeper meaning.
“SHE’S WEARING THE ROMEO’S SHIRT,” one fan tweeted. “SHE NO LONGER NEEDS A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR, SHE’S HER OWN KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR.”
Another Swiftie also shared the impact of Swift wearing Romeo’s shirt. “the first time i listened to taylor’s love story was in 7th or 8th grade was it? very much naive, made me relive my fairytale loving phase and sh it,” the tweet read. “the re-recording and the way she’s now the one wearing romeo’s shirt bc juliet needs no man to feel complete, speaks to me.”
SHE’S WEARING THE ROMEO’S SHIRT. SHE NO LONGER NEEDS A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR, SHE’S HER OWN KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR pic.twitter.com/7UzttnnRwh
— anki (@ksjincore) February 11, 2021
Ahead of its release, Swift shared why she decided to re-record this album with the additional songs.
“i’ve spoken a lot about why i’m remaking my first six albums, but the way i’ve chosen to do this will hopefully illuminate where I’m coming from,” Swift, who has been in an ongoing battle for the rights to her album masters, explained on Instagram. “artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one that really *knows* that body of work. for example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the fearless album. songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons (don’t want too many breakup songs, don’t want too many down tempo songs, can’t fit that maNy songs on a physical edition).”
However, as Swift said in her note, those reasons seem unnecessary today. “i’ve decided I want you to have the whole story, see the entire vivid picture, and let you into the entire dreamscape that is my fearless album,” she said. “that’s why i’ve chosen to include six never before released songs on my version of this album. written when I was between the ages of 16 and 18, these were the ones it killed me to leave behind.”
