“Karma” is Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, it’s also a cat, a god, the breeze in her hair on the weekend and a relaxing thought, among other things. “Karma” is also now full of some major Easter eggs that seem to point toward at least two of the pop star’s re-records. And if I were a betting woman, I'd say that based on this music video 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Reputation (Taylor’s Version) could be Swift’s next upcoming projects to be re-released.
From some subtle Roman numerals to a gothic scene to some coyly colored nails, Taylor Swift seems to have laid the groundwork for her next two re-releases, just like she did with the “Bejeweled” music video and all the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) Easter eggs. So, let’s break them down. But, first, check out the East egg-laden “Karma” music video for yourself:
After Swift premiered the music video right before she played her surprise songs in East Rutherford, New Jersey, she took to Twitter to like some of the Swifties’ posts that point out Easter eggs that seem to allude to two possible re-records.
We’ll go in chronological order with these, and start with the Roman numerals you can see at the bottom of the statue Swift is acting as toward the beginning of the video. One fan pointed out that those numbers work out to be 1989, both the year the pop star was born, and the name of her fifth album. Swift liked one tweet from @glitterswift713 that pointed this out, check it:
!!!! #KarmaMusicVideo @taylornation13 @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/XXrQl7APN5May 27, 2023
After that, the world of the video turns upside down and Swift appears in all black, with her hair slicked back in a way that resembled the album cover for Reputation and one of her looks from the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video. The singer also liked a tweet about this little point, as @xmastreefarm13 posted:
If this is any indication of how EPIC reputation (taylor's version) will be.....!!!!! 😍🔥🐍 #karmamusicvideo pic.twitter.com/7dalaejZlDMay 27, 2023
The final major Easter egg that Swift herself acknowledged was from the final moments of the video. We see a mug with latte art that creates a clock that’s about to strike midnight. You’ll notice that her nails in the frame are painted light blue and black, notably the colors of 1989 and Reputation, respectively. One Swiftie, @findingrep pointed this out in a reply to Taylor Nation:
THE NAIL POLISH SHES SO CRYPTIC #KARMAMUSICVIDEO pic.twitter.com/Py04fVUrihMay 27, 2023
So, hopefully, much like how the “Bejeweled” music video ultimately led to the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) announcement, “Karma” will also lead to the news that we’re getting two more re-records in the near future.
While these were the three clues Taylor Swift liked herself on Twitter, fans were pointing out other details left and right and I noticed a few myself, here’s some of them:
- The five birds in the background while Swift rows a boat with Ice Spice could signify 1989 as the fifth album, and birds were closely associated with that record as @Madison19xx pointed out.
- The mask Swift wears in the video while she’s in the underworld resembles the cat mask she wears in the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video.
- The light blue dress Swift wears when she’s laying on the cat rug matches the color for 1989, and her hair is curled in a way to make it look short, like it was on that world tour.
- There’s a moment where the hourglass falls over Swift’s eyes and could resemble the sunglasses she wore in the “Blank Space” music video as @thatkalebitch pointed out.
These are just a few of the clues hidden in the “Karma” video, since Taylor Swift is well-known for being sly like this all the time (I mean just look at the Easter eggs in the “Lavender Haze” video), it’s really no surprise that there were so many fun hints toward her possible next projects. However, it’s always fun to dissect the little breadcrumbs the megastar drops throughout her videos, songs and even tour, and I’d bet the closer we get to these two albums’ releases, the more fun hints we’ll get.