Taylor Swift reveals the Easter eggs and secret meanings behind her “cardigan” video
Courtesy of VEVOIf you’re watching and re-watching Taylor Swift’s “cardigan” video to find any Easter eggs or hidden meanings, you can stop now — Taylor’s done it for us. She’s teamed up with VEVO for an episode of VEVO Footnotes, in which every notab…
By ABC Audio on August 17, 2020
Courtesy of VEVOIf you’re watching and re-watching Taylor Swift‘s “cardigan” video to find any Easter eggs or hidden meanings, you can stop now — Taylor’s done it for us.
She’s teamed up with VEVO for an episode of VEVO Footnotes, in which every notable thing in the clip is detailed, second by second. Here are some of the more interesting things that are revealed about “cardigan,” which Taylor wrote and directed herself:
-At :21 into the video, there’s a photo of a man. It’s Taylor’s grandfather Dean, who landed on the beaches at the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. As most fans know, she also references him in the folklore track “epiphany.”
-At :42 into the video, the hands on the clock point to one and three — because Taylor’s favorite number is 13.
-At :50, you can see a painting of a white house next to the piano. Taylor painted it herself during the first week of quarantine.
-A health inspector was on site for the filming, and used UV lights and sprayed down the piano keys between every take.
-In the video Taylor goes from a cabin, to an enchanted forest, to a stormy ocean and then back to the cabin. The forest, she says, “represents the evergreen beginning of a relationship where everything seems magical and full of beauty.” The ocean represents “the isolation and fear involved while a relationship is breaking down.”
-Taylor going back to the cabin represents “returning to a sense of self after experiencing love lost” — but her clothes remain soaking wet, in order to signify that “she was changed by the journey.”
As previously reported, in addition to directing the video, Taylor also did her own hair, make-up and styling in the video due to COVID-19.
By Andrea Dresdale
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