Taylor Swift, who in my opinion, is the queen of planting easter eggs into her media, just dropped her new music video for Track #9, Bejeweled, on her newest studio album, Midnights. It would not have been a true Taylor Swift music video without a combination of juicy easter eggs regarding the future of her career. Let’s break down the many easter eggs found in the Bejeweled music video.
Before the music video even begins, Taylor drops her very first easter egg regarding her future plans in music. The Bejeweled video was released this month on the 25th of October, which just so happens to be the 12th anniversary of Swift’s third studio album, Speak Now. Fans have been begging Taylor Swift to re-record this album, just as she did for Fearless and Red. Might this easter egg confirm her plans to release a possible Speak Now: Taylor’s Version?
Taylor Swift includes a second nod to Speak Now in her direction of Laura Dern’s character. The evil stepmother in this twisted version of Cinderella, portrayed by Laura Dern, says to Swift in the video, “Speak not, tired tacky wench!” Is it just me, or does “speak not” sound a whole lot like “speak now?” How clever, Taylor.
This is not the only easter egg included through the use of Laura Dern’s dialogue, as she also tells Taylor in the video, “You’ve been exiled here.” This seems to be a nod to her song, “Exile” featuring Bon Iver, which can be found on her album, Folklore. Furthermore, a few moments after this scene, Swift opens a pocket watch that reads “exile ends.” To me, this means that Taylor is putting an end to her Folklore and Evermore era, which took storm in 2020, and is now allowing for her new music to take the spotlight.
As Swifties know, 13 is Taylor Swift’s lucky number. Later in the video when she enters the elevator, she includes yet another easter egg. There are 13 buttons, each with their own color. Every color seems to correspond with an album in her discography, in the order of their releases. The 3rd button is a shade of purple, which are the colors shown on the cover of her third album, Speak Now. Digging deeper, the 13th button is the exact shade of purple that the 3rd button is. This led me to believe that she is hinting at the fact that her 13th studio album will in fact be her own version of Speak Now.
Once Taylor Swift arrives at the top, 13th floor, she sits on a clock that reads 3 o’ clock. I’m pretty sure that by now in this article you can pick up that any “3” found in this video is yet another nod to Speak Now.
The final Speak Now themed easter egg I could detect in this video is shown in Taylor Swift’s sparkly hair clips towards the end of the music video. As she strikes a pose for her royal portrait, two heart pins can be seen in Swift’s hair, one of which has an S (on top) and the other having an N (on the bottom). Hmm… What does S.N. stand for? Oh, yes! Speak Now.
With all these juicy easter eggs, if Taylor Swift’s next release is not Speak Now: Taylor’s Version, I will genuinely be shocked.