taylor swift midnights easter eggs clues boyfriends

Every Cheeky Celeb Easter Egg In Taylor Swift’s Midnights’ Lyrics

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Taylor Swift has, once again, done what Taylor Swift does best: dropped a killer album and set the internet ablaze.

Midnights is the superstar’s tenth studio album, marking her return to pop music with an electronic and synthy twist. The album has garnered mostly positive reviews while smashing records as Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day.

And like every Taylor Swift album, fans are now obsessing over the lyrics in her new songs. If you’re a diehard or casual Swiftie, you’ll know that Taylor drops easter eggs throughout her songs, and we’ve rounded up the celebrities we reckon she’s referencing in her Midnights lyrics, including her ex-boyfriends and of course, her (many) enemies.

Here’s the celebrity easter eggs we spotted in the lyrics in Taylor Swift’s Midnights:

‘Lavender Haze’

Lyrics: “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride. The only kinda girl they see is a one-night or a wife.”

Explanation: Taylor said that the song’s title was borrowed from Mad Men to describe the feeling of being in love. Therefore, the song’s subject has to be Taylor’s longterm partner and actor, Joe Alwyn, who she’s been dating for six years. As Taylor’s longest relationship, the pop singer still gets plagued with questions over when they will get engaged.

‘Maroon’

Lyrics: “And I chose you, the one I was dancing with, in New York, no shoes.”

Explanation: We reckon this is a cheeky nod to Taylor’s controversial and short-lived romance with Tom Hiddleston. Taylor and Tom were first linked when they were spotted dancing together at the Met Gala in New York in 2016.

 

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‘Anti-Hero’

Lyrics: “It’s me. Hi, I’m the problem. It’s me. At teatime, everybody agrees.”

Explanation: The nod to “teatime” could be referencing Taylor’s biggest controversy: when, in 2016, Kim Kardashian spilled all the tea by unleashing the phone recordings between Taylor and Kanye West discussing the controversial lyrics for his song, ‘Famous’.

Kim’s receipts resulted in the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty trending on Twitter, which could be an example of ‘everybody agreeing’.

‘You’re On Your Own, Kid’

Lyrics: “I see the great escape, so long, Daisy May.”

Explanation: Fans are wildly speculating that Daisy May may be the name of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ fourth child. This follows a pattern of Swift dropping the names of their three daughters in her songs, with James, Inez, and Betty all appearing on Folklore.

‘Midnight Rain’

Lyrics: “He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain. He wanted a bride, I was making my own name. Chasing that fame, he stayed the same,” before she sings, “Jumping off things in the ocean, I broke his heart ’cause he was nice.”

Explanation: This again take me back to the #Hiddleswift era. Swifties will remember the iconic paparazzi photos that emerged from Taylor’s 2016 Fourth of July party on the beach that Tom Hiddleston attended. The Marvel actor was spotted frolicking in the ocean with Taylor while wearing an ‘I Heart TS’ singlet. Choices were made!

‘Vigilante Shit’

Lyrics: “You did some bad things, but I’m the worst of them,” along with “Someone told his white-collar crimes to the FBI.”

Explanation: Taylor has a few enemies, but this perhaps fits what she’s said about Scooter Braun the best. In 2019, Scooter’s Ithaca Holdings sold the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six albums. In response, Taylor posted a long statement on Tumblr accusing Scooter of “bullying” her for years, and claiming Scooter had “stripped me of my life’s work”. As far as “white-collar crimes” go, Scooter became embroiled in a fraud lawsuit in 2021.

Lyrics: “She needed cold, hard proof, so I gave her some. She had the envelope, where you think she got it from?”

Explanation: I’d hazard a guess that this is directed at Kim Kardashian. As far as “cold hard proof,” this could be referring to Taylor releasing the full convo she had with Kanye over ‘Famous’ in 2020, which painted a slightly different picture to the edited clip Kim shared in 2016.

Lyrics: “Picture me, thick as thieves, with your ex-wife.”

Explanation: Taylor could be referring to Scooter’s ex-wife Yael Cohen Braun, or potentially Kim. While Yael initially came out guns blazing against Taylor in 2019, this was long before she confirmed she was divorcing Scooter in 2021. Could Taylor and Yael be besties now?

Then there’s Kim, who filed to divorce Kanye in 2021, and has randomly changed her tune on the pop singer in recent years. In an interview last year, Kim praised Taylor’s music, saying “I really like a lot of her songs. They’re all super cute and catchy.” Could these two have become “thick as thieves” since the Kanye divorce? I doubt it, but I’d love to see that play out.

‘Bejewelled’

Lyrics: “Best believe I’m still bejewelled, when I walk in the room, I can still make the whole place shimmer. And when I meet the band, they ask, ‘Do you have a man?’ I could still say, ‘I don’t remember.'”

Explanation: In ‘Bejewelled’, Taylor relives a relationship where she felt “walked all over”, could she be talking about Jake Gyllenhaal? Stay with me!

Swifties know ‘All Too Well’ is meant to be about the demise of Taylor and Jake’s relationship, and in the ’10 Minute Version’, Taylor sings “The idea you had of me. Who was she? A never-needy, ever lovely jewel, whose shine reflects on you.” Jewel? Bejewelled? Get it! Could this be ‘All Too Well’s boppy part-two? Maybe!

‘Karma’

Lyrics: “Spiderboy, king of thieves, weave your little webs of opacity. My pennies made your crown. Trick me once, trick me twice. Don’t you know that cash ain’t the only price? It’s coming back around.”

Explanation: Arguments could be made for this being about both Kanye West and Scooter Braun: two men whose careers were propped up by either their feuds with Taylor, or by her success.

‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’

Lyrics: “I would’ve stayed on my knees, and I damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil at 19.”

Explanation: Swift briefly dated John Mayer when she was 19, and she would go on to sing about the relationship in ‘Dear John’. The lyrics to that song sound freakishly similar to ‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’, as Taylor sang “Don’t you think 19’s too young to be played by your dark twisted games?” Same, same!