Taylor Swift has a “habit of dropping cryptic clues and easter eggs when giving you information about new music” as she said in her latest TikTok when announcing a new series ‘defying’ how she announces things. 

“Welcome to a new series I’m calling Midnights Mayhem with me,” Taylor says.

In this series, I will be deep diving into each Midnights announcement Taylor drops. The first two things we are discussing are Episodes I and II of the “Midnights Mayhem with Me” TikTok series on Taylor’s account. The first episode aired September 21st at midnight sharp (just like it says in Taylor’s Instagram bio). Many fans theorize that Taylor will announce 13 things at midnight in correlation with this newest album which she described as “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life”. The theory goes that Taylor simulated these sleepless nights by dropping surprise things at midnight. 

“I am going to be using this technologically advanced device [a bingo cage] to help me allow fate to decide exactly what track titles I’m going to be announcing and in what order,” Swift says. “In this cage are 13 ping pong balls labeled 1-13, each representing a track on Midnights.”

This approach of announcing tracks is very different from Swift’s normal easter eggs. People are suspicious of what Taylor is up to, and to be honest I am too.

“The first track I’m going to tell you about,” Taylor says in her first episode. “Track 13 because of course. Track 13 is called… Mastermind”

Right off the bat many theorized that each song title will start with an M like the album itself. Others thought that the track list would be alphabetical, a-m (although I have no idea where they got that from with only one song so far). The one thing that didn’t sit well with me was how the first track she announced, by “fate”, happened to be the 13th and last track on the album. Swift has been connected to the number 13 for her whole career. She’s been very clear that it’s her lucky number, the main reason being her birthday (December 13th) as well as other coincidences at the beginning of her career. She uses it in her songs, her music videos, even her clothes. So when the first track was the 13th, I immediately thought that this couldn’t be a coincidence.

“I will now be leaving it up to fate and announcing the next track,” Swift says in the second episode of Midnight Mayhem With Me. “Let’s go. Track 8… Vigilante Shit.”

This new track title was definitely bold for Swift. It dispelled many theories by Swifties but when some theories go down the drain, others are formed. Although Taylor had a different outfit and hairstyle, her bangs were the same along with her jewelry. I do not believe that the track’s announcements are left up to “fate”, I believe this is all being masterminded by Taylor herself. 

Others think that the first two tracks’ first letter means something. M and V often stand for music videos. This gives fans hope for a new music video from Swift in the future.

This new series from Taylor Swift is carefully crafted and I believe means something more than she is letting on. I have a feeling that this album is going to be something different from Swift’s typical style.