Earlier today, Taylor Swift dropped the video for her new single, "You Need to Calm Down" — the second release from her upcoming album, Lover, which comes out on Aug. 23.
View this video on YouTube
Now, we all know that the Lover era has consisted of Swift dropping hints and leaving Easter eggs in her social media posts, live performances, music videos, and TV appearances. And this video was no different. Here are all the hidden details we've found so far...
1. At the start of the video, we see this tray of trinkets, including a set of dice which add up to 67. There are 67 days between now and Aug. 23 — the day Lover is released.
But on the subject of dice — they've been a recurring symbol since the Reputation era. At one point, their prominence in Swift's costumes and merchandise led to fans speculating that Lover would be called Paradise. And while that theory was clearly incorrect, the inclusion of dice in this video suggests that perhaps it's an Easter egg that will be solved further down the line.
2. Early in the video, as Swift's trailer goes up in flames, we see this quote in a frame on the wall.
3. And later in the video, we see a cake with decoration that's similar to the framed print. Some people have pointed out that a cake is dessert, and so perhaps this is a reference to the fact that Swift doesn't need a ~rich man~, either.
4. In the scene where Swift leaves her trailer, we see she has a (fake) tattoo depicting a snake bursting into butterflies on her back — an image that is also featured in the video for "Me".
5. We also see a daisy floating in Swift's drink. This could be a callback to an important lyric — "I once was poison ivy / But now I'm your daisy" — from "Don't Blame Me" on Reputation.
6. There's also a scene where Swift checks the time on her watch. Not only does the watch show an image of her newest cat, Benjamin Button, but eagle-eyed fans also noticed that the number 1 has been replaced with 13.
7. Now, the 13 on the watch could be there simply because it's Swift's favourite number. However, later in the video she wears a necklace with a "13" pendant. Fans are therefore wondering whether track 13 on Lover is especially meaningful.
8. Later in the video, Adam Lambert is seen giving Ellen DeGeneres a tattoo reading, "Cruel Summer." Fans are already convinced that this means there'll be a track by the same name on Lover.
9. And there appears to be an Easter egg within an Easter egg here, too. Back in May, Swift appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where the host joked about the possibility of appearing in Swift's new video. Little did we know then that the scenes had already been filmed — and DeGeneres's fake tattoo was actually visible in this shot.
NO F*CKING WAY TAYLOR ALISON SWIFT #YNTCDMusicVideo That was one of the sneaky Easter eggs!! https://t.co/5tDRe2y9qx
10. In the scene where Dexter Mayfield and Hannah Hart are outside their rainbow-emblazoned trailer, you can see a mailbox in the left side of the screen with the words "Love Letters Only" written on it. Fans are also convinced that this will be a song on Lover.
11. There's a curly straw in Swift's drink spelling out the word "Lover" — another nod to the album.
12. The word "Lover" is also visible on her phone case and has now become available as merchandise for fans to buy.
13. Over the weekend, Swift gave a surprise performance at the Stonewall Inn on the 50th anniversary of the riots.
Some fans think that there was a planted reference to the performance in the video, with the 5 on the dartboard and the cake with the figure 0 written in sprinkles representing the anniversary.
14. And then there's also the fact that Ryan Reynolds sits outside the trailer park painting a picture of the Stonewall Inn.
15. However, there's another interpretation of the 5 on the dartboard. Any Swiftie will tell you that she always places the most vulnerable and emotional song from each album at number five on the tracklist. Back in May, when she appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, Swift wore a badge on her jacket with "Track 5" written on it.
And so some fans think that the 5 on the dartboard is also a reference to Lover's fifth track. And some even think that it points to track five being a collaboration with Hayley Kiyoko, who fires a dart at the board.
16. Swift also did some interesting foreshadowing of certain scenes from this video. In the "Pop Queen Pageant" scene, the drag queen portraying Swift is wearing the same outfit she wore to the iHeartRadio Awards — her first public appearance of this era.
17. Then, at Wango Tango two weeks ago, Swift performed in front of a backdrop of pink flowers that look mightily similar to the ones surrounding the pool in the video.
18. And who can forget that Katy Perry wore what looks to be the exact same burger costume to the Met Gala back in May?!
19. And, finally, Perry gave us a huge clue that she and Swift were now over their feud last week when she shared a photo of some cookies that Swift made for her alongside icing spelling out the words "Peace at last."
Perry tagged the location of the image, "Let's be friends."
And when Swift announced on Instagram that there'd be a bunch of celebrity cameos in the video for "You Need to Calm Down," she specifically referred to them as "friends".
Her mind.
