The latest theory from Taylor Swift‘s fans (affectionately called ‘Swifties’) on Twitter and TikTok is that she has a secret album called Karma that was recorded during or before 2016. They also think she plans to release it soon. We can only hope for this material, (as well as the anticipated re-release of 2010’s Speak Now) but it’s worth looking into their many seemingly convincing ideas behind the rumored LP. Our fingers are crossed that it’s true!
Swifties naturally analyze her every move on social media looking for Easter eggs related to upcoming releases, as the singer, 31, often hints to future music in Instagram photos, Tik Tok videos and other cute and clever clues.
As you may remember, Swift released her first major pop effort, 1989 in 2014 and notably didn’t drop another record until 2017’s Reputation. Ever since the beginning of her career with her 2006 self-titled debut, she released an album every two years like clockwork (Fearless followed her debut in 2008, Speak Now came out in 2010 and Red arrived in 2012).
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During the time period of 2014-2016, fans think that she wrote and recorded a record called Karma (we’ll get to the name later). They theorize that she ultimately scrapped it due to her infamous summer 2016 feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. The drama centered around him inappropriately name-dropping her on the hit track “Famous.”
As documented in her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, Swift faced online bullying from West’s fans that ultimately led her to disappear from the public eye. She then returned with 2017’s Reputation, an urban pop-inspired effort that addressed her absence. Fans think it is unlikely that the multitalented artist would have gone three years without another record if not for the West and Kardashian debacle, which leads us to the details of the Karma theory.
It seems possible that Swift had an album planned for a fall 2016 release, as this would be the logical next step in her longtime pattern. With the widely documented drama that happened that summer, fans think she would have put the idea of Karma aside while in hiding.
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You might have heard of this “secret album” theory before. Soon after the “Famous” backlash and with their favorite artist confusingly gone from the music scene, many fans speculated that she would have followed the pattern. It’s a ubiquitous idea among Swifties, and one that resurfaced on the internet after Damon Albarn recently commented on Swift’s songwriting and she tweeted a viral response to him.
As many sided with Swift in the exchange, the phrase “karma is real” began to trend. Some fans were quick to point out that the word “karma” can be seen in her music video for the 2019 track “The Man.” It appears next to her other album titles. There’s also a noticeable “MISSING” sign in-between 1989 and the word “karma,” which looks to us like she might be hinting there’s a whole LP missing?!
Another compelling clue is in Swift’s “73 Questions” interview with Vogue, in which she looks to the camera and says, “karma is real.” In Swift’s “30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30” essay for Elle, she hid a lyric from the song “Daylight,” so this shows that she often alludes to musical clues in subtle ways. These fans are really onto something!
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Lastly, there’s her “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, which also hints about a missing record. A plane is seen with the letters “TS6” which gets spray-painted over with “Reputation.” Hmm… we think all of this supposed evidence is hard to dispute.
The last two years have been impressively big for Swift— folklore won 2020’s GRAMMY for Best Album, she garnered praise for its follow-up record evermore and she also pleased longtime Swifties by releasing her re-recordings of Fearless and Red.
With so much beloved, new and reportedly upcoming content from the epic singer-songwriter, there’s plenty of music to listen to, but of course that doesn’t stop fans from craving more of her eloquent lyrics and wholehearted melodies. Maybe this theory is only real in our “Wildest Dreams,” but when thinking about folklore and evermore, Swift really has the ability to surprise us with unexpected albums at any time!
