Send in the (Taylor Swift) Clowns

I can’t sleep so y’all are getting a completely random blog post and I will not apologize for it. Seriously, I’ve been awake since 4am, it’s not 6am, my alarm is going off at 7am and this won’t post until 7pm.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a late in life Swiftie. When she first hit the scene, I didn’t quite understand the appeal. I also wasn’t the biggest country fan having grown up listening to way too much country and the genre annoyed more than entertained me. I will admit that the pop version of Teardrops on My Guitar did win me over at one point.

I did dabble in the Speak Now era and somehow missed the Red album entirely. The year I moved to Florida, we were blessed with 1989. I ended up grabbing a copy of the CD at Target and it fell into my regular rotation of music in my car and eventually on my iPod. (I acknowledge that EVERYTHING about this paragraph makes me old as hell.)

For those who have been following me for a while know that in 2015 I had the world’s weirdest 15 minutes of fame during Halloween Horror Nights. I started posting pictures from the event with lyrics from Taylor Swift as the captions. It started as a joke and quickly turned into a mission for no reason whatsoever. I ended up walking around the event with my headphones in (connected to my iPod because I’m still old) listening to Taylor Swift for caption inspiration. 

I don’t think I can truly pinpoint the moment I became a Swiftie but it sure did happen. My biggest problem with being a newfound Swiftie is that I didn’t actually own any physical copies of her music other than 1989 (and I have no idea where that CD is as I’ve moved twice since I bought it). So I listen to it on Apple Music (look ma, no more iPod!). 

I won’t go into the whole “stolen version” / “taylor’s version” thing here but I’m nothing if not loyal to Miss Swift. So I make sure to only listen to music that she owns.

I’ve been loving the re-recordings because they’ve given me a chance to fall in love with Taylor Swift in the way that Day-One Swifties had all those years ago. [see: My Second Chance at Falling in Love with Taylor Swift (Even Though She’s A Zombie)]. She also managed to get me to buy vinyl. 

Yep, I’m a vinyl guy now. I just bought a new record player. 

This is actually the first time I’ve bought a record player despite it being the third one I’ve owned. This has nothing to do with anything but I think it’s a fun fact. I might not know what “fun” is anymore.

All of this is just a REALLY long winded way of saying that I was REALLY hoping for a Reputation (Taylor’s Version) announcement the other night. Like the rest of Swiftie-Nation, my eyes were glued to someone livestreaming a livestream on TikTok waiting for the surprise songs on the final Eras Tour show of 2023. I was wildly texting back and forth with my friend Jessica about it, both of us justifying why it was going to happen tonight.

I’d have felt foolish if there hadn’t been over 100,000 people watching the same livestream and doing the same thing in the comments.

Alas, no such announcement. We did get The Eras Tour streaming date the following day so I guess that’s something. I look forward to watching it an unhealthy number of times in the privacy of my own living room while, very likely, crying as this is the closest I will come to actually getting to see the concert.

Now, I’m not trying to rush anything. I’m still processing 1989 (Taylor’s Version) which is home to the best vault tracks she has released thus far.

But here’s my problem. I’m not in my 1989 Era at the moment. Yes, this was the album that converted me and got me my mild internet fame, but it’s not where I’m at as a person right now. If anything, 1989 TV has done a great job at putting me in my feels and making me think way too much about my ex. (That’s a whole other late-night / early-morning blog post). 

Reality is, I’m in my Reputation Era. I want to be wearing all black, not talking to anyone, and singing really angry, loud songs. (I’ve been getting my fix with Kelly Clarkson’s “Chemistry” when it comes to singing loud and wanting to cry all at the same time). 

I’m not as good as others when it comes to unraveling the puzzle that is Taylor Swift. I do pick up the random easter eggs here and there but I’ve only been right once and that was the date she announced 1989 TV. I couldn’t follow the logic for the potential 11/26 Reputation TV announcement but I was happy to jump on board.

Frankly, I think the smartest/funniest thing that she could do is just drop the album. No announcement, no warning, no logic to it at all. Just drop it. All of a sudden it shows up on streaming, her online store is loaded with Rep merchandise, etc. The NEXT day the physical copies are available in stores. But no one said a damn thing. Her army of followers will know in about half a second and it’ll spread worldwide in less than a minute but it would be funny as hell.

That’s just my random two cents.

My newest theory is that it’s coming on New Year’s Day because, you know, the song. There’s also a good chance we won’t see the final two re-releases until 2025. Taylor loves a good pattern. She did two re-releases followed by a new album. Now we have two more re-releases. So in 2024, new album?

Theory two doesn’t track now that I think about it because why start an album cycle in the middle of a tour when it would be difficult to add it into an already packed show. So two re-releases in 2024 makes sense and then a new album post-tour. Though I have to imagine she’ll take some time off after this tour. I’m exhausted for her.

At any rate, my alarm is about to go off which means I’m going to get ready for work where I’ll likely be cranky from lack of sleep.

I’m curious if anyone reading has Reputation TV theories. Let me hear em!