Because Taylor Swift is the Queen of Easter eggs, every word she utters is dissected by Swifties in search of clues as to what she'll do next. And apparently, she gave them a lot to chew on with her appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday.
Taylor's entire appearance revolved around Colbert demanding to know whether or not her song "Hey Stephen" is about him. But during the bit, she mentioned a bunch of random things that Swifties have now parsed into "proof" that she was actually using the spot to tease the release of the re-recorded version of her album 1989.
Taylor just released the new version of her 2008 album Fearless, as part of her ongoing project to reclaim her music from her former record label. And during her chat with Colbert, she specifically mentioned the year 1989 — supposedly the year Colbert spent waiting tables in Chicago — and her song "Shake It Off," which is from that album.
Plus, she displayed a "Mood board" decorated with eight hearts and nine stars, which of course equals "89."
Taking that a step further, Taylor also joked that Colbert's social security number was "33035." Adding that up gets you the number 14, a fan pointed out. She also mentioned the song "You Need to Calm Down," which is the 14th track on her album Lover. This is proof, claims the fan, that the re-recorded version of 1989 will be out Friday, May 14.
The theories get nuttier from there, but let's end by introducing you to the "F1RST" theory, which posits that Taylor is releasing her re-recorded albums in this order: Fearless, 1989, Red, Speak Now, Taylor Swift.
Meanwhile, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver has just revealed that he's recorded a duet with Taylor.
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