Taylor Swift Did Her First Interview In Three Years And, Obviously, There Are A Million Theories

    There are cryptic pins, fan theories, and "really, really, really, really sad" songs.

    Ellie Bate
    by Ellie Bate

    BuzzFeed Staff

    In a completely unprecedented* turn of events, Taylor Swift revealed her brand-new cover of Entertainment Weekly yesterday, in which she did a real-life interview for the first time in like...ever.

    Peggy Sirota / Entertainment Weekly

    *OK, so it's not unprecedented at all but it's been a WHILE since Taylor sat down for an interview, and I'm freaking out.

    Republic

    In the interview, Taylor opened up about her still-unnamed seventh album, and we got more information than ever before. Here's what we learned...

    1. The palm tree photo that caused fans to go into new-music-theory overdrive was actually posted the day Taylor put the finishing touches on the album.

    2. She admitted she's been planting Easter eggs about this upcoming album since at least May last year.

    Big Machine / youtube.com, Taylor Swift / instagram.com

    When Taylor started posting on Instagram with her new aesthetic, fans noticed her nails in the vertical video for "Delicate" matched the pastel colour scheme.

    "Those Easter eggs were just trying to establish that tone, which I foreshadowed ages ago in a Spotify vertical video for "Delicate" by painting my nails those colours," Taylor said of the aesthetic for TS7.

    3. The album consists of more songs than any of Taylor's previous albums, and, yes, I'm freaking out about that.

    4. It also features a combination of old and new collaborators.

    5. Taylor said the album spans an "emotional spectrum" and includes both joyful and "really, really, really, really sad songs".

    CBS

    "This time around I feel more comfortable being brave enough to be vulnerable, because my fans are brave enough to be vulnerable with me," Taylor explained. "Once people delve into the album, it’ll become pretty clear that that’s more of the fingerprint of this — that it’s much more of a singer-songwriter, personal journey than the last one."

    6. In an accompanying video all about her love of Easter eggs, Taylor confirmed a popular fan theory about the wax seals that appear on the 13th day of certain months in her official 2019 calendar.

    Entertainment Weekly / youtube.com

    "I made sure to put a wax seal stamp of a 13 on April 13th, because I had an idea ages ago that I wanted to do a 13-day countdown starting on April 13th," she said, basically confirming that the remaining stamps — in May, July, August, and December — are also significant.

    7. And the magazine cover declares that, of course, each of the pins Taylor is wearing on her jacket is an Easter egg. (There are 29 of them in total, which I'm sure means something too.)

    Peggy Sirota / Entertainment Weekly

    She's wearing plenty of pins dedicated to shows we know she loves, like Friends, Law & Order, Grey's Anatomy, and Game of Thrones. There are also pins of her own cats, Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson, a nod to her role in the film adaptation of Cats, and references to the lyrics of "Me", including "awesome" and the iconic "je suis calme".

    But some of the pins are more ~cryptic~, and obviously they have fans freaking out about what's to come with TS7 — like the pins featuring Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks, Troye Sivan, Selena Gomez, and Drake, which people think may hint at upcoming collaborations.

    8. Taylor liked a bunch of Tumblr posts about the pins, including the rainbow heart, the reference to "Me", and the seemingly random Mister Rogers pin.

    9. The pin featuring Selena is particularly interesting, since the photo was taken on a day Selena said in an interview that she'd collaborate with Taylor "any time, any place".

    Selena Gomez HQ @SelenaHQ2

    Taylor’s button is a photo of Selena on the day she was asked about a collaboration with Taylor herself 👀

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    10. Fans are also focusing on the "track 5" badge, which is very reminiscent of a piece of graffiti that shows up in the music video for "Delicate".

    Entertainment Weekly, Big Machine / youtube.com

    If you're a hardcore Taylor fan, you'll know it's kind of a ~thing~ that the fifth track on her albums is always the most "emotional, vulnerable song". Just take a look at "Cold as You", "White Horse", "Dear John", "All Too Well", "All You Had to Do Was Stay", and, yes, "Delicate".

    Well, fans have noticed the wax seal on the next stamped date on Taylor's official calendar — May 13 — is a mixture of the same shades of orange and purple, leading to speculation that the next single from TS7 may just be track five.

    11. Oh, and there's also a theory that the Drake pin is hinting not at a collaboration, but at the possibility of a double-sided album like Scorpion.

    Entertainment Weekly, Taylor Swift / store.taylorswift.com

    It's actually a theory that's been around for a couple of weeks now, since Taylor dropped a shirt on her official merch store that read "NO. 1". The theory goes that the first side of the album will be called Me, like the single, and the second will be You.

    That would explain why this album is longer than anything she's ever released and why Taylor hasn't revealed the title yet — because there are actually two titles.

    You can read Taylor's full Entertainment Weekly interview here, and watch the video here!