Taylor Swift recently released her version of her fourth studio album, Red (Taylor’s Version). Alongside the album debut, Swift created a short film to go along with the fan-favorite and universally lauded song, “All Too Well”, specifically, a ten minutes long version. Now, it truly isn’t a Taylor Swift project if there are no easter eggs hidden throughout it. Swift herself talked at The Tonight Show about her love of including easter eggs in her projects. Several easter eggs are scattered throughout the short film, but here are three that you may not have picked up on right away.
The Dropped Hand
At the 2:48 mark, Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien’s characters are having dinner with his friends. Sink reaches for his hand, but he drops it and condescendingly pats it as he places it on the table. This action leads to a fight the two characters have later on in the film.
Dropping someone’s hand is a theme that Swift herself has written about before. Notably, in her song off of her ninth studio album, Evermore. The second song on that album is “Champagne Problems,” which was about college sweethearts who had very different ideas of the future of their relationship. The narrator sings to the love interest, “I dropped your hand while dancing/Left you out there standing/Crestfallen on the landing/Champagne problems/.” In both the short film and the song, a dropped hand eventually leads to the demise of their relationship. It is not the main reason, but it brings it one step closer to the end. Or, as Swift puts it in the film, it is “the first crack in the glass/.”
The Red Present
This easter egg took a bit of an eagle’s eye to notice. At 9:44, there is a scene where Sink’s character is celebrating her 21st birthday party with her friends. O’Brien’s character is not present during this scene, which is an easter egg for another song on the album called “The Moment I Knew”.
However, the real easter egg lies in the presents on the table behind Sink. To the left, there is a red present. Unsurprising, considering the color red is a massive theme throughout the album. But this present makes an appearance in another Swift music video.
In her latest music video for the vault track “I Bet You Think About Me (feat. Chris Stapleton)”, Swift plays the wedding crasher at her ex’s wedding. She wreaks havoc, destroying the wedding cake and even gives the bride the fabled scarf she sings about in “All Too Well”. However, she also brings the unhappy couple a present to celebrate the wedding — the same red present from the 21st birthday party. Maybe she just wanted to connect something to the short film through the present, but perhaps Swift has hidden something in the red gift wrap that will be revealed soon.
The Red Hair
Later on in the film, we see Swift herself play the older version of Sink’s character. Swift’s hair is notably different in this scene to match Sink’s natural hair color. This is not the first time Swift has sported red hair for a video shoot.
In 2018, when Sugarland released their cover of “Babe,” Swift made an appearance as a red-headed woman who was participating in an affair. When the music video was released, Swift actually revealed that it was written originally for Red, but never made the final cut. Flash forward to 2021, and “Babe” was announced to be on Red (Taylor’s Version), under the label “From the Vault.”
As a Swiftie myself, I know dozens of easter eggs are hidden in this short film that remain unnoticed. Some are definitely more obvious than others, but that is what makes these projects fun! Sometimes it will take several immediate rewatches, other times it takes time for Swift to announce her latest scheme, but either way these easter-egg-related-theories will keep us tied over until then.