Taylor Swift served up a surprise treat for her fans, releasing the music video for her Midnights song “Lavender Haze” at, well, midnight. The visuals arrived lower than 24 hours after she announced the drop on Thursday morning. And given it is a Swift music video, there are ample easter eggs in it referencing her past, lyrics, and possible future music releases.
Swift explained on Twitter shortly after the video’s release that it served as a mood board for the album. “This was the primary video I wrote out of the three which have been released, and this one really helped me conceptualize the world and mood of Midnights, like a sultry sleepless 70’s fever dream. Hope you prefer it,” she wrote.
Swift herself gave away the meaning of “Lavender Haze” while discussing the track before its release. “Lavender Haze is track 1 on Midnights,” she said in an Instagram video in October. “I happened upon the phrase ‘lavender haze’ after I was watching Mad Men. I looked it up because I believed it sounded cool. And it seems that it’s a standard phrase utilized in the ’50s where they’d describe being in love. For those who’re within the ‘lavender haze,’ then that meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow. And I believed that was really beautiful.”
She added, “I suppose, theoretically, once you’re within the ‘lavender haze,’ you’ll do anything to remain there. And never let people bring you down off of that cloud. I believe that a whole lot of people must take care of this now, not similar to ‘public figures,’ because we live within the era of social media, and if the world finds out when you’re in love with anyone they’re going to weigh in on it. Like my relationship for six years we’ve needed to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. So this song is concerning the act of ignoring that stuff to guard the true stuff.”
She also explained her love of hiding easter eggs for fans in her work in a press release she gave to the Washington Post this October. “Once I was 15 and putting together my first album, […] I made a decision to encode the lyrics with hidden messages using capital letters,” she said. “That’s the way it began, and my fans and I actually have since descended into color coding, numerology, word searches, elaborate hints, and Easter eggs. It’s really about turning recent music into an event for my fans and attempting to entertain them in playful, mischievous, clever ways. So long as they still find it fun and exciting, I’ll keep doing it.”
Here, all one of the best easter eggs from “Lavender Haze” which have been identified and decoded by fans up to now. You possibly can watch the music video below.
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Taylor Swift – Lavender Haze (Official Music Video)
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The clock striking midnight: An obvious one, referencing her Midnights album and lyric, “meet me at midnight.”
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Swift’s “Mastermind” record: A possible hint of what Midnights’ next single (and music video) might be and one other track seemingly about her partner Joe Alwyn, who also inspired “Lavender Haze.” A fan also noted that the album art seems to make the constellations for her star sign Sagittarius align with Alwyn’s star sign of Pisces.
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Okay in Lavender haze MV there’s Easter eggs for maroon (incense) master mind (vinyl with aligned stars making Sagittarius and Pisces signs aka Taylor and Joe star signs ) and the lakes (wisterias) found up to now
— jomana ( taylor’s version ) (@Jomana26623722) January 27, 2023
The clock puff of smoke: A reference to Alice in Wonderland’s caterpillar and the clock imagery she has used to advertise Midnights. The back of her different album versions form a clock.
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The koi fish referencing her Speak Now guitar: Swift hinted in her “Bejeweled” music video too that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was her next upcoming re-recording.
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The 13 over Nashville, Swift’s home, within the weather report: Eagle-eyed Swifties quickly caught the subtle call out to Swift’s favorite number.
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The purple imagery throughout “Lavender Haze” also serves as a nod to Speak Now coming next. Swift, in her “Bejeweled” music video, used purple on the elevator buttons to symbolize that re-release.
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lavender haze being the last midnights single with a purple music video is ideal actually cause it’s concurrently a silly little easter egg for speak now and likewise acts as a bridge from this era to talk now yes
— living for tony stark and midnights like this (@gleeksana) January 26, 2023
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The midnight weather report, as one Swiftie identified, is a reference to album track “Midnight Rain.”
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The weather man can also be Swift’s love interest within the music video, Laith Ashley. Fans identified it illustrates her lyric from “Karma,” “Karma is the guy on the screen, coming straight home to me.”
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Swift’s purple flower field seems to allude to her “Our Song” music video, one other fan identified. “Our Song” is from her debut album.
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Swift referenced “Bejeweled” together with her bejeweled table top, one Swiftie noticed. Swift appears to be alluding to multiple Midnights tracks and their lyrics within the video.
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This post will probably be updated with more Easter eggs as they’re identified.
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring Recent York City.
