Taylor Swift Clock Theory Sends Internet Into Meltdown

Swifties have become known for analyzing every decision Taylor Swift makes, to see if it hints at new music being released—and now they’re focusing on the color of an Eras Tour clock.

Swift kicked off the European leg of her record-breaking tour in March, with her ensemble including 16 backup dancers, four vocalists, and a dedicated live band. The three-and-a-half-hour show features 44 songs across 10 acts, with each “era” inspired by a different album and time in the singer’s life.

Now eagle-eyed fans have noticed that the clock included in the concert’s set design has changed from pink to orange.

According to a popular Reddit thread from 2022, all of Swift’s albums correlate to a certain color. For example, her second album, Fearless is considered to be yellow; Speak Now is purple; her fourth album, Red, is red; reputation is black and her seventh album, Lover, is pink.

Swifties have long speculated that orange would be the color of Swift’s next album since she has subtly incorporated the color into the Eras Tour.

Newsweek emailed Swift’s publicist for comment on Thursday.

TikTok user @swiftiessweetheart took the video-sharing platform to say what she had noticed, questioning whether this meant something new was on the horizon.

“Why did the Eras Tour countdown clock go from pink to orange? As far as I can find, all of the shows prior to Paris night one where we switched over to Eras Tour part two have had this pink-peach color around the countdown clock. The other image being from Glendale and this one being from Tampa night three,” she said while showing pictures of the clock from the tour.

“And since the Paris shows and the one night in Stockholm, it has now become this vibrant orange color. And since the start of Eras Tour two, we’ve been seeing a lot of orange during 1989, Lover, the surprise song dress, it’s everywhere.

“With the Eras Tour clock changing from pink to orange isn’t the only instance of this color change because Taylor started this Eras Tour with pink nails for “Lover” and sometime after the U.S. shows, she changed the “Lover” nail to orange and kept it that way until she started teasing The Tortured Poets Department with the white nails.”

The TikToker also said that orange confetti was used during a couple of shows in South America but was never seen again. She also shared a screenshot of one of Swift’s dancers wearing a sequined orange and yellow jacket.

At the time of writing, the video had been viewed more than 340,000 times, with people taking to the comments to share their theories as to what this could mean.

“I’m set that ts 12 [album] is orange … and that we won’t get it until like 2036 and she’s already hinting,” one person commented.

“Karma the album will be released with Rep TV as a double album,” said another.

A third person added: “I was in Paris N1. The bracelets were orange for NO REASON a lot!! Honestly, it would blink orange in the middle of the songs and transitions.”

The video was then shared to X, formerly Twitter, by user @everhoax, who wrote: “im not one to believe in theories but this one is kinda starting to make sense idk [I don’t know].” At the time of writing it had been viewed 449,700 times.

TikTok user @swiftiessweetheart isn’t the only person to notice the color of the clock change, as so did @V_swiftie_. He also brought people’s attention to the outfit Swift wore to the 2016 Grammy Awards.

“And we’ve obviously been tracking a lot of orange and pink, especially with all of the new outfits from Paris and this was Taylor’s for the Grammys,” he said, showing a picture of the singer wearing a hot pink skirt and a bright orange top.

“Do you know which Grammy it was? It was for the 58th Grammy and of course, five plus 8 is 13,” he continued, referring to the fact that Swift’s favorite number is 13, which she often alludes to in her work.

“So why would she be wearing an orange and pink dress that doesn’t correlate with any of your albums that you typically match when you go to the Grammys? Hmm. And the 58th Grammys were on February 15, 2016, which would have been about six months before the new album on the two-year release cycle was supposed to be released before we didn’t get rep [reputation] until 2017.”

It has long been theorized among Swifties that the pop superstar was meant to release a studio album titled Karma in 2016. Instead, she released reputation on November 10, 2017.

This isn’t the first time that Swifties have banded together with their theories—and they were once proved to be correct.

Before the release of Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, one fan of the singer believed she had good reason to expect a “double album drop.”

TikToker @swiftlyobsessed believed the QR code that mysteriously appeared in Chicago’s North District in April heralded the double album, and she was right.