Taylor Swift Switched Up A Major Element Of Her Tour Look & This Might Be Why

There’s something of an ongoing joke amongst Taylor Swift fans that revolves around her love for embedding hidden meanings and “easter eggs” into her everyday life. Swifties will break into her website’s code to search for clues, play her records backward á la The Beatles’ White Album, and analyze every errant eyebrow hair like it holds the secrets of the universe. Often, though, Swift’s subliminal messages are pretty blatant. It’s certainly the case with her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets’ Department, out April 19 — Swift’s white nails, worn all through the latest leg of her international Eras Tour, are a prime example of her hiding in plain sight.

Even casual followers likely know that Swift’s lengthy tour cycles through all of her studio album releases, with different performance segments themed around each. Accordingly, she always paints her nails assorted colors that correspond with the albums — pink for Lover, red for Red, and so on. So dedicated was she to keeping this multicolor manicure up that through 2023, she was often spotted with monochrome nails on a Thursday, only to have them redone Eras-style by Friday. Lately, though, there’s been a pretty significant shift. Ever since she announced Poets’ Department at the 2024 Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, her nails have been short, squared-off, and a milky shade of white.

Now here’s where the puzzle pieces start to fall into place. Just like her rainbow-colored nails, Swift assigns a particular emoji color to each one of her eras. What’s the designated Poets’ Department color? That’s right — a stark, snowy white. Prima facie, this means nothing. But what about the fact that since her international shows kicked off, she’s been doing nothing but mashups for her acoustic “secret song” sets? Is she trying to get the most of her catalogue out of the way before say, April 19? It makes sense that she’d want to work her newest album into the show, and these nails could be her hinting at it.

If there’s one thing about Swift, it’s that she’ll completely throw herself into a new album cycle, aesthetic and all. She’s been laying low after her big Album Of The Year win (and the Super Bowl, of course), but she’ll always find a way to send a message.