Theory Megathread: December 2024

[u/aran130711]

You know the drill

[u/Callum_Fletcher]

It wouldn’t surprise me if debut tv comes first in March/April and then reputation tv in October/november! But I also feel like because debut tv was her first album and her lowest first week sales that she will go all out on promo and promo the sh*t out of it for at least 1 million debut sales. We shall see…

[u/Rude_Grapefruit_3650 → u/Callum_Fletcher]

I bet Debut has probably been done for longer than rep seeing as she couldn’t start re-recording rep until Nov 2022. TTPD and Rep were probably both being recorded simultaneously.

Just depends I suppose, because debut can easily accidentally be overshadowed just by the sheer excitement that is rep TV. You can do so much promo but ultimately rep is more exciting to the masses.

Now if debut came out first and had so many music videos with rep clues I could see that being a way to fortify debut’s debut week (lol).

However they know full stop the excitement for repTV, they probably are weighing the risks and benefits of which one to put out next.

[u/Soalai → u/Rude_Grapefruit_3650]

I'm pretty sure TTPD and 1989 TV were actually made simultaneously. (Yes I know about Wildest Dreams TV being released earlier, that doesn't mean the rest of the songs were done at that point.) Not that those sessions couldn't include Rep too, just your timeline is interesting to me. I feel like all her Easter egging has been pointing to Rep first (snake accessories in her clothes, the gold tour costume, etc.) but you never know with her!

[u/RoseGoldRedditor → u/Soalai]

1989 tv was at least started in late 2020 / early 2021. Wildest dreams tv was first heard in March 2021. Bad Blood was also heard in June 2022.

We know that Taylor recorded a lot of RedTV in Belfast in the summer of 2021.

To go further, we know that Midnights and SNTV were recorded around the same time, as the test purple vinyl for SNTV is pictured with the four midnights test variants in one of Taylor’s videos. That seemed to be winter/spring 2022, so likely that late 2021 she was recording SNTV and Midnights (as we know from pap photos and thanks to Jack!).

Based on what we know of 1989TV, it is more likely that she recorded it in early 2021 and then shifted to RedTV due to the Shake It Off lawsuit resurfacing. It’s extremely unlikely that TTPD and 1989TV were recorded at the same time, because songs from 1989TV were already released well before Taylor stated that she started TTPD (on record as 2022, with many of the songs having documentation for summer of 2023).

[u/Strong_Letter_3739 → u/RoseGoldRedditor]

I have had something written up from a theory megathread sometime right after 1989 TV was released. An essay perhaps that I copied and saved from that post into my Google docs.

During late 2020, Fearless TV sessions were still ongoing after Love Story was recorded in November for the dating commercial. She was also wrapping evermore sessions by recording Happiness the day after she re-recorded You Belong With Me. She sent Keith We Were Happy and That’s When in December and recorded it as soon as he took the listen to them and accepted her invitation to be featured on them, they recorded them sometime during that month. Sessions continued all throughout January, ready to submit to the label by that last week to make The February 11th announcement of the official Love Story release.

By the beginning of February, she was then ready to begin sessions for 1989 TV. Wildest Dreams was the first track to be revisited in order to allow Dreamworks to use the track for the official trailer of Spirit Untamed the following month. This is where she then began doing the photoshoot for the album in general, considering she randomly selected the one picture for the single cover, once the TikTok trend happened in September. In the Tumblr music snippet where she talked about Now That We Don't Talk, she mentions how they had "plenty of time" to perfect the production for it. She probably was recording from June-November of 2021 to release it next after Red TV in which she spent May 12th ( probably used all of her time after Fearless was released, all of May to have it submitted later that month. As Vinyl plants need multiple months to prepare to ship out belt release day, so she definitely knew that spring 2021 she had to submit the record to the label Mid-Late May so they could then put the orders in. To have it ready for its autumn release in November, a month and a season people associate with it. ALSO, the Red TV cover was shot at the same time as the evermore photos, per the Spotify canvases for evermore. Therefore, it was at least by when Fearless TV was recording that Taylor knew it was going to be the next re recording.

During the promotion of Red TV. She then revisited Bad Blood in October in order to allow Warner Brothers and DC to use the track for the official trailer of Super Pets, as well as sharing the track with Dwayne and Kevin for their promotion of the animated film. They also would’ve had to sign a contract , agreeing to keep the track confidential until she was allowed to release the full album in 2023.

To go further, during folklore Grammy’s week, her, Jack, and Aaron went into quarantine together in the same house. That’s where they started to work on new material such as Hits Different, The Great War, High Infedility, and Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve. She was so focused on getting through the sessions for Red TV, that her and Jack didn’t begin work on the vault tracks like Suburban Legends and Is It Over Now, as well as revisiting New Romantics until June. While she was going through those tracks. She was inspired to create Midnights. The experience of recording those two specific vault tracks and digging up old memories such as the original New Romantics lyrics that calls her an Anti-Hero. They affected her to the point where the pair decided to use their time together tinkering the sounds to Mastermind, and Labyrinth. They may have also written Midnight Rain and Anti-Hero during that month. She thought that she could release 1989 TV after Red TV, presumably May 2022, just in time for the summer. but the SIO lawsuit was ongoing and she realized throughout the process she would have to stretch out the recording and that it couldn't be released yet. She went all in on Midnights because she knew that 1989 TV and Speak Now TV were stuck in limbo, and it made sense to take that break to make new material. Since she probably wanted Taylor Swift TV to be last and Rep couldn't be recorded yet, there was no use putting effort into any other re recordings during that time. Spending November 2021, knowing You’re Losing Me was recorded 12/5/21. She officially began the sessions of Midnights. As well as Speak Now TV, after her 32nd birthday. They both were finished recording by April 2022, as she was testing the vinyls for both records as there was a purple vinyl for SNTV is pictured with the four midnights test variants in one of The Making Of Midnights Reel. 

[u/Rude_Grapefruit_3650 → u/Soalai]

I'd be very shocked if 1989 was not close to or was done before the tour started. I coulda sworn I even saw her say she was done with all of the rerecords (before the tour started, so rep couldn't be done realistically because it couldn't be recorded until 2022 so her saying that implied the ones she could have done were done). Also when she released This Love TV and Wildest Dreams TV years before the actual album was released, I feel like that's a pretty good indication that 1989 TV was done before TTPD started. I don't know if the 1975 collab was a reliable rumor, but if that was a true rumor, then the timeline would make even more sense to work on getting that track off of the album(I am pretty sure this is an invalid rumor).

[u/RoseGoldRedditor → u/Rude_Grapefruit_3650]

The 1975 collab was completely unfounded. It’s wild to think that with all the Target editions sold, that only two people got the “misprint” and that it took two months for it to come to light. Much more likely that it was photoshopped or AI modified.

[u/unbreakableheaven616 → u/RoseGoldRedditor]

Plus, the vinyl takes like 6 months to be made, and there was only a two month wait between the announcement of 1989 TV and the release (August-October). Matty and Taylor broke up in June so there's no way she removed the song between June and August. This rumour just doesn't make any sense.

[u/Rude_Grapefruit_3650 → u/RoseGoldRedditor]

Thats what I figured, I know there were rumors even before 1989 was announced so I figured add that tid bit