Welcome to Round 2 of the Taylor Swift Theory Bonanza!
Less than five months since the release of folklore, TayTay has done and dropped another surprise album on Thursday night, complete with her signature easter eggs! Titled evermore, rest assured Taylor freakin’ Swift had been hinting at its release ahead of her official announcement for it!
Take this tweet, posted less than a week before the new album was revealed on her social media:
*cries in cottagecore*
*screams in soft lullabies*
*throws self to the base of a willow tree by a reflection pool at midnight*
Thanks @rollingstone
???????????? https://t.co/gLDp7yUUtp— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) December 4, 2020
Notice she name-dropped willow, the lead single?! Her mind!
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Fans also pointed out a hint from her Instagram Story, which featured a shot from her Entertainment Weekly photoshoot with a caption that hinted at the track ‘tis the damn season:
TIS THE DAMN SEASON IS A SONG???? SHES SO SICK FOR THIS pic.twitter.com/Ql8Y77tSXi
— Anjaneya (@TheAchillesHeel) December 10, 2020
But what about the album itself? Well, unsurprisingly, it’s filled with plenty of little clues and theories to unravel. So let’s dive in!
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willow Music Video
Being the only track with a music video as of now, this song has plenty of visual clues to go along with the lyrical ones.
Fittingly, the clip picks up right where cardigan ended, sending the songstress on another magical journey via her piano. Except this time, she’s following a “golden thread of light” (another folklore shout-out to the track invisible string) right to her man, who she then brings back into the world of the piano (possibly suggesting a lover who is also a collaborator…?). If you’re thinking of Joe Alwyn, we wouldn’t say that’s too far-off, especially considering one of Tay’s looks in the vid is a gorgeous, old-fashioned, wedding-white dress.
Which leads us to the next theory…
William Bowery & Wedding Bells?
You don’t have to look too hard for her British actor beau on this album — he co-wrote three of the songs (under his folklore pseudonym “William Bowery”), and apparently even played piano on the title track. The wedding-like dress in willow was what first tipped off fans that a marriage may already have happened (although certainly not the first time fans thought the couple may have secretly taken things to the next level).
So of course, we looked to the lyrics for clues. One WB co-written track, champagne problems, featured a rejected proposal — but on another, ivy, she refers to her “husband.” Some mixed messages for sure, but the Grammy winner pointed out that these songs, like folklore, are a set of fictional tales, so maybe we shouldn’t read too much into it one way or another…
Shout Out To Her Exes
Remember when Taylor said she buried hatchets, but kept maps to where she put them? That “cold was the steel of my axe to grind / For the boys who broke my heart”? Yep, we’re back in ex-reference land, and despite the mature, fantastical stories on evermore, there’s still a few hints at past romance.
Coney island seems to resurrect relationships with Jake Gyllenhaal (“Did I leave you hanging every single day / Were you standing in the hallway / With a big cake, happy birthday,” a potential mention of his his infamous no-show at her 21st birthday party) and Calvin Harris (“But when I walked up to the podium / I think that I forgot to say your name” could reference him failing to thank her at the 2016 GQ Men of the Year Awards).
On long story short, she sings about a “bad time,” most likely hinting at the turmoil of 2016, which was largely marked by her drama with Kanye and Kim Kardashian West. And crooning how she “clung to the nearest lips / long story short, it was the wrong guy,” it sounds like Swift was remembering her brief but very public fling with Tom Hiddleston. (Luckily, the story seems to end with keeping Joe warm.)
Team-Ups
Besides Folklore collaborators Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, and “William,” Evermore has a few more collabs than its sister album. There’s another Bon Iver duet and a feature from Dessner’s band The National. She also gets help from her BFFs HAIM for no body, no crime (Este Haim even gets a character named after her on the track). In another surprise partnership, Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons provides the background vocals on the countryfied cowboy like me.
Folklore Parallels
Being folklore’s “sister album,” there are plenty of connections to be made in the lyrics of evermore. Taylor even told fans some backstory behind dorothea during a Q&A before the release of the willow video:
“There’s not a direct continuation of the betty/james/august storyline, but in my mind Dorothea went to the same school as Betty James and Inez.”
Related: Taylor’s SCATHING Response To Scooter Braun Selling Her Masters
Evermore also features special meaning behind lucky number 13, too. The tracks on both albums honor her grandparents. This time around, it’s her grandmother Marjorie Finlay, an opera singer who, Tay wrote in her album notes, “still visits me sometimes…if only in my dreams.”
Possible Trilogy?
While there will surely be plenty of more theorizing as we continue to comb through these lyrics for weeks to come, some Swifties are already bracing themselves for yet ANOTHER surprise drop. We don’t think our little hearts could take a third album in less than a year, but some fans have made a compelling argument that the sisters folklore and evermore could actually be triplets.
Ch-ch-check out the very inneresting theory (below):
woodvale will be the third #TaylorSwift album which will come out in the spring and it’ll be like a trilogy- woodvale, evermore & folklore pic.twitter.com/HSlGGR0tIi
— laurr✨ (@user8283278282) December 10, 2020
My theory:
This house represents Tay's albums. Taylor will release a total of 10 albums before announcing the re-recordings to complete her musical(album journey). Taylor will own the whole house before starting a family with the love of her life Joe Alwyn #TaylorSwift #Evermore pic.twitter.com/2iUECWoYMi
— Ak | EVERMORE???? (@ChampagneforDua) December 10, 2020
I have a theory. I think that this era could be a trilogy of three albums.
You can look at folklore and you can see how the tracks are all in the center.
Now look at evermore,all tracks are at the left.
What if there’s a third album the tracks are in the right?#TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/7ZAJ3pF3AB— irene! evermore (@onlytheswiftt) December 10, 2020
it’s the way i need the trilogy theory to be real for me #evermore #evermorealbum #TaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/ba0EcR56jC
— evermore juliana???? (@swiftsmelodies) December 10, 2020
What do U think, Perezcious readers? Could there be a third sister on the way? And do you have any other Swiftian theories about her newest project?
Leave your thoughts in the comments (below)!
[Image via Taylor Swift/YouTube]
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