After a two-year globe-spanning tour and multiple new albums, Taylor Swift appears to be taking a much-deserved break. (She’s partying with Selena Gomez! Hanging with boyfriend Travis Kelce! Having a double-brother hangout with Dakota Johnson!) But is that really it?! Fans aren’t so sure. Now they’re speculating that the artist is dropping something new soon, and it all has to do with a supposed countdown of her previous albums.
On July 18, the official Swift Instagram account Taylor Nation posted a tribute to the singer’s 2006 self-titled album, which, thanks to a recent purchase of her previous masters, she now owns outright. “Everything we need is finally right here by our side and to celebrate, stream the album with us at 1pm EDT today,” Taylor Nation wrote in their post featuring a younger Swift.
But it wasn’t just Swift’s debut. Taylor Nation later revealed it was honoring all of the star’s albums, with 2008’s Fearless getting a “streaming party” on July 19 at 2 p.m. ET.
Fans speculated the times for the streaming parties were actually a countdown — a theory was seemingly confirmed when the account shared a tribute to 2010’s Speak Now and held that listening party at 3 p.m. ET.
Swifties are sure that the Easter egg-loving artist is planning on revealing something major.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time that Swifties believed some big announcement was coming only to be let down. (Ahead of this year’s Grammys, fans were certain Swift was releasing a rerecorded version of Reputation that ultimately didn’t even exist.)
Still, if we’re speculating, what could it be? Here are some of the best fan theories from social media.
A documentary is on its way
Fans have long been convinced that Swift is going to release a documentary about her record-shattering Eras Tour and the reclaiming of her original work.
Swift has done a documentary before: Netflix’s 2020 Miss Americana, about Swift’s retreat from the public eye and reemergence with her album Lover. Now that Swift reached a new pinnacle in her career, it only makes sense to do another one — and there are some clues that suggest it’s more than possible.
Fans point to the many cameras on the Eras Tour, particularly on the final stops in Vancouver, British Columbia — footage that could not have been used for the wildly successful concert film, which came out before the tour ended. Plus, the hashtags on the countdown posts all include references to the Eras Tour — and some fans believe it could be to rewind the clock back to Swift’s three-hour-long spectacle.
Swift is teasing her 12th original album
There’s nothing Swifties love more than hearing new music from the artist, which is why many are hopeful that the countdown is all leading up to the announcement of a new album. If Swift does a streaming party each hour for all of her 11 original albums, we’d eventually get to midnight — and some fans believe that is when she could announce her 12th album.
But it’s not just the potential countdown to 12 that’s making fans suspicious. As TikToker SwiftieInKC pointed out in a recent video, Taylor Nation is using a new logo (specifically, a crest) that we haven’t seen before on the social media posts for this countdown — and Swift is notorious for changing up stylistic choices as she enters a new era. The crest looks very similar to one she’s putting on her new merchandise collection, the TikToker noted — and it’s the only merch collection she has not assigned to a specific album. So is it possible that the merch with this crest is actually merch for the upcoming TS12?!? We’ll have to see!
There is a small wrinkle in this plan, however. We don’t yet know if Swift will celebrate each and every album. Taylor Nation previously said on X that they would be paying tribute to the six original eras that Swift did not own outright before she announced she had acquired her masters in May. That means the countdown could stop after Reputation, her sixth studio album.
Swift is sharing Reputation vault tracks
In a May letter to fans about the acquisition of her first six albums, Swift shared that she had not yet rerecorded all of Reputation, suggesting that we would not get a “Taylor’s Version” of the album as many excitedly anticipated. But she did say that vault tracks could emerge at a later point — and some fans speculate that this countdown will unlock at least one of them.
There are a couple of reasons it could point to a major Reputation drop. TikToker BookBeeDani pointed out in a recent video that the images on Swift’s tributes all feature official Reputation colors orange and black. In fact, Swift is wearing a purple dress in the Speak Now photo, but it has been edited to appear black — as has her golden sequined outfit for Fearless. Although BookBeeDani posted before Red’s tribute dropped, the pattern held: Swift’s Red photos all featured the star wearing black, and the Red cover image was edited to have a more orangey tinge.
And as BookBeeDani noted, Swift is slated to drop a Reputation tribute on Wednesday — which also happens to be the same day that Prime Video drops The Summer I Turned Pretty. This show is major for Swifties: Creator Jenny Han is a huge fan of Swift and has featured a ton of her music, including Swift’s new rerecordings of previous work. Swift dropping a Reputation vault track just in time for it to be featured on the latest episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty definitely feels possible.
It’s another merch drop
Swift fans may be eternally hopeful for new content from their favorite artist, but after years of misreading Easter eggs or overhyping moments, they’re also not getting their hopes up. Many people suspect that Swift’s countdown will be for something fun but hardly a major deal — like a merch announcement.
The comments section on TaylorNation’s IG posts is full of merch drop woes. “I swear to god if all this is just a countdown to a merch drop,” one Instagram commenter wrote. Another added, “We are getting cardigans at the end of this countdown, aren’t we?” A third wrote, “If this is a countdown to just a cardigan I’m gonna crashout. I NEED A ERAS TOUR DOC PLEASEEEE.”
Will Swifties stay fed with new music or a tour documentary? Or will they find themselves adding another sweater or hat to their carts on her website? Guess we’ll have to wait until the end of the countdown to find out.