Taylor said “meet me at midnight,” and Swifties followed her instructions. When the clock struck 12 a.m. on Oct. 27, fans all over the world hit ‘play’ and joined the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) listening party. Headphones secured to their ears and aquamarine cardigans over their shoulders, they prepared to cross the imaginary bridge to Taylor Swift’s very own wonderland (AKA the Swiftverse), a realm of friendship-bracelet-making, wild conspiracy theories, and Easter-egg unpacking.
You might think that, being her domain, the Swiftverse gravitates entirely around the 33-year-old pop star. Well, it does. But it’s also, and most importantly, about the fans.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the fourth installment of Swift’s project to re-record and regain ownership of her first six albums. Swift announced the re-releases in late 2019, after Scooter Braun acquired the masters to her entire catalog of recordings, from Taylor Swift (2006) to Reputation (2017).
Of course, Taylor made sure Swifties knew 1989 was coming way before she officially announced it at the final Los Angeles show of the Eras Tour on Aug. 9. She left behind a number of secret messages, or Easter eggs (including the date of the release announcement, 8/9), that became like pieces of a puzzle her fans have to put together in order to uncover the full narrative of Swift’s wonderland.
For example, at the end of the music video for the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) song “I Can See You,” released on July 7, Swift gets in a car and drives toward a very tiny sign that reads “1’9” 8.9tv,” a hint that Swifties immediately caught, and linked to the impending release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Swift also had her fans solve a literal puzzle when, on Sept. 19, Google admitted to being “a Swiftie dressed like a search engine” (a reference to her song “Blank Space”). The browser released an interactive puzzle that, if solved 33 million times, would reveal the titles of the “vault tracks” (or unreleased songs) on 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Ultimately, the Swiftverse is about reading between the lines, squinting your eyes until you see that unmistakable sign, and solve the riddle.
But the Swiftverse is also about reading what you want to read into those hidden signs. It’s about how each member of the community decides to fill in the gaps that Swift deliberately leaves in her narrative.
“It’s always fun for me to think about what inspired a song,” said Liv, a Taylor Swift fan, to CT Jones of Rolling Stone. “So even if it’s not what happened in Taylor’s life, it’s interesting for me to think about a song through a queer lens, because I feel like it adds a lot of layers that a song about a guy might not have.”
Liv is a Gaylor believer, a Swiftie who swears by the fan theory that Taylor is queer and sings about queer love in some of her songs (a theory that Swift implicitly addressed and dismissed in her new album’s prologue).
Other fans look at the vault songs from 1989 (Taylor’s Version), through a Haylor lens (Haylor being the name of the Harry Styles and Taylor Swift ‘ship’), pointing out common themes between Swift’s new releases and Styles’ self-titled first solo album, aside from reiterating the obvious reference in, well, the tune “Style.” A little refresher for the non-Swifties: 1989 was originally released in the wake of Swift and Styles’ breakup in 2013.
A third group of Swifties theorized that, when making 1989 (Taylor’s Version), the singer was thinking of another “Love Story:” the one born out of her admiration for Shania Twain and her music.
Rumors started spreading around the Swiftverse in 2021, when Swift posted a TikTok video that referenced Twain with the caption “Learned from the best 💁♀️.” Then, on Oct. 3, only a few weeks before the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Swift was photographed in New York wearing a Shania Twain shirt.
“This Shania Twain shirt reminded me of [Taylor’s] Tiktok about her,” a Swiftie wrote on X after seeing the pictures. “Specifically how Shania made a double album — one for pop and one for country….🤡🤡🤡#1989taylorsversion.”
The double album theory has not been confirmed, but Swifties are known for living for the hope of it all. They’ll cancel plans just in case Taylor calls and asks them, once again, to meet her at midnight.
Giulia Leo 