Tayor Swift’s highly anticipated new album Midnights has been released and it hasn’t taken long for swifties to pour over the lyrics and references to find all the hidden meanings behind the catchy tunes.
By now, Taylor is known for her crafty wordplay and well-planned sneaky references – from her Instagram posts to her album art, her lyrics to her tweets, every piece of new information by Taylor is quickly studied by fans to reveal its ‘deeper’ meaning.
And Midnights is no different. The album is rife with themes of karma, revenge and eternal love, and now fans believe they have worked out which songs are about her famous exes: John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal. Swifties also think they have spotted references to Taylor’s history with Scooter Braun, Kim Kardashian and Harry Styles.
Here are all the songs fans have decoded.
‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’
Yes, this song isn’t technically off the album Midnights, instead, it was part of the bonus 3 am tracks released mere hours later, yet it is undeniably the juiciest song. Why? Because fans are convinced the lyrics reveal Taylor’s “regret” at dating a much-older John Mayer.
The pair briefly dated between 2009 and 2019, when Taylor was 19 and John was 32. Which is why the song, which mentions Taylor dancing with the devil at age 19, is all the more pointed.
“And I damn sure would’ve never danced with the devil at 19, and the God’s honest truth is that the pain was heaven,” she sings in the song. “And now that I’m grown, I’m scared of ghosts. Memories feel like weapons.”
Although Taylor hasn’t confirmed nor denied the theory, this isn’t the first time John Mayer has been at the centre of her songs – he was also famously depicted in her song Dear John.
‘Karma’
It has long been rumoured that Taylor had a long-lost album titled Karma, which was supposedly scrapped following her run-in with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Although Taylor has never confirmed if the rumours are true, it does seem fitting that a song with the same name is rumoured to be about her feud with Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta over her masters.
“Spider boy, king of thieves,” she sings. “Weave your little webs of opacity. My pennies made your crown.”
‘Vigilante S**t’
Taylor sings about becoming “thick as thieves” with the ex-wife of an enemy in this song and swifties have gone wild trying to guess who she’s talking about.
Some, believe she is referencing Kim Kardashian’s divorce from Kanye West, however, others strongly believe the song is about Scooter Braun’s ex-wife, Yael Cohen.
‘Midnight Rain’
Fans suspect this one could be about Jake Gyllenhall. And whilst it’s not as pointed as Tayor’s 10-minute version of All Too Well which revealed a lot about their relationship, this song is about getting caught up in her partner’s “flames”.
Some fans believe the reference to “flames” can be a nod to the “twin fire signs” Taylor sings about in State of Grace, a song from Red which is also about Jake.
‘Question…?’
Fans can’t get enough of Taylor Swift’s past romance with Harry Styles. Her previous song Out of the Woods has long been rumoured to be about their relationship, and so it seems fitting that fans believe Question…?, which samples Out of the Woods is about their relationship.
“Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room,” Swift sings. “And every single one of your friends was makin’ fun of you?”
Some fans believe this is a reference to Harry and Taylor’s infamous New Year’s Eve kiss.
‘Lavender Haze’
Earlier this month Taylor opened up about how the public scrutiny she faced whilst in a relationship with Joe was the bases for her song Lavender Haze.
“I happened upon the phrase lavender haze when I was watching Mad Men,” Taylor explained in a short clip. “And I looked it up—because I thought it sounded cool—and it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the ‘50s where they would just describe being in love.
“Like, if you were in the lavender haze, then that meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow. And I thought that was really beautiful.”
“I guess, theoretically, when you’re in the lavender haze, you’ll do anything to stay there and not let people bring you down off that cloud,” Taylor continued.
“And I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just like ‘public figures,’ because we live in the era of social media. And if the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody, they’re going to weigh in on it.”
“Like my relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumours, tabloid stuff and we just ignore it. And so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”
‘Sweet Nothing’
Joe Alwyn, Taylor’s boyfriend of six years appears under the pseudonym William Bowery as co-writer on Sweet Nothing with Swift.
Swifties first linked Joe to the pseudonym name back in 2020, with William Bowery credited as a co-writer of songs in both Folklore and Evermore.
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