Taylor Swift said she put a lot of Easter eggs in her video for 'Bejeweled', the second video from her new album Midnights. And look, she wasn't lying.
"I was like, 'I want to make a video that is just for the fans who like certain things, like glitter and Easter eggs and lots of little cameos'," Taylor told Jimmy Fallon.
Sooo... she stuffed so many in she needed to create a PDF file to keep track of them all.
The 'Bejeweled' video is essentially Cinderella (Taylor's Version). It's her take on the classic fairytale, in which she plays the Cinderella-type character. But instead of searching for magic and marrying a prince, Cinderswift (I just made that up) knows she's "magic" enough as she is... and she just wants the castle, not the husband.
With cameos from people across the Swift universe, like Jack Antonoff and Zoe Kravitz, to legends of entertainment like Laura Dern and Pat McGrath.
Like the song says, it polished up real nice.
Here's everything we've found, and what we think it all means.
The stepmother and stepsister dialogue.
In the beginning of the video, (Oscar winner) Laura Dern and the Haim sisters, Danielle, Este and Alana, star as the stepmother and stepsisters of Taylor.
In the video, Dern says "Speak not, tired tacky wench, clean", which is absolutely a nod to Taylor's third album, Speak Now and the song 'Clean', from her fifth, 1989.
The characters then make some classic Swift references, including puns like "swiftly" and insults like "snake", which she was called during her 2016 drama with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West before she made them part of her brand with 2017's reputation.
Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is coming.
'Sparks Fly' girlies, rejoice. 'Dear John' fans, scream. 'Better Than Revenge' apologists, go stand in the corner and think about what you did.
IT'S ALMOST OUR MOMENT.
Because Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is absolutely the next re-recorded album. The 'Bejeweled' video is essentially screaming that in our faces.
The fact that 'Speak Now', the title song, is a fictional account of interrupting a wedding makes this whole thing even funnier. Now, in this music video and throughout songs on Midnights, Taylor sings about how unimpressed she is by the idea of marriage.
The music video release date.
The 'Bejeweled' video - from her 12th album, if you count two re-records - was released on October 25, 2022.
Speak Now was released on October 25, 2010.
Which was... 12 years ago.
The string arrangements of very familiar songs.
In the opening scene, a string arrangement of 'Enchanted' plays in the background.
Then at the end, another string arrangement of 'Long Live' plays as three dragons fly around the castle. Three because it's her third album, and dragons because of the line 'I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you'.
Taylor's return to pop.
In the video, Taylor receives a shell necklace which counts down to the end of her 'exile'.
Firstly, 'exile' is a song on her first pandemic album folklore.
She has described the 'Bejeweled' lyric 'I can still make the whole place shimmer' as having a subtle message to herself, hyping herself up to return to pop after a couple of years in the folklore and evermore woods and her re-records vault.
At the end of the video, Taylor ghosts Prince Jack but keeps the keys to the castle - which tie into this idea.
In reputation's lead single 'Look What You Made Me Do', Taylor sung "I don't like your kingdom keys, they once belonged to me", which is widely considered a reference to 2016's '#TaylorSwiftIsOverParty' drama.
In 'Bejeweled', she's grabbing back the kingdom keys.
And it could also reference her vault of material, which she has unlocked with each re-recording to share previously unheard songs written in each era.
The castle, the woods, and the witchy fire.
At the end of the music video, Taylor's in her castle, surrounded by the woods - which for fans represent her pandemic era folk albums.
In the corner of the woods, collaborator Aaron Dessner's Long Pond Studio is visible, which fans know is where she filmed folklore's Disney+ special (and have long hoped she's do the same for evermore). May the clowning on that continue.
There's also a glow of light that looks very much like the ceremonial witch circle from the willow music video.
Are we out of the woods yet? Yes, but also no.
And with that, the 'Bejeweled' video comes to a storybook ending, with Taylor ghosting the prince and keeping the castle.
Next chapter.
Chelsea McLaughlin is Mamamia's Senior Entertainment Writer and co-host of The Spill. For more pop culture takes, recommendations and sarcasm, you can follow her on Instagram.
Feature image: Taylor Swift/Republic Records.
It can be tricky raising little humans and that’s why we want to hear from all Parents in this short survey. Take our survey now to go in the running to win a $50 gift voucher!