Swiftie Theory: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) Is Coming Next- And Soon

I know I typically don’t post Taylor Swift content, but Taylor has been my musical hyperfixation lately (along with Lana Del Rey) and, concluded from all of the easter eggs shown in the Bejeweled music video, Taylor’s AMAs outfit, and plenty of other sources for reasoning, I feel confident in saying that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is coming next, and soon. Here’s why I think this:

Reason For Speculation

During Taylor’s appearance on the Tonight Show on October 24th, 2022, she told Jimmy Fallon that her music video for Bejeweled was so jam-packed with easter eggs that she had made “a PDF file” for all of them. She also went on to indicate that these easter eggs would point toward which album she would re-record next.

Some of the easter eggs found in the Bejeweled music video are:

• An instrumental of Enchanted playing in the intro and an instrumental of Long Live playing in the outro and credits. Both songs are from Speak Now.
• Taylor presses a purple ‘3’ button in an elevator, which references her third album Speak Now. She then presses a darker purple ‘13’ at the end of the video, indicating that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) would be her thirteenth album.
• Taylor wearing ‘S’ & ‘N’ hairpins, which stand for Speak Now.
• View my full list of found easter eggs here.

Another reason for speculation is Taylor’s outfit and hair for the AMAs. Her look was extremely reminiscent of the Speak Now era, specifically when she attended the AMAs for Speak Now in 2010. Her sword earrings also pointed to lyrics “I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you” from Long Live. Many fans were expecting an announcement that night, but were unfortunately disappointed.

The Sun (yes, I know, stick with me) has reported that an insider can confirm that Taylor has been hard at work with the re-recordings and plans to release Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) “within the next couple of months” prior to the Eras Tour. Now, I know The Sun has a poor reputation (no pun intended), but they were also the first to report on Midnights being announced soon, approximately two weeks before Taylor’s official announcement at the VMAs. They’ve also been proven correct on previous Taylor Swift-related information.

It was also found that Taylor had recently registered trademarks for four songs: Better Off, Bother Me, Castles Crumbling, and Drama Queen, all of which were originally written during the Speak Now era and could potentially be vault tracks. 

With everything said, I do believe it’s safe to say that Taylor is loud and clear with confirming Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) as her next project.

The Announcement Date

I hypothesize that Taylor will announce Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in January of 2023, specifically on the 13th, with the vault tracks revealed sometime in February. For the specifics of January 13th, it’s a Friday and the first 13th of the year, making it appealing for an announcement of some sort.

The Release Date

Based on the dates Taylor announced Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), it seems like she puts more time between the announcement and release dates for the re-record released later in the year. She also puts more time for the more well-known albums by the general public to build hype. Speak Now is unfortunately not as popular as Red, 1989, and reputation with the general public, so she may use a two or three-month release similar to Fearless (Taylor’s Version).

We also know that Taylor is going on tour starting in mid-May. That gives us almost the first half of 2023 to have a re-recording be released so  Taylor can then focus on touring. I’ve gone through all of the Fridays in early 2023 and have come up with two dates I could see Taylor releasing the re-record on, March 3rd and May 5th. Here are my reasons for considering each date:

March 3rd - It would be early enough to not impact the tour schedule, and give people enough time to memorize vault track lyrics that may be played live. It would also make sense with Taylor’s love of number easter eggs to release the re-recording of her third album on the third day of the third month of 2023.

May 5th - This date is close enough to tour that Taylor could play some Speak Now vault tracks for the fans and surprise the general public-portion of the audience with them. It also is World Cocktail Day, which would connect to the cocktail glasses in the Bejeweled music video.

But What About the Lavender Haze Music Video?

I’ve seen many say it’s too soon for Taylor to drop Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), especially before the final Midnights music video for Lavender Haze drops. I see that, and I raise you this: what if Taylor uses the Lavender Haze music video to announce Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)?

Imagine this: It’s January 12th, and Taylor announces the Lavender Haze music video to be released at midnight the next day. As Lavender Haze and Speak Now are both purple-themed, there are plenty of nods to Speak Now throughout. The music video ends with an announcement of some sort for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), whether it be the reveal of the album cover or simply text confirming it’s next.

I know, it’s just a theory… but it’s a cool theory, right?

The Future

As for what’s to come after Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), I believe Taylor also confirmed this in the Bejeweled music video. After pressing the purple ‘3’ button in the elevator, she presses the light blue ‘5’ button, indicating 1989 (Taylor’s Version) as the re-recording afterwards. That re-record will likely be released in late 2023.

After that, it seems to be indicated that reputation (Taylor’s Version) will follow, and Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) will complete the re-recordings. It is unknown when exactly to expect these, but I would put my best guess in early and late 2025, respectively, giving 2024 to a potential TS11.

So, what do you think? Are you excited for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)?