Ah yes, our Easter egg-obsessed queens are at it again. After Sabrina Carpenter released her album Man’s Best Friend on Aug. 29, some Carpenters and Swifties noticed that Taylor Swift might’ve dropped an Easter egg for one of Carpenter’s new songs, “Goodbye,” during the Short N’ Sweet singer’s surprise performance at The Eras Tour back in February 2024. (Yes — literally a year and a half ago.)
Swifties are certainly no stranger to deciphering every subtle hint and reference that Swift packs into her lyrics, social media posts, and really everything else she does. So of course, the internet was set ablaze when they realized that Swift herself actually seemed to reference Carpenter’s new song “Goodbye” well before Carpenter even announced that she was releasing her seventh album. During Swift’s Eras Tour stop in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 23, 2024, she pretended to call Carpenter on the phone. She told Carpenter, “Is there any chance you could get off the roller coaster you’re on and, like, put on some clothes and just come down to the stadium?” It was her means of inviting Carpenter to join her onstage for a surprise performance. And in the bridge of “Goodbye,” Carpenter sings, “Sh*t, when did you get here? Go put on some clothes!” Yep, that’s real recognizing real.
And there’s even more Swift x Carpenter content in fans’ immediate future. Swift announced her 12th album, The Life Of A Showgirl, will be released on Oct. 3 — and will feature none other than Carpenter. Prior to the release of the Life of A Showgirl tracklist that confirmed the title track would feature Carpenter, there was no official confirmation that a collab was in the works. However, Taybrina fans were quick to notice the not-so-subtle hints.
When Swift shared in an Instagram post that she officially owned her entire music catalogue on May 31, there were small coffee-stained motifs on her letter. And when Carpenter announced that she was releasing Man’s Best Friend in a newsletter that was sent on June 11, it included a coffee-stained ring. That’s definitely that me, espresso.Â
On the same day that Carpenter announced the release of MBF, Taylor Nation announced via Twitter that Swift released a new merch collection to celebrate her newly-attained ownership of her catalogue. Internet sleuths were quick to notice that both Swift and Carpenter had new logos on their websites as well as similar typefaces to signal their new eras.Â
Carpenter has certainly come a long way in terms of her relationship with Swift. (Remember when she tweeted about attending one of Swift’s shows and dreaming about going on a world tour?) Since then, Carpenter has opened several shows for Swift’s Eras Tour, gone on her own sold-out Short N’ Sweet tour, and been welcomed into Swift’s inner circle of friends — as evidenced by how often they hang out and their sitting together at award shows like they did at the AMAs back in 2022.
As a longtime diehard Carpenter, it’s absolutely heartwarming to see how far Carpenter’s come from her endearing YouTube covers and Disney Channel days. And in the meantime, I’ll be counting down the days until we get to enjoy Carpenter’s and Swift’s official duet on The Life of A Showgirl.