“You Need To Calm Down.” OK fine, that’s off Taylor Swift’s 2019 album Lover, but she did not-so-casually drop that line during her chat with The Late Show host Stephen Colbert last night.
Regardless, it seems the Internet is utterly-convinced that Taylor will be dropping her 2014 album 1989 as the next record in her series of re-releases. If you need any help dissecting the likely code-filled interview, #Swifties are here with some theories.
Colbert started off by explaining the reasons behind Swift’s re-recording of her 2006 through 2017 albums (Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and reputation) as a conscious effort to regain artistic control of her music. Things then veered into the bizarre as Stephen questioned whether or not Taylor’s 2008 Fearless track “Hey Stephen,” which was just re-released this week on Fearless (Taylor’s Version) along with six unreleased tracks, was actually written about him.
While admitting she’s a super-fan of his, Swift told Colbert “‘Hey Stephen’ is not about you any more than my album ‘1989’ is about that year you spent waiting tables on the lunch shift at Scoozi, an Italian restaurant in the River North area of Chicago that, by the way, serves an incredible slice of pizza.” Taylor also went into great detail about sending him a signed CD to his Colbert Report office building in New York City over a decade ago.
Feigning shock at her seemingly deep knowledge of his whereabouts throughout the years, Colbert couldn’t be convinced that the song was about anyone other than himself. “The thing about that feeling… I think it’s something that you should process,” Swift told him. Adding “and then take the feeling that you’re feeling and just shake it off, right?” Ugh… C’MON, TAYLOR!
Swift then let loose, explaining who “Hey Stephen” is actually about (not really). “I’ve never revealed this before to anyone, but ‘Hey Stephen’ is about Stephen King. He’s amazing. The ‘Dark Towers’ series changed my life, plus ‘The Shining,’ ‘The Stand,’ and don’t even get me started on his short stories,” she said. “Absolutely luminescent.”
-[Audacy.Com]
