#swifities

TL;DR: TS6 was always Reputation, but Karma might still exist as a double-vault Frankenstein from the 1989/Reputation era.

Karma lost album theory

The Karma the lost album theory has gotten legs in the rerecord era, in the actual Reputation era it wasn't taken as seriously. It’s based on LWYMMD :

"The world goes on, another day, another drama, drama. But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma"

And from her Vogue 73 Questions (January 2016), when she said, “Karma is real.” That was before the Famous call leaked, before she cut her hair, and while she was still dating Calvin. So yes, it is an important concept to her. But it wasn’t the album name and it wasn’t a cancelled album.

TS6 Was Always Going to Be Delayed

In November 2015 Taylor tole Vogue Australia:

“Then I’ll feel like I’ll need to give people a breather from me because at a certain point they’re going to get a little sick of hearing about me, so I’ll need to go away for a while then, depending on my gauge on how sick of me they are, I’ll decide when to put out the next album"

That explained the gap. No mystery. Reputation came exactly when she planned: on Meredith’s birthday, November 10, 2017—which she hinted at two years in advance:

"Reputation" was the plan all along

In the 2019 Lover Live Lounge she said:

The only time I've ever started with a title was Reputation. That was the first thing I knew: that the album was going to be called Reputation. So I wrote the songs around the title.

She’d been laying groundwork since 2014, right as 1989 wrapped. She wrote “So It Goes” and “Ready For It...?” in 2015. In March 2014 she also swapped publicists, firing Paula Erickson and hiring Tree Paine, a major shift after seven years. That’s when the strategic image shift began.

Even in 1989's lead singles Shake it Off and Blank Space, we see early reputation themes: tabloids, media image, control. The clues were always there, but clearer in hindsight.

But Then 2016 Happened… Right?

Yes and no. The Kim/Kanye incident in 2016 was awful, but it didn’t create Reputation. I almost feel that it was similar to when he tweeted about her recently, trying to link their names for relevance. Taylor was already fed up with how the media treated her. In a October 2015 NME interview, she said:

“Every few years the media finds something they unanimously agree is annoying about me… In 2012–2013 they thought I was dating too much because I dated two people in a year and a half… It was kind of excessive and at first it was hurtful, but then I found a little bit of comedy in it.”

This backlash started years before Famous dropped. By 2015 the album was named, scheduled and she was dropping hints. The anti-swift movement was full steam too. In her words: "absolutely slaughtered for" dating a normal amount by press, 1D fans. She often talked about (x, x, and this!) Even the 2017 TS Tabloids (right) were easter egged in the 2014 Blank Space app (left, check out Olivia Wildes's name in it!). Because these reference tabloids as old as 2012.

“She Disappeared for a Year”? Not Really.

In Miss Americana, Taylor said:

“Nobody physically saw me for a year. That’s what I thought they wanted…”

That was about internal transformation, not literal hiding. there were regular pap photos, some non-consensual and some pap walks in 2016 and 2017. The message is conflated with the Us Weekly PR article and Taylors Poem "Why She Disappeared" for Reputation.

So why do I think Karma could be TS12?

I believe Karma wasn’t a scrapped album but Taylor may build it now because fans expect it. She’s said the Taylor’s Version vaults shouldn't feel like redoing homework. They should be exciting. And she knows we’re waiting for Karma.

SONICALLY COHESIVE

Taylor said 'sonically cohesive' again and again during 1989 promo that the album had to be sonically cohesive—part of her Grammy AOTY strategy. So… why does 1989 (Taylor’s Version) only have 5 vault tracks?

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) – 106 min 20 sec

Red (Taylor’s Version) – 130 min 26 sec

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) – 104 min 25 sec

1989 (Taylor’s Version) – 77 min 33 sec

And wouldn't adding the sonically un-cohesive content in also ruin part of why it won AOTY? Sure maybe it is part of Red, but it had it's own direction change.

Since 1989 TV came out with the hints of it being a double album I have suspected she will make Karma out of the 1989 and Reputation vaults combined.

Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

Taylor performing at The Eras Tour in Cardiff, Wales! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (18th June 2024)