We’ve officially entered a new Taylor Swift era. Swift announced her latest single, “Patient Zero,” on Sept. 22, and fans won’t have to wait long to get it — it’s releasing this Friday, Sept. 25. But the announcement of her new single wasn’t without the usual Easter eggs, which Swifties spent hours decoding beforehand, and lots of theories on what “Patient Zero” actually means.
On Sept. 22, Swift changed her Instagram and X bios back to her The Life of the Showgirl theme, this time including three zeros in it: “And, baby, that’s sh0w business f0r y0u.” Lyrics on the album’s title track were also changed to include zeros in place of O’s on Apple Music and Spotify. Additionally, she changed the letter on her website, which celebrates getting her masters back, to have a third page behind it.
So, Swifties did what Swifties do best: theorizing. Immediately, fans started predicting that Swift would release a deluxe version of The Life of the Showgirl. Some, however, pointed out that the zeros could correlate with the angel number 000, which symbolizes a fresh start, which could mean an entirely new album on the way.
In the end, it was Swift’s newest single. Swift wrote on Instagram, “I’ve been impatiently waiting to tell you that my brand new single ‘Patient Zero’ will be out on September 25 (!!!!!!!!!!!!) and it’s available to pre-order now on my website for 24 hours. 0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣”
What does “Patient Zero” mean?
Once the song was announced, fan started theorizing what the title could mean. Many are theorizing that Swift is the titular “Patient Zero,” given how “she was the first person in the industry to do what she has done! Making her personal life so public and all that came with that!” one fan wrote.
The song is available for preorder now, alongside three limited edition CDs with different versions of the track. One version is a double-sided CD of the song, with the other two being acoustic and piano versions, respectively. The sale ends by the end of day on Sept. 23 or until supplies last (which, knowing the Swifties, won’t be long). While it’s unclear whether Swift is dropping a new album, or if “Patient Zero” is simply a Life of a Showgirl bonus track — because the CDs are currently listed on the same page as TLOASG on the website — fans are certainly in for more Easter eggs either way.
We all know Swift isn’t shy about announcing a new album at an award show, and with the MTV Music Video Awards just around the corner on Sunday, Sept. 27, it wouldn’t be too off base to guess Swift will have more to say on this new era soon. And even if she weren’t to win any of the nine awards she’s nominated for (unlikely), she has a guaranteed slot for a speech because she’s slated to receive the inaugural Artist Director Honors award. I’ll definitely be watching the VMAs for any updates on this new era.