WHEN TAYLOR STEPS ON HER OWN GOWN

@taylorswift

WHEN TAYLOR STEPS ON HER OWN GOWN

@taylorswift

The concept in visual media of hiding clues and callbacks for fans to find has grown into a full-blown cultural obsession. After every new episode of “Game of Thrones,” articles flood the internet pointing out the obscure references to past plot lines and scenes. “Avengers: Endgame” was an Easter egg goldmine for Marvel fans. New “Star Wars” trailers are picked apart for secret messages in the seconds after their release.

“Detective Pikachu,” “Riverdale,” the new releases of “Mortal Kombat” and “Fortnite,” the “Stranger Things” trailer and even Vampire Weekend’s new album have all been subjects of Easter egg hunts in recent months as fans take to social media to identify clues.

But what happens when creators go overboard and make Easter eggs the entire point of their release?

That’s the danger that Taylor Swift has been flirting with in recent weeks, with a new music roll-out that been almost entirely focused on the hidden clues in her Instagram posts, magazine covers and music video for her new single “ME.”

When done well, Easter eggs are a fun dialogue between artists and consumers. Fans feel rewarded for their engaged viewing with a jolt of recognition and that deeply satisfying feeling of belonging to some exclusive club of fans-in-the-know.

Swift, who is well known for being a master marketer, has deployed Easter eggs throughout her career to stoke her fans’ excitement for her new releases.

But somewhere in between her “Look What You Made Me Do” video in 2017, in which fans got to watch iterations of Swift from her past eras battle one another, and her current album roll-out, the focus on Swift’s Easter eggs has superseded everything else related to her new music to the point where they’ve become meaningless.

Swift’s weeks-long Instagram campaign, including daily posts of pastel imagery, many of which later showed up in the “ME” video, was only the beginning. The “ME” video was stuffed with clues such as her boyfriend’s hometown of London and a painting of country artist the Dixie Chicks.

The eggs almost completely consumed media coverage with Swift sharing in an interview that the clip contained three distinct tiers of Easter eggs of varying obscurity. Her Billboard Music Awards performance was equally filled with callbacks.

On her recent Entertainment Weekly cover, featuring her first proper interview in three years, she wore a denim jacket covered in pins – all Easter eggs, obviously. She explained that the butterfly high heels she wore to the 2019 iHeartRadio Awards as well as her pastel nail color in a 2018 Spotify video for “Delicate” were clues foreshadowing her forthcoming era.

“I love to communicate through Easter eggs,” she told EW. “I think the best messages are cryptic ones.”

Yet, many Swift fans – those who have connected with her plainspoken, honest songwriting over the years– may disagree with her statement that she’s at her best when she’s being cryptic. And listeners interested in engaging with her new music on a deeper level or for its artistic value may be hungry for Swift to give us something more substantive than the zero-calorie confections that are Easter eggs.

Discouraged Swifties tired of the Easter egg overkill can take heart in the fact that with Swift’s previous two releases “1989” and “Reputation,” the albums’ initial singles were equally kitschy. Fans were skeptical of “Welcome to New York” and its associated NYC tourism campaign as well as the overdone villain posturing of “Look What You Made Me Do.” But both of those were eventually followed by stronger singles and deeper content.

So while Swift may be leaning all the way into our cultural Easter egg obsession, there’s hope that she will ease up on the hidden clues in her new music still to come.

I don’t know if I agree with the “ruining” part just yet, but she definitely seems to have goofed in not giving something today after tons of fans made it clear they had thought something was coming today. Bottom line is once you set expectations, you have to deliver. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be going out of your way to set expectations. People consider this relationship as something a lot deeper than one person selling stuff to a bunch people.

I think we all need to take a chill pill. Taylor isn't ruining her releases. Cut to a year and a half from now and we're all going to be begging for some kinda clue. Anything. And we will wish we had a music video with Easter eggs to decode. It hasn't even been a month since her first single came out and we feel entitled to know the album name, release date, next single name already. She has it planned out. I don't know why she put that stamp there, maybe she meant to highlight this week. Let's just be grateful we have someone who goes above and beyond to make things fun. If you're getting frustrated- check yourself. It's just music.

2019 Billboard Music Awards

A true angel goddess.

Blue hair or Pink hair?

Radio Interviews Masterpost

(more will be added on as we progress)

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                    ❤️ ️ t . s queen of my heart ️ ❤️

💫 ⭐️ 🌟 ✨ ⚡️ 🐍 AND ALL AT ONCE YOU @taylorswift ARE THE ONE I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR… 🐍 💫 ⭐️ 🌟 ✨ ⚡️

Hi T, my name’s Marisol and as I’ve mentioned a couple times before, I am traveling all the way from MEXICO to the reputation stadium tour in Arlington Tx this October and guess what?! MY OUTFIT FOR NIGHT ONE IS FINALLY READY! 😍 I wanted to go with something reputation inspired (obviously) and being king of my heart one of my absolute favorites out of your latest album, this  👆  is what I came up with  💛 ️ I truly hope you like it as much as I do because I know it looks kinda simple but it actually took months to finish. My mom and some of my friends were involved in the whole process so it was definitely so much fun at the same time! I’d like to emphasize on that little heart sign I made out of some of the online interaction I’ve had with you and your amazing team a.k.a @taylornation because you guys are responsible for some of my greatest memories within the whole nightmare that was part of 2017 and some more of 2018. I’ve gone through a lot of challenges and some very unfortunate events since last year but I’ve counted on you through it all. You’ve made me smile when I needed it most without even knowing. I never imagined I’d get my first notice from you @taylorswift back in march on twitter and then on here thanks to my dear friend Aner (bet she sounds familiar 😜). That’s the reason this era has been so great and beyond special and so helpful to me from the very beginning. I’ve always been very shy and self-conscious and that’s somehow changed because of you in the most part with all those lessons about being beautiful and worthwhile just the way we are. My situation isn’t ideal yet but the impact you’ve had on me (as I’m sure on hundreds of others) is huge. I mean early 2017 I never would have dared posting a picture of myself online (no exaggerating) and look at me now! I bet everyone around here is already tired of seeing my face so often popping up on their dashboards 😁 … these are the things and moments I will treasure forever and which I could never repay you for.

But anyways, I don’t wanna get all emotional and stuff so moving on now let me tell you this will only be my second time attending one of your tours and I’m the happiest girl alive just thinking about it!

💫 ⭐️ 🌟 ✨ ⚡️ 🐍 

My broken bones will mend and I’ll get to drink beer out of plastic cups NIGHT ONE with my mom on her b-day (is there really a better way to celebrate?! duh)  ❗️ ❗️

October 5th, 2018

SEC 227

ROW 15

SEATS 1&2

💫 ⭐️ 🌟 ✨ ⚡️ 🐍

…and NIGHT TWO (last show of the U.S leg 👏 ) with one of the wonderful friends I’ve made because of you (we already started working on another outfit but let’s save that for later )

Thank you for 10 UNBELIEVABLE years of pure happiness and wonderful things but most of all, thank you for inspiring me and continually change my life for the better  

May your music remain the soundtrack of my life forever & always ⭐️ 💛

I love you so so so much ❣️ see you (TWICE) in the fall honey!

@taylorswift LOOK OVER HERE BUDDY!

when florence welch said “you can’t choose what stays and what fades away”

I Was Trying To Be Funny But It Came Out as Really Mean: A 5-part documentary starring me.

I Was Trying To Be Loving And Supportive But I Probably Overstepped My Boundaries And Came Off as Creepy: a feature-length film with two sequels and a TV series adaption.

I Was Trying To Tell You I Relate To Your Difficult Situation But It Probably Sounded Like I Was Making It All About Me: a novel saga with several side book adaptions and a movie.

it’s easier to say “im tired” than “im so sad and lonely i feel like there’s a weight in my chest and my body is so heavy i have no energy emotionally, physically or mentally to even move from my bed”

Taylor via Instagram Story 

Someone please recreate this pose at rep room!