Looks like Swifties have been able to crack the code from the vault. Well, some of it, anyway.
On Thursday (August 5), Taylor Swift cheekily posted a new teaser for her Red re-recording that included a red video of a vault revealing several words that need to be unscrambled. She seems to be having fun with giving her fans a puzzle, just being “casually cruel in the name of being honest,” to quote her famous heartbreak track “All Too Well.” She also included a follow-up tweet, stating, “Your next clue will be in the spot where you hear red…”
Fans were quick to discover that the puzzle is a crossword, based on the “Red” lyric “a crossword and realizing there’s no right answer.” Upon unscrambling, they discovered the names Phoebe Bridgers, Chris Stapleton, and Ed Sheeran. Naturally, Sheeran would take part again, since he previously sang with Swift on the original version of “Everything Has Changed” from 2012, but the former two are hinted to be featured in some exclusive Taylor songs from “the vault.”
There were also a couple of tracks for Red (Taylor’s Version) that fans were able to successfully decode. Of course, the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” they’ve all been anticipating will likely surface from the depths. “Ronan” was also found in the puzzle, which referenced a tear-jerking ballad Swift released exclusively to iTunes dedicated to four-year-old Ronan Thompson’s fatal battle with cancer. Billboard confirmed on July 30 that Swift was able to re-record the song for her version of Red with the permission of Ronan’s mother.
The rest of the remaining words are a tough challenge, as fans are stressing on whether some words (“forever,” “winter,” “babe”) are likely names for song titles from the vault. One of them might be “Better Man,” a 2016 song that Swift originally wrote but then gave it to Little Big Town. It charted No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs. Swift has only performed the song live three times.
If you want to really confirm your detective skills, you can actually head to her website and fill in your answers to unlock the vault. But what if there is no right answer? In Taylor’s words, love is a ruthless game, so we shall see later whether fans are indeed correct.
Red (Taylor’s Version) will follow her re-recording of Fearless and is expected to be released on November 19, 2021.
