Subtle references and sneaky digs: All the Easter eggs in Taylor Swift's Midnights album.

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Taylor Swift dropped her 10th studio album, Midnights, yesterday - and literally crashed Spotify in the process.

You see, Swifties - the singer's dedicated fans - needed to listen to the album immediately, and play their favourite game - find all the Easter eggs the singer placed throughout.

Ever since her earliest albums, Swift has been leaving clues about what her songs mean and who they’re about. 

When CDs were still a thing, she would capitalise random letters in the lyric books to spell out secret messages. And as physical albums became less common, she got more inventive - taking to her music videos, Instagram, and various other avenues to hint at all the subtle references.

Here’s every clue we've spotted in Midnights so far.

1. 'Anti-Hero'.

The lead single from the album, 'Anti-Hero', is a boppy track that portrays quite a deeper message. 

The lyrics take us through some of Swift's nightmares - some scary and some bizarre - that all play out in the song’s music video, which also came out yesterday. 

There are some very clear Easter eggs in the video, with the singer's future children only being left ‘13 cents’ in her will. 13 is famously Swift's favourite number, and is always referenced throughout her music. 

In the video, her fictional children claim there’s probably a 'secret encoded message' in the will, which is definitely the singer making fun of her fans for the way they try to read into everything. (Like we are now.)

It’s also showed her daughter-in-law, Kimber, wearing one of Swift's dresses to the funeral - a black number from the 2009 Fearless tour.

But these more obvious clues aren’t the only ones being found in 'Anti-Hero'. 

Cosmopolitan writer Emma Baty pointed out that the song's hook - "It’s me. Hi, I’m the problem. It’s me" - could also be a response to Swift's haters from years past. 

"I love that when she used to write all these songs about the previous men she had dated, and there were obviously all these people who were being snarky and being like, 'Well she should write a song called 'I’m The Problem'," Baty said.

"And she basically subverted that for 'Anti-Hero'."

Taylor Swift watches her fictional children from a coffin in the Anti-Hero music video. Credit: YouTube.

2. 'Midnight Rain'.

Swifties are convinced the singer is back to referencing one of her most infamous relationships in this song - her brief romance with actor Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Their relationship resurfaced this year with the re-release of Red (Taylor’s Version), and the 14-minute short film that accompanied the re-release of 'All Too Well' - the previously unheard 10-minute version of the song. 

In 'Midnight Rain', Swift sings about an ex and being caught up in their "flames", which most think is referring to the "twin fire signs" mentioned in her song 'State of Grace', which is also believed to be about Gyllenhaal. 

And let’s not forget the new lyric from 'All Too Well' that mentioned the "twin flame bruise".

3. 'Maroon'.

While 'Maroon' doesn’t seem loaded, fans are drawing comparisons between this song and her single, 'Red'. 

While the title track from her 2014 album was about the feelings of being in a head-over-heels type of love, 'Maroon' tells a tale of a darker, more grown up love - perhaps reflecting on how her feelings towards her relationship with Gyllenhaal have changed over the years.

“To me, ['Maroon'] is like the big sister to 'Red', and what a difficult thing to do and do well, especially so many years later,” Madison Feller wrote in Elle US.

4. 'Vigilante Sh*t'.

Swifties seem to think this dark track is likely about Scooter Braun, the entertainment executive who acquired the masters for the singer's first six albums, and refused to relinquish them to her. 

In the song, Swift sings, "Picture me, thick as thieves, with your ex-wife," which most assume is a reference to Yael Cohen Braun, whom Braun recently divorced. 

However, Swift also has well-documented beef with Kanye West, and if a picture was to appear of her arm-in-arm with Kim Kardashian, we definitely wouldn’t hate it.

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A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

5. 'Labyrinth'.

Swifties have a steel-trap memory for all of Swift's great moments, so it didn’t take long for them to recognise some lyrics in 'Labyrinth'. 

Earlier this year, the singer graduated with an honorary doctorate of fine arts from New York University, and gave a speech at the Commencement Ceremony. 

In her speech, she told the graduates, "as long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out. And I’m a doctor now, so I know how breathing works".

But in classic, calculated Swift fashion, she was actually teasing lyrics. In 'Labyrinth' she sings, "Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out, I’ll be getting over you my whole life."

6. 'Karma'.

Swifties also think the singer could be singing about Braun in this track. 

Fans had high hopes for 'Karma', given the theory that Swift has a secret scrapped album with the same title - a project that was abandoned after she went into hiding following her public feud with Kanye West. 

While we didn’t get confirmation of a secret album, Swift sings, "spider boy, king of thieves. Weave your little webs of opacity. My pennies made your crown". 

We’re calling it - that's definitely a reference to the masters drama.

7. 'Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve'.

We’re pretty confident this one is about John Mayer.

Swift dated the controversial rock star when she was 19, and he was 32. She sang about the relationship in her Speak Now track, 'Dear John', singing: "don’t you think 19’s too young to be played by your dark twisted games?". 

In 'Would've, Could’ve, Should’ve', she sings, "And I damn sure would’ve never danced with the devil at 19, and the God’s honest truth is that the pain was heaven."

"And now that I’m grown, I’m scared of ghosts. Memories feel like weapons," she continues.

In the past, Mayer has not been happy with the way Swift has written about him, so we’ll be sitting tight to see if he has anything to say this time.

something tells me john mayer just jumped out of his sleep with a gasp. i know he felt a shift

— tia (@cursedhive) October 21, 2022

Given it’s only been a day, the Swifties are still likely hard at work, trying to find all the secrets hidden in the words of Midnights. 

And with a music video as fun as the one for 'Anti-Hero', we're certain the singer has more to tell us in her upcoming singles and the visual mediums she creates for them.

Feature image: Instagram/@taylorswift

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