If you know me, you know I am a die-hard Swiftie. If you know anything about Swifties, you know that we love to make convoluted conspiracy predictions based on any arbitrary action Taylor Swift did that could be interpreted as an “Easter Egg.” Normally, these are all proven false, and we walk away like clowns. However, with the announcement of “Karma”, we FINALLY won one.
In the buildup to her new album “Midnights” on October 21st, Taylor created a Tiktok series called “Midnight Mayhem with Me,” in which, one by one, she announced the track list to her upcoming album in a random Bingo-like game. In an especially exciting episode of this game for Swifties, she announced that Track 11 will be titled “Karma” and proceeded to laugh about the name for the rest of the video. Now, for those viewers who are not well versed in Taylor conspiracy, the laugh may have been a little confusing, which is why I am taking the liberty to break down the “Karma” theories that have existed in the hearts of all Swifties since 2016.
Immediately leading up to “Reputation,” Taylor disappeared from the public eye for a whole year. This was caused by her beef with Kim and Kanye as well as the widespread internet she received at the time. That is a totally separate topic, and I highly recommend watching her Netflix documentary “Miss Americana” for all of those juicy details. During this disappearance, she was due to release her sixth studio album. Up until that point, she had released an album every two years, which she had begun to write during the previous era. So, fans were speculating that she had already written an album titled “Karma” during her “1989” tour and was just waiting to release it. Additionally, every time Taylor entered a new era, she was known to transform her hairstyle. This just may be Swifties reaching for any clues, but 2016 was the era of “bleachella,” when Taylor cut and bleached her hair blonde. This, again, convinced fans that she had a new album under her belt waiting to see the light. In her 2016 interview with Vogue, the interviewer asks, “What do you think is the most important life lesson for someone to learn?” Taylor literally responds, “That Karma is real” and adds a little all-knowing smirk. With all of this evidence, fans started converting their wardrobes to all orange (the supposed color of the album) and preparing for what we thought would be the Taylor Swift rock era of the century.
In a shocking turn of events, Taylor dropped everything and wrote “Reputation” during her year of hiding. She made it clear that this was not in her original plan, and she just needed to drop this album to preserve her “reputation.” No one was complaining about a new album, but we were all a little disappointed, thinking that “Karma” was lost in the vaults forever.
Some details of Taylor’s music videos in the next couple of years kept “Karma” on the back burners of our minds despite the release of three new, unrelated albums and two re-records since “Reputation.” In the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, there is a scene where Taylor is dressed in orange while swinging in a birdcage. This could allude to “Karma,” the orange album that was locked up because it never had the chance to be released. There is another scene where all of Taylor’s eras stand in front of a plane. All of these eras are recognizable, such as “Fearless” Taylor and VMA Taylor, except for a Taylor dressed in orange. The plane itself has “Reputation” painted over it, alluding to the idea there was a different name previously painted on the plane…possibly “Karma?”
“The Man” music video has an even more concrete reference to “Karma.” The man is seen standing in the subway station with graffiti in the background. The graffiti lists all of Taylor’s albums in a circle, but includes the word “Karma”, in orange, as well. Why would this arbitrary word be included along with all of her albums, unless it was another album itself?
I could go on about this theory for days, but hopefully all of these clues better explain why every Swiftie was SHOOK when the Track 11 title was released. “Karma” IS real, and it is coming. October 21st actually, midnight sharp.