There is nothing Swifties love more than decoding Easter eggs for Taylor Swift‘s Reputation. So when some songs on Apple Music displayed new lyrics for “I Did Something Bad” and “Delicate” after the singer’s catalog was added to the platform’s new Dolby Atmos feature, well, fans let the (clowning) games begin.
The scorching verse on “I Did Something Bad” was changed to pack even more heat. Instead of “If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing / I don’t regret it one bit ’cause he had it coming,” Taylor now sings, “If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothin’ / And if he calls me a bitch, then he had it coming.”
The revision for “Delicate” was more minor. On the original, Swift sings “Oh, damn, never seen that color blue,” and in the Apple Music Dolby Atmos version she sings, “Goddamn never seen that color blue.”
Though the changes were small, fans took them as Easter eggs for something bigger. Some were convinced Swift had quietly dropped Reputation (Taylor’s Version) and that they were listening to a re-recording of the singer’s sixth album. What else could explain the crisp sound and revamped vocals? (Well, Dolby Atmos probably). Other fans believed the specific changes to Reputation songs were clues for the vault tracks Swift hinted at earlier this year.
“There will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from [Reputation] to hatch,” she said in a letter to fans announcing the news she had bought her masters back. “I’ve already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
Of course, Taylor did recently discuss Reputation during her appearance on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week. Like many Swifties, the singer admitted to having conflicted feelings about listening to what fans dubbed the “stolen” master versions before Taylor bought them back this year. “I’d hear the song ‘Ready For It’ and I’d be like, ‘Man that song goes hard.’” She could’ve mentioned tracks from her self-titled debut, like “Our Song” or “Should’ve Said No,” but, no, the star specifically pointed out Reputation songs.
During that same interview, Colbert made it a point to ask Taylor about the moment from her Time interview where she discussed Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. Coincidentally, in that specific paragraph, Taylor promises that the Reputation vault tracks are “fire.” “I’m collecting infinity stones. Gandalf’s voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now,” she told Time. What did she end up releasing the same day as these Reputation lyric changes? Well, the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show concert film (along with the Eras Tour documentary series, The End of an Era).
Maybe Swifties keep obsessing over Reputation because Taylor makes it so easy. The lyric changes themselves may not point to much, or even necessarily be an Easter egg, but the fact that it happened at all still leaves us wondering what else is coming. It’s unlikely the world will get a full re-recording since Swift described Reputation as “the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it.” But those vault tracks have yet to be released. There’s no time like the New Year, or New Year’s Day, Taylor.
