A few months have passed since Taylor Swift released “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” so Swifties have been convinced that the pop icon is carefully dropping hints that she will reclaim her “Reputation” next.
The singer subtly changed her social media profile picture ahead of the 2024 Grammys. The original image is now in black and white, prompting fans to initially connect the change to the album cover of “Reputation.” 2024 also marks the 66th annual Grammy Awards. Fans thought the reoccurring number “6” could also predict an impending announcement as “Reputation” is the singer’s sixth studio album.
But, it turns out that the all the clues were red herrings leading to a more shocking announcement.
When Swift won the award for best pop vocal album for “Midnights,” it marked her 13th Grammy. So, she used the opportunity to reference her famous lucky number and announce that she is releasing a new album, titled “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“My brand new album comes out April 19. It’s called ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’” she said. She also revealed that she has been keeping the album a secret for the past two years.
She left the stage and immediately posted the album cover on Instagram. “All’s fair in love and poetry,” she captioned the black-and-white album art.
It’s understandable that Swifties thought a “Reputation” rerecording announcement was incoming. Swift’s latest outfits, and more specifically, the color green, also sparked theories about the highly anticipated album.
Starting with the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 7, Swift has been wearing a bold green hue, reminiscent of the “Reputation” album’s signature snake imagery, out and about.
At the ceremony in Beverly Hills, Swift wore a glittery green dress that immediately sparked discourse due to its apparent ties to her sixth studio album.
Then on Jan. 9, Swift stepped out in New York City wearing a hunter green bodycon sweater dress under a tan coat.
She continued the green trend on Jan. 10, wearing a crushed velvet dress in bright green to an event with Blake Lively.
On her brown boots, fans spotted black coils that appeared to channel a slithering, snake-like shape.
Her latest looks are not the only pieces of evidence fans have touted as to why they believe Swift will rerelease “Reputation” next.
Fans of Swift know she’s been rerecording her first six albums in an effort reclaim her music when those master recordings were sold to Scooter Braun’s company in 2019. So far she has released rerecords of 2008’s “Fearless,” 2010’s “Speak Now,” 2012’s “Red,” and 2014’s “1989” — all of which are dubbed “Taylor’s Version” to signify her ownership and include never-before-heard tracks from “the vault.”
Swift herself promised Time during an interview for her 2023 Person of the Year honor that the vault tracks from the “Reputation” rerecord will be “fire.”
Time described Taylor speaking of her rerecording process as if it were a “mythical quest.”
“I’m collecting horcruxes,” she told the magazine — a reference for Harry Potter fans. “I’m collecting infinity stones. Gandalf’s voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now.”
Read below for everything we know about “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” from Easter eggs, a possible release date and more.
‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version)’ Easter eggs
Taylor Swift is known for planting clues in her music, on social media and around the internet that spell out messages or signify tricks up her sleeve. Some are more obvious — like the entirety of the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video — while others take more detective work — like the secret messages she planted in her CD liners.
When it comes to “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” fans are abuzz attempting to find clues — about a release date, about its songs, about anything. The “Nov. 10” theory was one circulating on TikTok for a while (go ahead, look into it) but it was debunked.
Now new breadcrumbs, including a special message from the singer, have them feeling optimistic again.
To understand possible “Reputation (TV)” Easter eggs, though, it’s helpful to be versed on its imagery. As Swift says in her Time Person of the Year story, her “Reputation” era was “a goth-punk moment of female rage.” Think lots of black and lots of snakes.
In her tweet thanking journalist Sam Lansky for writing her Time profile, she said, “I have tRuSt iSSueS when it comes to interviews but I couldn’t be happier that I did this one with him.”
One fan suggested on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the frequent capital “S” resembles snakes, which is synonymous with “Reputation” in Taylor Swift lore. (See our timeline of Swift’s feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian for more on that.)
But a different fan thought the tweet was a clue about a possible vault track.
One eagle-eyed Swiftie tweeted a timeline of Swift’s social media behavior leading up to her rerelease announcements and theorized that news about “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” is coming on New Year’s Day. The holiday is also the title of the last track on that album, but the date came and went without any album news.
Others also theorized about the aesthetic of her Time photo shoot. Fans believe the photos are a possible Easter egg, as they seem to emulate vibes from “Reputation” album cover: She wears black clothes in some photos, with dark eye makeup and her hair in a “wet look” with her signature bangs swept back.
When is ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version)’ releasing?
While fans are so ready for it, news about the complete release of “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” has been elusive. There is no official release date for the rerecorded album.
But two “Taylor’s Version” songs from “Reputation” popped up in 2023. Neither song has been released in full on streaming platforms or for digital download.
The Aug. 23 trailer for Prime Video’s show “Wilderness” marked the global debut of “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version),” featuring snippets of the song throughout the 90-second preview.
On Aug. 3, “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” was featured in Season Two of the Prime Video series “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
Jenny Han, the showrunner and author of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” TV and book series, is a proud Swiftie. More than eight of Swift’s songs appear in Season Two.
But while the public got a taste of a few rerecorded “Reputation” tracks, it seemed to be a work in progress as of August. Ed Sheeran told Andy Cohen in an interview on the “Deep & Shallow Podcast” Aug. 15 that he had not yet rerecorded the “Reputation” song “End Game,” in which he’s featured with rapper Future.
More Easter eggs — but with meanings that are still unclear
There are still several cryptic posts and messages that Swift put out into the universe but still remain unclear to fans. One of them is the “glitch.” Let us explain.
When Swift released her rerecording of “Wildest Dreams” in 2021 — this song is from her “1989” album, the rerecording of which dropped in full October 2023 — she also dropped a video clip accompanying the track. It featured an image of Swift standing in a blue dress with a red lip — style choices often associated with her “1989” era — that suddenly glitches. After the glitch, Swift winks at the camera.
As the “Reputation” era is associated with disruption (Swift famously deleted all of her social media posts before the album’s release), fans think the glitch may have hinted at her sixth studio album all along.
When the original iteration of “Reputation” was announced in August 2017, Swift teased it with video clip of a snake about to strike, interrupted by a glitch.
Plus, to further add to the “glitch” mystery, Swift in 2022 put out a song called “Glitch” that includes a lyric fans have latched onto: “But it’s been 1,290 days of our love blackout.” They believe 1,290 days holds some deep significance that ties all this glitchiness together.
Another theory that Swifties say hints at “Reputation” comes from the album cover of “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” Fans zoomed in on the font styling of “Taylor’s Version” and noticed that while the first “s” appears normal, the second seems to have extra emphasis at the start of the letter stroke and could resemble a snake.
When fan theories fail to materialize, Swifties will often post online using the clown emoji to represent her “clowning” fans.
Even U.S. landmarks aren’t immune from being clowned: On Nov. 26, the official account for the Empire State Building in New York City released a shot of the landmark lit up in black and white in anticipation of the expected album.
“There will be no explanation,” the tweet said with a black heart.
“I’m glad the Empire State Building is clowning as hard as I am,” @antiheropaige replied to the tweet
