Here's what all her clues meant in the build-up to her music video!
For the last two weeks, Taylor Swift has been directly counting down to the release of her new song "ME!" and its prismatic music video with a series of near-daily cryptic, context-free Instagram posts showing images of diamond hearts and women in suits holding purses and close-up shots of fabric.
While many fans thought that these were clues to what the song might be about, we now know that they weren't clues as much as they were stylish, heavily-filtered glimpses of the music video itself.
So, in celebration of Swift's super catchy, almost shockingly upbeat new song and video, let's take a look back at everything she shared during her countdown and exactly where it appeared in her wonderfully surreal, rainbow-paletted new video.
First, let's rewatch the video:
1. The Diamond Heart:
Swift's first clue was a photo of a peice of sparkling heart jewelry. It turns out that it's an earring, which she wears while sitting on a unicorn-shaped gargoyle on top of a building with Brendon Urie.
2. The Yellow Suit
The second snapshot was of a banana yellow suit jacket and a close up of hands with rings. As it turns out, this was a shot of Swift herself in her second outfit for the video.
3. The Pink Tulle
Day three brought fans a look at the pink material that fans guessed was going to be one of Swift's dresses -- and they were right! She wears this pink dress, as it flows like a magical waterfall of tulle, again while sitting on a unicorn gargoyle.
4. The Cats
Swift's own cats, Olivia and Meredith, have cameos in the beginning of the video when Swift and Urie are having their inexplicably French argument. She hilariously refers to them as their "young daughters."
5. The Teal Heart
This super close-up embellishment was particularly hard to locate, but it appears on Swift and Urie's marching band hats, toward the end of the video, when they are decked out in head-to-toe teal.
6. The Bicycle
The clue that seemed to lend the most credence to some fan's Wizard of Oz theories (which mostly turned out to not be true, sadly), was a teal bike with a base for a basket. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that two bikes appear at the very end of the video before Urie starts magically exploding the streetlights into fountains of paint.
7. The Pink Sequins
Another close-up shot of fabric seems to depict the 1960s-inspired red and pink dress Swift wears in the musical number that, narratively, takes place in the magical universe inside Urie's heart.
8. The Baby Chick Paintings
The wall of baby chick paintings appears behind Urie in their apparment after Swift storms out following their fight. The chicks surround a portrait of the Dixie Chicks, right as Swift sings the line, "There's a lot of cool chicks out there."
9. The Rainbow Brick Road
The rainbow brick road appears throughout the video, and features right as it starts as the snake slithers across it. They also dance on it time and again throughout the video.
10. The Pastel Purses
These, obviously, are the purses Swift's back-up dancers carry during her first dance number in the street after her fight with Urie (and her walk through the apartment lobby filled with snake clouds… this is a truly weird, wild video).
11. The Bar Cart
This one might have been the hardest to spot of all of them, but this copper vase and bar cart appears behind Swift in her apartment right before screaming and slamming the door.
For more on the build-up to Swift's new music, and some wild fan theories that proceeded its release, check out the video below.
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