After Taylor Swift released “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Toy Story 5, I’ve been hoping that she’ll make more country music. However, now that hope has turned into a theory, one that many other Swifties also have, as new comments from the pop star have us believing that her next album (which is her 13th album, by the way) could see her return to her country roots.
It’s worth noting that we’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of Taylor Swift’s debut album, and fans are constantly theorizing about when we might get Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version). Along with that, during The Icon Sessions at the Grammy Museum, the singer was asked to compare the version of herself who wrote “Tim McGraw” and the artist she is today. After chatting a bit about that specific song, she went on to reflect on her country origins as a whole, saying:
I love my country roots more and more the further along this path I get, and I want to honor them more and more. And I feel tied and more loyal to them. The people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer, that all happened in Nashville.
Like many things Swift said during this conversation, which included comments about mocking the mockers back, this statement about country music went viral. Swifties immediately started to speculate about how this comment about honoring her country roots could foreshadow what’s coming next.
And that next thing, according to many Swifties, could be TS13. In the replies on @TSwiftNZ’s post about the singer’s heartfelt words on country music, many fans made their theories for a country version of TS13 known, writing things like:
- TS13 i feel you in the air -@404paigenotfnd
- She is coming home I feel it in my bones TS13 the masterpiece -@ardentlylovetay
- TS13 is soooo going to be country we’re so back baby TayCountry is coming for y’all -@SlayDontGo
Meanwhile, plenty of other fans created their own posts about Swift’s “love” for her “country roots,” and wrote things like this alongside either the full quote or a clip of it:
- 👀🤠-@chartstswifty
- TS13 YOU ARE COUNTRY!!!!! 🤠 -@taylorswiftbr
- this ts13 tease -@AntaraC
- IMO: TS13 Country Album🎸. ✔️Taylor always ✍🏻writing music /maybe a collab with various country artist 🤷🏻♀️⏰.. will tell ..✔️🐣#TaylorSwift going back to her roots & it all started with Toy Story 5 “IKIIKY” 🤠🤠🐣 -@Sara73121982
- if you’re in line for country ts13 STAY IN LINE -@taydesire
I have to say, I think this theory is legit. Between Swift’s last new song being a country song for Toy Story 5, Debut hitting its 20th anniversary and the fact that we’re coming up on her 13th album, bringing everything full-circle and back to country feels very fitting.
Swift hasn’t released an album full of country music since Red in 2012. While folklore and evermore were very folky, they were not like the country music from her early career. A return to that original form is something fans clearly want, and it’s obvious that the singer herself has been thinking a lot about her origins and how that’s impacted her career. Plus, with her owning all her music now, being open about re-releasing her first album and this year being a huge anniversary for her, country feels right right now.
So, it’d be fitting and symbolic for her 13th album to be a country album, and her latest quote certainly plays into that idea in a big way.
