Why fans think Taylor Swift's ‘Reputation (Taylor's Version)’ is coming soon

Fresh off the rerelease of "1989 (Taylor's Version)," Swifties are trying to determine what Taylor Swift will do next.

The pop singer now has two albums left to rerecord in order to reach her goal of owning all her masters — "Reputation" and her first album, "Taylor Swift," often referred to as "Debut" by fans.

But some are predicting Swift's sixth studio album, "Reputation," is next — and believed an announce of the rerecording would come Nov. 26 during her concert in São Paulo, Brazil, her last "Eras Tour" show of 2023. It didn't end up happening, however.

Fans have been hoping for album news for weeks now. Many were left disappointed when the popular "Nov. 10 theory" — or the hypothesis that the singer would announce or even release the new "Reputation" exactly seven years after it originally came out — didn't come to fruition.

But Swifties aren't giving up!

Here’s everything to know about “Reputation,” its highly anticipated rerelease and all the fan theories in between.

What we know about 'Reputation (Taylor's Version)'

While fans are so ready for it, news about the complete release of “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” has been elusive. There is no official release date for the rerecorded album.

But two “Taylor’s Version” songs from "Reputation" have already popped up this year. Neither song has been released in full on streaming platforms or for digital download.

The trailer for Prime Video’s show “Wilderness” marked the global debut of “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version),” featuring snippets of the song throughout the 90-second preview.

“Another day another drama, but all she thinks about is karma….,” Prime Video UK’s account posted Aug. 23 on X, formerly known as Twitter, captioning the “Wilderness” trailer with references to lyrics from Swift’s song. The show, which premiered Sept. 15, follows a woman who learns of her boyfriend’s betrayal and seeks revenge during a road trip.

On Aug. 3, "Delicate (Taylor's Version)" was featured in Season Two of the Prime Video series “The Summer I Turned Pretty."

Jenny Han, the showrunner and author of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” TV and book series, is a proud Swiftie. More than eight of Swift's songs appearing in Season Two.

Seemingly confirming that the version of "Delicate" heard in Episode Six is from the rerecording, Han posted a throwback video Aug. 3 of her singing along to "Delicate" at one of Swift's concerts, with the caption, "Thank you, @taylorswift (TV)," using the "Taylor's Version" acronym.

In another behind-the-scenes photo from the scene that featured the song, Han wrote, "Is it too soon to do this yet? (Taylor’s version)," referencing lyrics from "Delicate."

But while the public got a taste of a few rerecorded “Reputation” tracks, it seemed to be a work in progress at the time.

Ed Sheeran told Andy Cohen in an interview on the "Deep & Shallow Podcast" Aug. 15 that he had not yet rerecorded the "Reputation"-era song “End Game,” featuring himself and rapper Future.

Fan theories

In addition to the previously heard clips of songs from "Reputation," Swifties, who have a knack for finding and breaking down cryptic clues or Easter eggs left by the singer, have other theories for why the 2017 album is next to get the rerelease treatment.

TikTok user @.swiftsreps laid out a series of potential clues left by the singer over the last few years that point to Nov. 26 being a big date for "Reputation" fans. Though the rerelease didn't drop that day, it's still fun to review theories around that date:

Another fan on X shared a bulleted list from their Notes app explaining their theories with an entirely new batch of evidence, including that the Nov. 26 show is the 66th of the tour ("Reputation" is Swift's sixth album).

Fans are also pointing to a "countdown theory," involving Swift's selection of surprise songs, the two acoustic tracks she performs that vary from concert to concert.

The idea is that Swift will play a song from each of her four rerecorded albums in reverse release date order, from "1989" to "Fearless," leaving "Reputation," which has only one song left to be performed during the "Eras Tour," according to Swifties.

But one of the dominant theories dates back to 2021, when Swift released her rerecording of "Wildest Dreams." In a video clip accompanying the track, an image of Swift standing in a blue dress with a red lip — style choices often associated with her "1989" era — suddenly glitches. After the glitch, Swift winks at the camera.

As the "Reputation" era is associated with disruption (Swift famously deleted all of her Instagram posts before the album's release), fans think the glitch may have hinted at her sixth studio album all along.

She also teased the original "Reputation" era in August 2017 with a video clip of a snake about to strike, interrupted by a glitch.

Another theory that Swifties say hints at "Reputation" comes from the album cover of "1989 (Taylor's Version)." Fans zoomed in on the font styling of "Taylor's Version" and noticed that while the first "s" appears normal, the second seems to have extra emphasis at the start of the letter stroke and could resemble a snake.

Some fan theories originally supported a big “Reputation” announcement for Nov. 10. Swift has a song called “Glitch,” released on “Midnights,” and one of the lyrics from the 2022 track had Swifties raising their eyebrows.

“It’s been 2,190 days of our love blackout / The system’s breaking down (the system’s breaking down),” she sings.

After crunching some numbers, Swifties determined that there are exactly 2,190 days between Nov. 10, 2017 — when Swift first released “Reputation” — and Nov. 10, 2023, leading many to believe the album would be released as a surprise on that date.

On Nov. 26, the official account for the Empire State Building in New York City released a shot of the landmark lit up in black and white in anticipation of the expected album.

"There will be no explanation," the tweet said with a black heart.

What is Taylor Swift's most recent album?

Though Swift has yet to announce a release date for "Reputation (Taylor's Version)," her most recent album, "1989 (Taylor's Version)," was released Oct. 27.

"The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th," Swift wrote in her August Instagram caption announcing the album's release date. "To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane."

"1989" is Swift's fourth "Taylor's Version" rerecording, following "Fearless," "Red" and "Speak Now," which came out July 7.

What does 'Taylor’s Version' mean?

Swift first announced in 2020 that she would be rerecording her first six studio albums following news that music executive and talent manager Scooter Braun had sold her master recordings to a private equity company.

Braun bought Big Machine Records, the company Swift first signed a contract with at age 15, in 2019. Swift's original contract stipulated that the label owned all her masters.

She has been open about her history of tense relations with Braun and described the sale of her masters to him as the "worst case scenario" at the time.

The rerecordings of her first six albums, dubbed “Taylor’s Version" to distinguish them from the originals, are Swift’s way of regaining ownership of her music.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com