My head is spinning right now.
By now I'm sure you're aware that earlier this week Taylor Swift published a lengthy Tumblr post in response to the news that Scooter Braun had bought her former record label, Big Machine, for $300 million.
Rich Fury / Getty Images
Taylor revealed in the post that she had "pleaded" with Scott for "years" to own the master recordings of all six of her albums.
Jim Ruymen / UPI/PA Images
However, she wasn't given the chance to purchase them outright; the only way she'd be able to gain the rights to her work was by signing another contract with Big Machine, "earning back" one old album for every new one produced. Taylor went on to say she felt deeply betrayed by Scott selling the company to Scooter — a man she claims has subjected her to "incessant, manipulative bullying ... for years." You can catch up on all the details here.
Now, we know that Taylor is notorious for filling her work with hidden details and Easter eggs for fans to decode later. And it seems that this situation is no different. In fact, she may have been dropping hints about her feud with Scott since as early as 2016 — and everybody missed it.
CBS
Here's all the evidence.
Back in April 2016, Taylor invited Vogue into her Beverly Hills home for an appearance in its 73 Questions series. One of the questions put to her was: "What advice would you give to anyone who wants to become a singer?"
Vogue
And this was her response.
Vogue
At the time, the answer was somewhat confusing. Now fans are speculating that it was a reference to the contract Taylor signed at age 15 and the ongoing conversations about her masters.
Later that year, Taylor's 1989 won the Grammy for Album of the Year. She directed her acceptance speech to "all the young women out there", telling them that people will "try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or fame".
CBS
"But if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you," she continued, "someday when you get where you're going, you will know it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world."
Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images
At the time, it was widely assumed that the speech was a reference to the uproar surrounding Kanye West's song "Famous" which included the lyric: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? / I made that bitch famous." While Taylor's comment is arguably still about Kanye, some fans are now dissecting other parts of the speech and suggesting it was a reference to Scott as well.
After all, Taylor told the story of Scott begging her to put "three country songs" on 1989 many times throughout its creation. But she refused, telling him she wanted to make a pure pop record, and called the shots on everything from its sound to the title and artwork.
Big Machine Records
Taylor was then vindicated when 1989 became not only the most successful album of her career but the biggest release for a decade. The Grammys speech could have been an acknowledgment of that fact — that her success was down to her and her decisions alone.
And the fact Taylor touched on the treatment of women in her speech echoes the sentiment in her Tumblr post about the sale of Big Machine.
She wrote: “When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. … He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity.”
I'm also just going to leave these GIFs here.
There are many pieces of evidence that suggest "Look What You Made Me Do" — the first single from her final album with Big Machine in August 2017 — was about Scott. However, one of the most compelling parts of the theory was the scene in the video where Taylor is trapped inside a gold cage surrounded by security guards.
Big Machine Records
During this scene she sings: “I don’t like your kingdom keys / They once belonged to me / You asked me for a place to sleep / Locked me out / And threw a feast." Fans have theorised the lyrics and imagery are a visual representation of the fight for Taylor to own her masters — with her songs being "held hostage" despite the fact she'd become the linchpin in Big Machine's value and success.
Well, very interestingly, the poem "If You're Anything You're Like Me", which Taylor wrote for the release of Reputation, contains a stanza that continues the theme.
Big Machine Records
Could the "justice system" and "enemies" confining Taylor in a golden prison cell be a reference to the drama with Scott, while "finding herself" represent Taylor's choice to move on from Big Machine?
In May 2018, the Reputation tour kicked off. And every single night of the 53-date run, Taylor dedicated the performance of "Dress" to Loie Fuller — an actor and dancer who fought for artists to own their work.
Netflix
The sentiment was important then, but it hits even harder now.
Even more interestingly, Taylor posted this photo of herself playing scrabble on Oct. 21, 2018, alongside the caption: "Let the games BEGIN."
If you look very closely at the letters on her board, they look very much as though they're spelling out Loie's name.
Less than one month later, on Nov. 18, 2018, Taylor announced that she had signed to Republic Records.
And in the post in which she announced her new record deal, Taylor jumped straight into how important it was to her that she own the masters to all of her recordings.
We didn't know then that this had been an ongoing issue between her and Scott, but really the information was right there in front of our damn eyes.
Taylor celebrated New Year's Eve 2018 with a costume party at her New York home, where friends were invited to dress as their childhood heroes.
Taylor dressed as Ariel from The Little Mermaid, which was cute and everything — but snakeskinandsequins on Tumblr has now posited that this was a huge hint about the feud as well.
You might recall that, in the movie, Ariel is forced to sign a contract that allowed someone else ownership of her voice. She only gets her voice back at the end of the movie when she's freed from her contract.
Disney
What's even more fascinating, though, is that mermaids made repeated appearances on Taylor's clothing throughout the Reputation era — her last record with Big Machine Records.
CBS
For example, she wore this jacket with a mermaid motif in the magazine that was released alongside physical copies of Reputation back in November 2017.
Big Machine Records
And, at the end of her Reputation tour documentary, which was released on New Year's Eve 2018, Taylor wore a T-shirt emblazoned with two mermaids in the blooper real.
Netflix
In fact, this is actually the very last shot in the entire movie — i.e., the last appearance of Taylor in the Reputation era. Was she hinting all the way back then that she was about to reclaim her voice?!
And, finally, we all know that Taylor is releasing her seventh album, Lover, imminently. It's the first release via her new label, and therefore the first record she'll ever have full ownership of.
And butterflies have been a recurring image throughout the Lover era, which began in in late February 2019.
There have been many theories about the repeated butterfly imagery, but fans couldn't quite reach a conclusion about what they symbolised. However, in light of this news, fans now believe they represent Taylor finally being free from the terms of her Big Machine contract and gaining ownership of her future work.
And Taylor herself went on to like this post on Tumblr, confirming this theory.
My mind is blown.
- Ellie WoodwardBuzzFeed Staff
