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The ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ T-Shirt

During the part of setlist where Taylor revisits her Red era, she dons a T-shirt similar to the one she wears in the music video for 2012’s “22.” In the visual, the shirt spells out “Not a lot going on at the moment,” which would go on to become a famously surefire sign to Swifties around the world that their queen was, indeed, working on a major surprise. (See: the one-two punch of 2020’s Folklore and Evermore.)

However, on the opening night of the tour (March 17), Tay’s shirt rewrote the phrase to read “A lot going on at the moment” in bold block letters, with “A lot” sticking out in bright red. The next night, the shirt changed to a spoken lyric from “22”: “Who’s Taylor Swift anyway? Ew.” This time, “Ew.” was highlighted in red.

Only time will tell if Swift continues to change up the phrasing on her shirt from show to show, but one particular fan on TikTok thinks the red words will eventually lead to an anagram spelling out “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” Either way, though, the superstar is clearly sending some sort of message.

Breaking ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ Out Of Its Box?

Footage of Swift performing Reputation lead single “Look What You Made Me Do” piqued fans’ curiosity as multiple backup singers seeming to represent her many album eras appeared on stage trapped in giant plastic boxes.

Given the rampant online fan speculation that Speak Now could be the next re-recording the star plans to drop, special attention was paid to the backup vocalist in the box wearing a purple halter dress remarkably similar to an outfit Swift wore on her Speak Now World Tour throughout 2011 and 2012. As Taylor approaches her box, the star pounds on the glass along to the beat as the singer inside tries to get out. At first glance, the moment looks innocuously like part of the choreography, but many Swifties surmised that it could represent the pending release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), which had been entangled in legal red tape over trademark and copyright issues until earlier this week.

Interestingly, most of the other singers-as-album eras are eventually freed from their boxes, but by song’s end, the Speak Now avatar and one other singer representing a mystery era remain stuck inside theirs.

Check out fan-captured video of the moment on TikTok.

A Manicure for Her ‘Eras Era’

One day ahead of the tour, Tay shared a sneak peek at the rehearsal process on social media, coyly writing, “In my Eras era” alongside a carousel of photos from the stage. The last snap in the slideshow, though, showed off the star’s delicate manicure featuring a different shade on each finger representing a separate album era — sparkling gold for Fearless (Taylor’s Version), shiny teal for 1989, matte black for Reputation, and so on.

‘Speak Now’ or Later?

Call this one a reverse Easter egg. So far, her setlist is one for the ages — 44 songs from 10 albums over the course of three hours and fifteen minutes. But out all the fan favorites she performed at Arizona’s State Farm Arena during the first two shows, she included only a single song from 2010’s Speak Now in the form of album cut and originally planned title track “Enchanted.”

The absence of hits such as “Mine,” “Back to December,” “Dear John,” “Mean” and “The Story of Us” felt like a glaring omission, but as with everything Taylor does, the choice may have been entirely intentional. Plenty of fans theorized that the singer was purposely minimizing the attention of her third album because she could be on the precipice of releasing Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).