Taylor Swift was spotted on her first public outing of 2025, and it immediately sent Swifties into a full-blown frenzy.
The Cardigan singer—who had recently been left ‘perplexed’ by Justin Baldoni’s claim that Blake Lively had enlisted her to ‘pressure’ him in his explosive new lawsuit—stepped out in the Big Apple for a family sushi night on Friday.
Flashing her signature megawatt smile, Taylor turned heads in black leather thigh-high boots and a matching jacket dress as she treated her dad Scott Swift, mom Andrea Swift, and younger brother Austin to a meal at Nobu.
While her bold ensemble undoubtedly stole the spotlight, it wasn’t just her flawless fashion or impeccable style that had fans buzzing.
After Taylor announced her plans to re-record all her albums leading up to Lover, following her inability to purchase the rights to her music, the next album in line for re-release is Reputation.
And now, fans are convinced that her sultry, goth-inspired look is one of her famous Easter eggs, signaling that Reputation (Taylor’s Version) is just around the corner.
One fan posted, ‘All black for Rep TV (Reputation: Taylor’s Version),’ while another shared, ‘OH MY HOLY GOD HELP THIS IS SO REP CODED.’
A third added, ‘Rep TV is on the way and I’m scared but excited at the same time.’
And yet another wrote, ‘Oohhhhh, THIS is the Rep era outfits I’ve been looking for.’
Swift’s Reputation album, released on November 10, 2017, marked a major shift in her image and sound, all thanks to the explosive feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West that unfolded in 2016.
After they tried to publicly discredit her over the Famous phone call scandal—where Kanye released a recording of their conversation, claiming he made her famous—Taylor was painted as a liar and manipulator
The fallout from this feud forced her to retreat from the spotlight for a while, but when she returned, it was with a vengeance.
The lead single, Look What You Made Me Do, perfectly reflected her new, edgier persona.
In the music video, Taylor shed her old image completely, sporting a goth, ‘bad girl’ vibe, and dropped some heavy Easter eggs about the feud—like burying her old ‘good girl’ persona in a grave, symbolizing the death of the old Taylor.
The line ‘I don’t like your little games’ was a clear shot at Kanye and Kim.
And the iconic lyric ‘the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now’ quickly became a meme, signaling that the sweet, innocent Taylor was gone for good.
Taylor decided to re-record her masters after her old label, Big Machine, sold the rights to her first six albums to Scooter Braun in June 2019.
Since she couldn’t buy back her music, Taylor announced in August 2019 that she’d re-record everything, kicking things off with Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which dropped on April 9, 2021.
