Which Swiftie Theories Will Come True At Taylor Swift's First LA Show?

Are you … ready for it?

It’s no secret Taylor Swift is en route to Los Angeles to perform at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood Aug. 3 to 9 (minus Aug. 6), which has made the region a destination this week for thousands of fans, many of whom gathered outside the stadium early Wednesday for a pre-show concert merchandise sale.

But as is typically the case when it comes to Swift, fan conspiracies abound over what might happen at Thursday’s show, throwing the Swiftie-verse into a tizzy as they search for her infamous Easter eggs to bolster their theories.

As a public service, I decided to go down the rabbit hole of what’s out there so you don’t have to. Let’s get into it.

She gave so many signs

During Swift’s “Midnights Mayhem With Me” series before the release of her 10th studio album Midnights last October — a staggered release of the album’s track list — she held an upside-down phone only for tracks three and eight. Since no announcement happened on March 8, fans are speculating an announcement may come Aug. 3, the first L.A. date of the Eras Tour.

Swift has made big announcements three times on the tour so far — all of which happened on the first of multiple dates in a city. She announced “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” on her first night in Nashville and premiered her “Karma (feat. Ice Spice)” and “I Can See You (From the Vault)” music videos at her first nights in East Rutherford, New Jersey and Kansas City, Missouri, respectively.

Selena Gomez, one of Swift’s best friends, has been inviting people to the Aug. 3 show through her makeup company Rare Beauty. Fans are speculating that Gomez could be involved in whatever Swift has up her sleeve for that show. The last time Gomez was at one of Swift’s shows was for the Reputation Stadium Tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena — she could make a similar L.A. appearance Thursday.

If that’s not enough, Swift’s social media platforms were “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” themed for exactly 83 days. Last Thursday, she changed the theme back to “Midnights.” Historically, such a change means the end of an era, making room for a new album announcement.

She was born in 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

Many fans think she’ll announce “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” on Thursday, and a post from SoFi Stadium backs it up. The post includes four Taylor Swift-themed L.A. postcards. In the first, the “S” in “LOS ANGELES” (the third letter for Aug. 3) is light blue, the color that fans have assigned to 1989.

The second, and most obvious, is a lifeguard stand that says “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” The third is a Hollywood Walk of Fame star that says “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version),” a single from the album Swift has already released. There’s no clear correlation between the fourth photo and the album.

That’s not all. In her most recent music video’s last scene, there’s a faintly visible sign that says “1-9’ 89 tv.” On July 7, she posted a photo on Instagram that matches the 1989 era’s aesthetic.

The announcement could also happen on Aug. 9, since it spells out the last two digits of the album’s title and is not only the last show in L.A., but the last Eras Tour show in the U.S.

Big reputation (Taylor’s Version)

Seemingly less likely, Swift could announce the release of “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” as a re-recording of her sixth studio album.

In an Instagram post on Monday, she put six O’s in a row in her caption, which could hint at her sixth studio album — an Easter egg tactic she’s used before.

“Loved every second of those shows and can’t wait for L.A.,” she wrote. “Playing six shows at Sofi Stadium let's goooooo.”

She also recently posted a video where she drew attention to the black hat she was wearing, black being the fan-assigned color of the "Reputation" era.

In her music video for “The Man” in 2019, there’s a snapshot that many fans speculate told us the order of the re-recordings before we knew they existed. If the order of the albums on the wall is clockwise (a reference to the clock she created out of the different vinyl versions of “Midnights”), “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” would be the next album. The clock has been right so far.

It’s a ‘Cruel Summer’ (Music Video)

There’s a chance the announcement won’t be an album after all. Some fans think it could be the long-awaited music video for “Cruel Summer,” originally released off of her “Lover” album in 2019.

Since she released the song as a single this year, it soared to No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, the perfect time for a music video release. Capitol Records posted a photo of Swift with Katy Perry on Sunday, which fans think could be hinting at a "Cruel Summer" collaboration, similar to the "Karma" music video announcement when Swift revealed she was collaborating with Ice Spice.

Long story short, Swift might have some tricks up her sleeve — or there might not be a lot going on at the moment after all.