Swifties have finally learned what all the hype was leading up to Taylor Swift’s mysterious postings with the caption “4.26.” The date of course being April 26. New music was assumed but anything beyond that was speculation. Swift did not do a lot of promo for her last album release of reputation and instead chose to let her music speak for itself. She did not give interviews and she was rarely spotted in public.
Now that her music has come out into the world, all the clues she has been giving us are finally making sense. Her new single titled “ME!” features Brendon Urie from Panic! At The Disco. It’s not the first time we have seen the song title either. The earliest being on Swift’s birthday in 2017 when BFF Selena Gomez posted a caption saying “You write all the thoughts some aren’t able to articulate. (ME!)” Swift also posted the song title herself with the exclamation point a couple of months ago.
Swift also used the word “Awesome” in a more recent post, which is also a part of the lyrics “And you can’t spell “awesome” without “me.”
Although a song is usually out before the music video, Swift decided to release the two at the same time and even had a Q&A on YouTube before the official premiere. She revealed that yes, Gomez has heard most of the album and she is the best keeper of secrets and Queen of her heart! She also created so much buzz that the 24-hour YouTube viewer counter was broken and there were millions of views within the first two hours!
The first single of a new era does not usually tell us what the rest of the album will be like, however, the music video does! The song itself is usually one of the more catchy “ear-worm” type songs that often elicits strong reactions. There were many who did not like the sound of “Look What You Made Me Do” but it broke all kinds of records when it was released. It created a spectacle. That did not mean there were not songs on the album that weren’t heartfelt. Swift herself shared that “ME!”
“This album is a pretty big story. There’s a lot to say, there’s a lot that is said. It goes pretty in-depth in lyrics that I’m really proud of. And like I said, a lot of the time I’ll pick a first single because I like the feeling that it conveys knowing that there’s a lot more on the album that’s very different from this single. that’s something the fans have picked up on at this point, but it’s really about like, ‘What song did I want to pick that I’ll go out into the world we get to go perform it and have fun with it?’ With the album, I’m just really excited for more to get revealed about it and I want to be able to do that with the fans, to the fans, and explain to them where I was coming from with it.” – Taylor Swift
The video for “ME!”, the lead single off her still-untitled 7th album was full of whimsy, colors, references, all things happy and so many clues about what’s ahead this era. Although the official name of the album hasn’t been released, Swift took to twitter to say that the name of her album and the next single are in fact in the video and that no one has found it yet. We have broken down the video to provide as much insight as possible along with possible album names!
Swift has since said that there have been fans who have guessed the name correctly but she is still not going to reveal it just yet!
“Yeah definitely there are a few people who have gotten it. I can’t tell you who. I haven’t told them yet, but um, I mean I think they’ll know when I tell them what it is and they’ll be like ‘I was right, I knew it’” – Taylor Swift
Now further analysis of the music video! There’s a lot to unpack here so let’s take a deep breath and dive in.
“They like to play games with music, they like for it to be a scavenger hunt, or little easter eggs foreshadowing moments. So that makes it even more fun for me because I like for music to be much of an event as possible.” – Taylor Swift to HITS UK RADIO
“‘How can we make the best visual effects out of this?’ And every single choice was essentially to foreshadow something that will happen in the course of the album. So everything in that video is basically an Easter egg.” – Taylor Swift
The video opens with a pastel snake on a rainbow chalk road. The snake is similar to the one she used at the beginning of the reputation era but a pastel color instead of dark.
The chalk road also reminds us of her poem during the rep era “Why She Disappeared” that says “When she fell, she fell apart. Cracked her bones on the pavement she once decorated as a child with sidewalk chalk.” She is continuing her story and showing us what happened after she fell, how she went back to her home base to get re-centered and come back alive. Swift also posted a photo of her sidewalk chalk months ago with the caption “Take me home.” ‘Home’ is one of the possible album name theories!
The snake doesn’t stick around long, it bursts into colorful butterflies (also known as a kaleidoscope, another album name contender)! Swift has been hinting at butterflies in posts and the day of the premiere she surprised fans at a ME! butterfly mural.
She shed her snake skin and emerged into a beautiful butterfly! This isn’t the only note to her past eras, more on that to come as we dive deeper into the video.
The butterflies lead into Swift’s ‘apartment’ where she is in a very heated melodramatic argument with Urie, in French. The opening scene is reminiscent of Panic! At The Disco’s video for “Better If You Do” where he had a smiliar argument scene in the beginning of the video. The French language and Parisian architecture brings us back to her “Begin Again” video. An apt title for this era if there ever was one. It also reminds us of the melodramatics of the “Blank Space” music video and the way she was flinging her arms while saying “I am calm” in french.
The apartment solves a lot of the clues from Swifts mysterious Instagram posts:
The chickens in sunglasses? Well, they are some cool chicks that make up a fun wall collage. One of the cool chicks on the wall was actually a picture of The Dixie Chicks! Is a collab coming up on the album? Only time will tell. Swift did bring out the lead singer Natalie Maines during the 1989 tour. The Dixie Chicks also tweeted a picture of eyes to Swift, who replied that she will always be a stan! Swift did explain in a recent interview that she simply put their picture in there because she is a big fan, but who knows, maybe something will happen in the future!
Smallzy: There are some rumors about some collaborations on the album… Why are the Dixie Chicks on the wall? Can you say anything?
Taylor: I can ‘cuz that is really just sort of me loving the Dixie Chicks and having written the line There’s a lot of cool chicks out there. So I wanted to pay homage to the coolest chicks in the world which are the Dixie Chicks because I’m such a hardcore fan and I always will be.
Meredith and Olivia on the sofa? They made their music video debut as Swift’s “young daughters.”
There were also some new clues planted in the scene.
There’s a Christmas tree in the corner of the room that Swift herself said is a clue. As some of you may know, Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm. She visited her childhood home last year and posted about it on Instagram, perhaps another clue? Many believe the title of her album is ‘Home,’ a motif that appears again and again in the video. Or possibly just returning to her roots. There’s a lot of reminiscing about past music videos, inspirations and musicals. So this era could be just a celebration of everything she’s done.
After insisting she is calm by exclaiming “Je Suis Calm!”, Swift heads out of the apartment and sings the opening line. “I promise that you’ll never find another like me.” Her flirty inflection is a callback to her hit “Blank Space” but also combines a dress similar to the one she wore during “Treacherous” on the Red Tour.
Urie looks out the window and nearby is a clock. Now, the clock could just be there as part of the apartment décor, but with Swift, everything is usually a clue. The clock was set to 8:30 which might possibly be an album release date (but doesn’t match the calendar stamp theory date for August, which was the 13th.)
As Swift travels to the door she encounters 13 snake clouds and makes it through unscathed (despite one of them trying to swallow her whole), leaving her darkness behind. Also, behind her are shadows of her former selves fighting, an iconic scene from the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video. She doesn’t need to battle anymore, she knows her identity. To quote the song, “I’m the only one of me” and proud of it.
Next, we find Swift outside in a bright yellow suit, another Instagram reveal! She is also surrounded by 7 women, possibly relating to this being her 7th studio album. The number can’t be a coincidence!
She isn’t dancing on any street, it’s a rainbow road straight out of this post.
It may not be yellow but the colorful brick road has fans making comparisons to The Wizard of Oz and Dorothy’s fight to get back home.
Urie sees her and flies off the balcony, like something out of Mary Poppins. He lands next to a damsel, Swift in a dreamy pink gown. Look familiar?
It looks like a frame from her music video “Begin Again” and the neon lights (which spell out ‘Lover’) have us thinking of the musical Moulin Rouge. Fans are also speculating it may be the title of a future song. Another title could be “Blue Eyed Lover.”
This scene shows us a view of London, which is a possible nod to where Swift has been spending a lot of her off time since her boyfriend of 2.5 years, Joe Alwyn lives there. We can also clearly see the backdrop, which some think is a chrysalis, and others a mosaic heart. We are leaning towards the mosaic heart since hearts seem to be a theme throughout the song.
Urie pleas to get Swift back with flowers and a ring, possibly in relation to all the news that she was getting engaged, which she brushes off. He finally wins her over with an adorable kitten, who became Swift’s real-life pet, Benjamin Button.
READ: THE STORY OF TAYLOR SWIFT ADOPTING BENJAMIN BUTTON
This might be the biggest real-life reveal in the music video. As Swift confirmed, the video shows something she’s been keeping a secret for months! She later introduced us to him!
Happy and in love, Urie exposes his heart and the camera zooms inside. The kaleidoscope heartbeat under his coat is literally a “Welcome To New York” lyric come to life! It’s also an image Swift has reblogged on tumblr, making others further think it’s a possible album name contender.
On the other side, Swift is looking like a 60’s queen, dancing with hearts and cupids. The backdrop of the stage might be another hint, it looks like it spells out home. or could they actually be 13s? The dancing is also similar to that of Hairspray, another musical!
— jess evelyn 💗🦋 #MEoutnow (@repudrama) April 26, 2019
The pair wave off to the next scene, in which Swift and Urie are in full marching band gear to perform the bridge. The lyrics are quirky but we can all agree spelling is fun, especially if you play Scrabble. Fans have also adopted this mantra as possibly being the “1, 2, 3 Let’s Go B*tch” they screamed out last tour during “Delicate.” When talking about that line, Swift said she added it so people would know the song wasn’t a serious love song.
“So the lyrics, that’s a tone decision that we mad in the studio. Like, we literally were like, “Okay, let’s say, ‘Hey kids, spelling is fun!'” Because we want everyone to know that this song is not really serious because it’s not, like, a serious love song. It’s about embracing and owning that you at times feel like, you know, you’re irreplaceable and I want those times to be more often when they hear this song and it gets stuck in their head. I think with a pop song you have the ability to get something stuck in people’s heads and I just want it to be a mantra that kind of is much more self-love than what we often times feel which is self-loathing and insecurity.” – Taylor Swift
The choreography and sheer happiness could be straight out of the video for “Shake It Off” as Swift is lifted up in a similar manner to her cheerleading move.
Urie and Swift then run off to the end of the road together, to a rainbow tower. The bright lights and outfits als make it look like Emerald City, another nod to Wizard of Oz, as Dorothy’s last stop before going home.
If the album is called home then it would explain the wizard of oz theme! Dorothy wanted to go home! #Memusicvideo @taylorswift13 @taylornation13 🌈 pic.twitter.com/WBmU07MRBs
— 🦋stream ME! (@butterflyflood) April 27, 2019
The pair wind up dancing in what can only be described as a glowing rainbow tunnel and they look infectiously happy. Swift is wearing her classic ‘old Taylor’ cowboy boots. We definitely missed this wardrobe staple! This is another nod to her roots and getting her start in Country Music.
The video ends with Swift and Urie dancing in the rain, not just any rain though, this is rainbow rain! Dancing in a blue dress in the rain is nothing new to Swift if you remember her “Delicate” music video. The umbrella choreography is a clear nod to Singin’ in the Rain, another classic musical.
There seems to be a lot of musicals in this video. Swift did get her start for singing and acting performing musical theater when she was younger. She starred in musicals like Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie, Grease, and The Sound of Music. She will also be starring in the movie version of the musical CATS that comes out in December. Fitting right?
This video was magical and will definitely be on repeat! Not just because of the catchy tune but to get a closer look at all the clues. Swift herself confirmed the next single and album title are hidden in the video, which fans have yet to discover, or has yet to be confirmed by Swift.
So… the new album title is actually revealed somewhere in the video AND so is the title of the second single, but I haven’t seen people finding them yet…
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) April 26, 2019
🕵️♂️🕵️♀️ #MEmusicvideohttps://t.co/cdxQ6dFiar
So far the theories of album names with strong connections seem to be Home, Kaleidoscope, Daisy (the flowers he gives, the flowers on her dress, the new merch she has put out), Metamorphosis, Heart (or variation like Heartbeat). Could 13, Angels, Daylight or Lover be contenders? Maybe the next single? Is the next single also the album title or are there two different clues?
Swift said she would tell us all when she tells us and she respects all the theories so much. She just needs us to calm down a little before she does.
WATCH: Taylor Swift ft Brendon Urie in the “ME!” Music video
Editors note: This piece was a joint collaboration by Bianca Szklaruk and Jencita Vargas.
