When she first announced 1989 (Taylor’s Version) back in August, Taylor Swift wrote on social media that the project was her “most FAVORITE re-record” she’s ever done because “the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane.”
“I can’t believe they were ever left behind,” she added at the time. “But not for long!”
Flash forward to Oct. 27, and it’s clear that the 33-year-old pop star wasn’t kidding. The five “From the Vault” tracks have got to be some of the most detailed, vulnerable and visceral previously unreleased songs that Swift has retroactively put out, arguably beating out Vault songs from July’s Speak Now re-release and 2021’s Fearless and Red. (Well, maybe aside from “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).”)
As Swifties have been quick to notice, the singer-songwriter’s newly uncovered tracks — originally written circa 2013-2014 — appear to be riddled with references to Swift’s life, relationships and past work. Namely, the vault songs feel especially reminiscent of the wavy-haired, Gucci suit-wearing elephant in the room: Harry Styles, who dated Swift in 2012 and is the rumored muse behind many of the songs on the original 1989 (cough cough, “Style”).
As prominent as the themes of romantic love and loss are on 1989, its most important lasting effect is perhaps the artistic renaissance it meant for Swift, who made a sharp pivot from country to pop and claimed a newfound independence with the album in 2014. “I was born in 1989, reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly,” she wrote on Instagram following the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). “This moment is a reflection of the woods we’ve wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.”
The pop superstar is this year’s leading Billboard Music Awards finalist. You can watch the BBMAs on Nov. 19 on Billboard and the BBMA’s social media channels, as well as here.
Keep reading to see all of the hidden Easter eggs Billboard could find in Swift’s 1989 vault tracks, mostly co-written and produced by Jack Antonoff, below:
