In the words of Taylor Swift, there’s “not a lot going on at the moment”… or is there?! Initially believing that her surprise eighth studio album folklore was an only child, it now has a younger sister named evermore. But who is she?! In true Swift fashion, the carefully executed Easter eggs were right in front of our eyes the whole time. You’d think after over a decade Swifties would be getting good at this by now, but once again we underestimated the power of Taylor’s love to screw with us.
Just like we did with folklore, here’s a breakdown of all the Easter eggs you might have missed about evermore – because there’s nothing trickier than trying to tie up an invisible string of clues left behind by one of our generations most prolific songwriters.
Not a lot going on at the moment
SHE CAN’T BE TRUSTED.
“not a lot going on at the moment”#folklore // #evermore pic.twitter.com/thSpgtskYt
— Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) December 10, 2020
The willow tree painting
Just to reiterate — RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES.
🔍 | Taylor Swift has previously hinted at the title of lead-single “willow” – in a Tweet earlier this week and a picture of a willow tree in her “not a lot going on at the moment” Instagram post! pic.twitter.com/ywC4hPMJtG
— Taylor Swift News | TSwiftinAsia (@TSwiftinAsia) December 10, 2020
THAT french braid
Not gonna lie, we all thought it was weird af when Taylor did a 180 spin before her Artist of the Year AMAs speech — but did we question it? No. May as well get “rookie” tattooed on our wrists instead of “Fearless” at this point.
She… pic.twitter.com/s9SCQPmjBv
— Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) December 10, 2020
The nine tree emojis 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
To be fair, the internet picked up on this one, but we assumed another folklore music video was coming. Little did we know…
Over here in folkloreland we feel great about it. Thanks @latimes!🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲 https://t.co/YcCMv2zcaZ
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) December 9, 2020
‘Tis the damn season!
It’s clownery like this why I keep my therapist on speed dial.
🔎 | Taylor Swift hinted at track 4 “‘tis the damn season” on her Instagram story yesterday 🤡 #evermore pic.twitter.com/7s15uJyGC8
— Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) December 10, 2020
The “wreckmyplans” merch code
Swifties really dropped the ball on this one…
the funniest part of all of this is that taylor made the merch code “wreckmyplans” and no one even questioned it 😭😭
— claudia ☆ (@alltheendings) December 11, 2020
The folklore references in the willow music video
In her YouTube Q&A, Taylor revealed that there were scenes that referenced ‘seven’, ‘mirrorball’, ‘exile’, and ‘mad woman’.
📲 YT | Taylor Swift on writing #evermoreAlbum
“There’s a scene in the video that represents the song seven, one that represents mirrorball, one for exile, and one for mad woman.” pic.twitter.com/74aSld2tUN
— Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) December 11, 2020
The video kicks off with an easy one; picking up exactly where the ‘cardigan’ music vid left off – which in itself could also reference the lyric “I think I’ve seen this film before” from ‘exile’. The flashback scene to childhood years represents ‘seven’ and the glass box refences Taylor’s constant battle with fame, a theme delicately covered in ‘mirrorball’.
This Easter egg is almost a decade old
Speak Now fans make some noise! Maybe one of the best Easter eggs OF. ALL. TIME. At this stage we wouldn’t be surprised if she had left one or two fresh out of the womb.
i have no words shes insane pic.twitter.com/8QAkaHBzmp
— livi ❀ (@swiftsmotive) December 13, 2020
William Bowery is BACK
Rejoice! This one was swiftly worked out in a matter of minutes by Toe stans and Taylor finally confirmed our suspicions in “folklore: the long pond studio sessions.”
🚨 | Taylor Swift has confirmed that William Bowery is her boyfriend Joe Alwyn #folkloreOnDisneyPlus
“It’s not a real person. So, William Bowery is Joe, as we know. Joe plays piano beautifully (…) #exile was crazy because Joe had written the entire piano part.” pic.twitter.com/Z9gkykz10S
— Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) November 25, 2020
After adding his touch to both ‘betty’ and ‘exile’ on folklore, this time Taylor’s boyfriend Joe Alwyn plays the piano on self-titled track ‘evermore’ and lends his songwriting abilities on ‘champagne problems’ and ‘coney island’.
‘Dorothea’ is about Selena Gomez???
Read this thread immediately and try convince yourself otherwise. It’s the “you’rе a queen sellin’ dreams, sellin’ makeup and magazines” line for me.
The song ‘dorothea’ by taylor swift is about Selena Gomez: a thread🧚🏽♀️ pic.twitter.com/nI8FXJ65LD
— léa🐞 (@kbyerevival) December 11, 2020
Unrelated to the Taylena theory but Taylor also explained that “Dorothea went to the same school as Betty, James and Inez,” which is so wholesome we thought you should know.
Title-track ‘evermore” has a Cats reference and we furreal don’t mean Meredith, Olivia or Benji…
You know that motion capture movie released late last year that people have been constantly trying to erase from their memory (see what we did there?), seems like Taylor has been trying to do the same.
I know this is probably unlikely but when Taylor says “Motion capture/ Put me in a bad light” in evermore is she referencing the mo-cap suit she wore for Cats (2019)??? Is she shading Cats??? is the Cats discourse coming back??? If so, this is fucking hilarious pic.twitter.com/rltyfM8cGd
— Harriet King (@harrietnking) December 11, 2020
‘evermore’ also appears to be inspired by American poet Emily Dickinson
This one could be a reach, considering Taylor almost dropped evermore on December 18th but either way – happy belated birthday, Emily Dickinson!
YOU’RE TELLING ME TAYLOR SWIFT IS DROPPING A NEW COTTAGECORE ALBUM ON THE SAME DAY AS EMILY DICKINSON’S BIRTHDAY CALLED EVERMORE WHICH IS HOW EMILY DICKINSON CLOSED ONE OF HER MOST ROMANTIC POEMS THAT SHE WROTE FOR HER LOVER SUE GILBERT???? pic.twitter.com/NYeIymeihc
— wassim’ʬ⁸⁴’ˣ (@tayIordspatroI) December 10, 2020
‘marjorie’ is about Taylor’s grandmother
Just like track 13 on folklore was an ode to Taylor’s grandfather, track 13 ‘marjorie’ on evermore is a tribute to her grandmother opera singer Marjorie Finlay. She is also credited for singing backing vocals on the track.
🔎 | ‘epiphany’ is the 13th track on #folklore where Taylor pays tribute to her grandfather — while ‘marjorie’ is also the 13th track on her new album #evermore which is the name of her grandmother 💕 pic.twitter.com/jJ0xzhyy9q
— Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) December 10, 2020
WAIT A MINUTE… @taylorswift13 🐣🍂 pic.twitter.com/mREwhKH6sy
— 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, Aldrin | 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒌𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞✨ (@aldrinluvtaylor) December 14, 2020
‘cowboy like me’ also has a special guest on backing vocals
Swifties could put the FBI out of a job on this one. The “mystery singer” on background vocals on ‘cowboy like me’ is none other than Mumford and Sons’ Marcus Mumford! Fans had speculated that Taylor had been working with him after she was caught filming a video in his home studio.
UM HELLO TIMELINE, WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS??????? pic.twitter.com/gAiTU3Uop9
— Lala ✨𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 (@DelicateLala13) November 25, 2020
JUST IN: Taylor herself has disproved the woodvale trilogy album theory
Proving that she is human after all, Taylor revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live that she did in fact make a “mistake” by accidentally leaving fake code name woodvale on one of the folklore album covers. In response to Jimmy asking if there was a third album she said, “I’m so tired. I’m so exhausted. I’ve tired myself out. I have nothing left”, and if that’s not a phat mood for 2020 then we don’t know what is.
The great mystery of Woodvale is finally solved! @TaylorSwift13 #TaylorOnKimmel pic.twitter.com/KMSy0vOK16
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) December 15, 2020
Thank you Taylor for bringing a little magic to our lives in a year we’d rather forget!
WHAT AN AMAZING YEAR #evermore pic.twitter.com/Iwj9j8Nmqh
— Irene 🤍 / 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 (@lillyswiftt13) December 10, 2020
SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift’s ‘evermore’ is a 5-star-rated Uber ride of stories
