Us Swifties have come to learn that there is no such thing as a minor detail when it comes to Taylor Swift. However, there’s a little detail that has been puzzling fans since the Eras Tour began, and now that many of us have seen Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film, and got a front-row view of the concert, it’s even more baffling. This detail I’m referring to is the orange door that descends from the heavens during the final number of the show – “Karma” – and we need to talk about it.
If you saw the hit 2023 movie in theaters or you caught Swift’s concert live, it’s hard not to take notice of the seemingly random orange door that is featured during “Karma.” However, Swifties have some excellent theories about what it could mean, so let’s break them down.
@jamesrobertcampbell ♬ original sound - James Campbell
Could The Orange Door Allude To Taylor Swift’s Next Album?
Dating back to the Reputation era, we Swifties have been clowning about an allegedly lost album from Taylor Swift called Karma. Along with speculation that the record was scrapped, but could come out someday, it’s long been theorized that this hypothetical album’s color would have been (or will be) orange.
This brings us to the finale of the Eras Tour. Notably, the pop star uses all the colors from her eras during the “Karma” number likely to signify how the show travels through her ten albums. However, orange is not associated with a released record, but it's very present during the final song.
Do you know what color jacket emerges first as the orange door descends? Orange, as you can see in @alexaaaa1015’s TikTok:
@alexaaaa1015 ♬ original sound - 🦋 ✨ Alexa ✨ 🦋
All of this is very suspicious, and it’s left a lot of Swifties wondering if Karma could be released as Taylor Swift’s eleventh album.
The other primary reason this door has sparked TS11 rumors is because of our good friend, “The Man” wall. As you can see in the photo below, all the names of Swift’s re-released (or soon-to-be-re-released) albums are featured. So far, we’ve seen them dropped in an infinity-shape order, with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) scheduled to be up next, coming off the heels of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). At the center of the wall is “Karma” written twice, and as Alex Antonides pointed out on TikTok, this point mixed with the orange door seems to allude to a new album from the pop star.
Along with all this, @peachykarly took to Instagram to illuminate some of the Easter eggs from past projects, that could help us better understand the meaning of the orange door. Pointing out some of the ideas mentioned above, they also drew a few more parallels to how Swift has ended her tours in the past with hints to other albums, writing:
She’s hinted at the next Era on tour before, for example 1989 confetti was black & white— an easter egg for REP 🐍 & pastel outfits for the closing number on REP hinted at Lover 🦋
While the confetti at the end of the show is all her eras' colors, the orange door does seem like it could be an active hint at an upcoming project for Swift, especially considering that she’s hinted at future albums in these kinds of ways before.
Overall, all these points seem to add fuel to the flame that is the Karma album theory.
Does The Orange Door Belong In The Lover House?
Along with the orange door at the end of the show, there’s also orange featured when the Lover house appears in a few different ways. In a very informative X thread from @haunted_tears, they theorized about the role the color plays in Swift’s show, pointing specifically to the house, and how it burns down during the concert. They wrote:
the Lover house was burned in the first show of The Eras Tour, and the house is iconic for having all taylor's albums being represented on it. and it was ORANGE
They also noted that when we see the Lover house the front door is red on the outside, and when the door descends during “Karma” it almost looks like the back of a door, and it’s orange. If each room in the Lover house represents an album, is there an orange room we haven’t seen yet? They seem to think so.
How Could The Orange Door Tie Into The Performance Of Karma?
Now, we’ve talked about what the orange door might allude to, but now, let’s think about what it could mean in the context of the show. In a TikTok Kristina Parro explained:
When the door comes down it explodes, and that explosion turns into rainbow glitter that honestly kind of looks like the tassels of dancer’s jackets. And then that turns into this, and I’m no astronomer, but doesn’t this kind of look like the death of a star? I googled death of a star, and I found this little quip: ‘Stars do explode, and when that happens, they’re known as a supernova. The dying days of the star can be explosively spectacular creating some of the most energetic events in the universe.
Along the same lines, another fan, @tserastour2 posted a video of the final moments after Swift descends below the stage, and pointed out how after the door hits the ground, it disappears and fireworks go off.
@tserastour2 ♬ original sound - Taylor Swift Ears tour
The final moments of this show feel like such a jubilant celebration of Swift’s career and her work toward reclaiming it, and if these theories prove to be true, it’s also a reflection of the moment she’s currently having.
Taylor Swift has proven time and time again that she loves an Easter egg, and she’s a fan of hinting at future projects in her current work. From the clues in the “Karma” video that pointed to 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) clues littered in “Lavender Haze” and “Bejeweled,” it is logical that Swift is playing the long game, and she’s using her tour to hint at her next project of fully new music.
Wouldn’t it be a fabulous way to prove all the haters wrong, and put a stamp on reclaiming her work to release the lost Karma album? Fans seem to think so, and according to their theories, the Orange door at the end of the Eras Tour show seems to allude to this happening, but we'll have to wait and see!
