Every few months or so, a rumor that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn are engaged seems to reemerge—but this time, a fan theory linked to Folklore might have just proved it for good. Strong emphasis on the might. After all, Taylor, 30, and her boyfriend Joe, 29, are a notoriously private couple, so it’s worth taking any assumptions about their relationship with a grain of salt. But we can’t deny that this theory is pretty convincing.
Taylor’s new album Folklore was released on July 24, 2020, and ever since, fans have been searching for the album’s Easter Eggs and hidden clues. While some fans have questioned whether Taylor and Joe are still together after hearing so many breakup tracks on the album, others were quick to point out that the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer was reportedly writing songs from the perspective of other people on Folklore—meaning that those breakups may not have been hers in the first place. Now, others are taking the speculation a step forward and are wondering if the breakup theme of the album was actually all a guise for the exact opposite: an engagement!
The theory began circulating after Taylor announced her bonus track, “The Lakes,” which will only be available to listen to as a purchase via physical copy on her website, taylorswift.com. “Because this is my 8th studio album, I made 8 deluxe CDs & 8 deluxe vinyls available for 1 week,” she shared in her Twitter announcement. According to her shop site, the physical copies are due to ship in several weeks for a select number of fans. One TikTok user pointed out that the shipment timeline puts fans on track to hear “The Lakes” by August 7, a date that Taylor may have been hinting at with tracks 7 and 8 on Folklore: They are named “seven” and “August” respectively. Some believe that Taylor is saving her announcement for this particular date as it may be the date of her engagement anniversary to Joe!
This would mean that this year’s earlier theory about Taylor Swift’s engagement following Miss Americana may have been accurate all along. The singer was spotted with a ring on *that* finger in the documentary, which was released in January 2020 and contained footage from the previous year. If she was already wearing a ring for production on Miss Americana, it’s possible she was already engaged in 2019—putting the timeline for “The Lakes” right on track for a summertime anniversary. Fast-forward to 2020’s Folklore, and Taylor was spotted wearing the same ring again in the newly released video clip for “Cardigan”—the album’s bonafide love ballad. Do you see all the links here?!
As if this wasn’t enough, other fans noted that an earlier track on Folklore, “Invisible String” already hinted at “The Lakes.” One fan on Twitter explains, “‘Invisible string” by @taylorswift13 has the line ‘Bold was the waitress on our three-year trip/Getting lunch down by the lakes’ “The Lakes” is the last track we cannot hear yet and damn it, we are gonna find out if she and Joe broke up or are engaged!”
It all remains to be seen. Now August 7th can’t come soon enough!