week 5 post 2: easter eggs

 One of the ways that Swift uses to connect with her fans is to leave easter eggs for fans to decode. This started all the way back with her first album, where she used lyric books to capitalize certain letters that when put together, spelled out a message. Not only did fans enjoy having a little puzzle to solve, it also drew attention to the genius of Swift’s lyrics. In her album Red she did the same thing, dropping names and in All Too Well’s case, maple lattes. She references this drink because there were paparazzi photos of her and Jake Gyllenhaal holding maple lattes, subtly confirming to fans who the song was about. In her album Reputation she moved away from the lyric book clues and left countless easter eggs in the Look What You Made Me Do music video. Some of the most famous are the throne of snakes, referencing Kim Kardashian calling her a snake and a dollar bill in the bathtub referencing a sexual assault case where she sued for $1. 

There are countless hidden messages and meanings within her word choice, punctuation, dates, prices, clothing, and so much more. A major contributor to her strong fanbase is these easter eggs. She creates hidden messages just for the fans devoted enough to interpret them and makes it fun to anticipate her next move. A lot of the time, fans end up finding meaning where there is none and their expectations for a new album on a specific date never come to pass, but that’s all part of the fun.