She may be one of the most successful musicians in the industry, but Taylor Swift has kept her private life fairly secret since the beginning of her Reputation era in 2017.
So, of course, it's always Big News whenever there's any apparent new information about Taylor and her boyfriend of (approximately) two years, Joe Alwyn.
That's why everyone started freaking out when one of Taylor's Cats co-stars, Eric Underwood, posted a photo of them at the movie's wrap party this past weekend.
People immediately noticed the ring on her middle finger which, they said, bore the initials JA — for Joe Alwyn.
And they couldn't control their excitement, immediately speculating as to what it must ~mean~.
Are we supposed to pretend she didn't know this picture would be online and so she showed Joe's ring? I see you miss tay 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
"911, what is your emergency?" "Taylor Swift is wearing a JA ring but WHAT DOES IT MEANNN?"
Taylor is wearing Joe's ring OK BYE😭
Taylor casually posing for a photo and flashing her “JA” ring since his initials on a chain round her neck ain’t doing it justice
Several news outlets also reported on the situation, even going so far as to suggest the ring indicated Taylor and Joe may be engaged.
But the speculation didn't last long — eagle-eyed fans noticed the jewellery was actually a ring Taylor's owned for a while.
sorry to burst the bubble but Taylor's ring isn't Joe's initials it's an angel wing ring given by Victoria's Secret for playing the VSFS twice and only angels own that ring.
It looks like the ring is Taylor's Victoria's Secret wings ring, which was gifted to all VS Angels in 2016. Of course, Taylor isn't a Victoria's Secret model, but she has performed at the VS Fashion Show twice, and is basically an honorary Angel.
She can be seen wearing the ring in several videos from 2017, including the Making of a Song for "Getaway Car" and UPS's promotional video for the release of Reputation, so it's definitely not new.
And it looks like the "JA" ring could just be the Victoria's Secret ring with some kind of weird lighting, right?
However, that's not where this mystery ends. This is Taylor Swift — and obviously, everything she does comes with a side of theorising.
If you're a serious stan, you'll know that Taylor's appearance at the iHeart Awards a couple of weeks ago caused some serious freaking out after she posted a very cryptic series of photos on Instagram before showing up.
All the captions contained mysterious references to butterflies, and when Taylor stepped out on the red carpet in a pair of winged heels, fans decided there could only be one explanation: her highly anticipated seventh album must have something to do with butterflies.
So, while the ring in question originally symbolised angel wings, there's a possibility that it could also be interpreted as a butterfly.
