Twelve albums and eighteen years is nothing short of a miracle for an artist in the music industry, especially a woman. Taylor Swift is known for her relationship with her fans called “Swifties.” She’s constantly dropping hints and “easter eggs” that give clues to her next move. This method keeps her fans interested and engaged by analyzing everything she does. Dropping these hints goes back to the beginning of her career, so it’s safe to say that her fans are practically experts at deciphering these clues. For her new album, Midnights, released on October 21st of this year, she has started something new: “Midnights Mayhem with Taylor Swift.”

Randomly, Swift posts a video at midnight on TikTok. In each of these videos, Swift reveals a new track title from the coming album. The artist sits in a dim room in an unknown location, yet another mystery for her fans. The track number that is revealed is seemingly random, but there is speculation on whether or not she has pre-recorded the videos and picked the tracks to be announced. As soon as Swift posted the first video on her TikTok, the floodgates opened for new theories and conspiracies. It was indeed mayhem. As the nights went on, fans started to put together these seemingly random clues into a possible bigger message. However, further questions are still arising. 

For example, why is Swift holding the phone upside down in some videos? Some fans are convinced that the upside-down phone is a sign that she is collaborating with Harry Styles. Harry’s House, his third studio album, pictures Styles standing in an upside-down house. Fans quickly made the connection and refused to believe Swift hadn’t secretly featured Styles on one of the tracks. As the release date grew closer, fans correctly predicted a double album theory, speculating that the 11th track on Midnights, called “Karma,” was a clue to a second album of that same name. 

Even with years of “experience,” Swifties often go off the rails and create extremely far-fetched theories, most making fans sound nothing short of crazy. At the end of the day, they’re just hopeful. Swift will continue to release these “easter eggs” throughout her career, but there are still many clues that no one has picked up on yet. All we can do is continue watching the mayhem with Taylor Swift every midnight.