In hindsight, these Taylor Swift Evermore easter eggs were right in front of us, but they were also so subtle that even the most eagle-eyed Swifties could have missed them. Thankfully, we’re finally piecing together all the ways that Swift hinted at her new album before her official announcement on Thursday, December 10, when she took to social media to surprise fans with the news that her ninth studio album would drop at midnight.
In her announcement, Swift, 30, explained that her new album Evermore is a “sister record” to Folklore, her eighth studio album released just five months earlier in July 2020. “To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,” she captioned her post on Instagram. “To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.”
Swift continued, “I’ve never done this before. In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. There was something different with folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them.”
The singer went on to thank her collaborators—including a shoutout to “WB,” a.k.a. William Bowery, who Swift confirmed is a pseudonym for her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn after he contributed to songs like “Betty” and “Exile” on Folklore. “I loved creating these songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB, and Justin Vernon,” Swift concluded. “We’ve also welcomed some new (and longtime) friends to our musical kitchen table this time around.”
What Swift didn’t mention in her announcement, however, was just how clever she was when it came to dropping hints about Evermore in the weeks leading up to its release. So, let’s dive into some of those. Read on for every Taylor Swift Evermore easter egg you might have missed so far.
“Not a lot going on at the moment.”
Swifties already know that when their queen says there’s “not a lot going on at the moment,” that, in fact, means there’s a lot going on at the moment. The cryptic phrase made an appearance ahead of the release of her eighth studio album, Folklore, in April when she shared this selfie to Instagram and captioned it, “Not a lot going on at the moment.” The phrase goes back to her music video for “22,” where Swift was spotted wearing a T-shirt with those very same words on it.
Turns out, fans were right about this being a clue: Swift shared the post the same day she wrote Folklore’s lead single, “Cardigan.” So you can imagine how excited fans were when they realized she decided to use this hint one more time in a post shared on November 22:
But fans weren’t really expecting a whole new album after seeing this. Most thought that the caption of her grayscale snap was a reference to her re-recording sessions, until they noticed something surprising in the background of her photo…
A “Willow” tree
https://twitter.com/evermoregus/status/1337034434999160833?s=20
Look a little closer into the background of Swift’s November 22 photo, and you’ll find a little framed photo of a willow tree—a clear hint at Evermore’s lead single, “Willow.” Others even spotted that the framed image below the willow is made up of ivy leaves. Track No. 10 on Evermore is, you guessed it, “Ivy.”
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1334962815979941890
Even earlier in December, Swift made a more direct reference to “Willow” when she tweeted her response to Rolling Stone‘s 50 Best Albums of 2020 list. Swift was so thrilled, she wrote about throwing herself “to the base of a willow tree by a reflection pool at midnight,” which TBH, is a really wordy way to express one’s excitement—unless, of course, that sentence is also a teaser for one of “Willow”s lyrics?!
Her grandmother “Majorie”
https://twitter.com/TSwiftNZ/status/1337041092240416769?s=20
Fans will remember that Folklore’s 13th track, “Epiphany” was a tribute to Swift’s grandfather. Well, it looks like Evermore is bringing things full circle with a tribute to another grandparent: Her grandmother, Marjorie. “Marjorie” is also listed as the 13th track on Evermore, which led Swifties to do some digging and confirm the connection with photos of her grandma, who passed away in June 2003. She’d be so proud.
“‘Tis the Damn Season,” for a teaser
https://twitter.com/TSwiftNZ/status/1337032235157835776
Just 24 hours before Swift announced Evermore, she took to her Instagram Stories to include a sneaky, yet conveniently timely reference to one of her songs on the album. “This outfit really screams ‘TIS THE DAMN SEASON,” she noted on a photo from her Entertainment Weekly cover story. Fast-forward to December 10, and fans realized that “‘Tis the damn season” also happens to be Track No. 4 on Evermore.
Evermore is a birthday present
In simple terms, Evermore’s release coincides with Swift’s birthday month. Though, it isn’t being released *right* on her birthday, so Swift just had to include a more direct reference: One fan noted that the original versions of Folklore and Evermore had 16 and 15 songs, respectively. Add that number up, and you get 31—a.k.a. the age she’ll be on December 13, 2020. Genius!
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Source: Stylecaster.com
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