Breaking Down Easter Eggs in Taylor Swift’s ‘I Can See You’ Music Video: From ‘Speak Now’ to ‘1989’
Taylor Swift is going back to December with her “I Can See You” music video, in which she is taking back control of her illustrious music career.
“I wrote this video treatment over a year ago and really wanted to play out symbolically how it’s felt for me to have the fans helping me reclaim my music,” the Grammy winner, 33, wrote via Instagram on Friday, July 7, after premiering the video at her Eras Tour stop in Kansas City. “Joey [King] and Presley [Cash] had been in the video for ‘Mean’ when they were 9 and 13 and they are back and so ridiculously bad ass!! [Taylor Lautner] is INCREDIBLE in this (didn’t have a stunt double!) and shout out to [his wife, Taylor Dome] for being so awesome to hang with on set.”
“I Can See You” is one of Swift’s Speak Now vault tracks, which she released on her rerecorded album hours earlier on Friday. In the music video, King, 23, Lautner, 31, and Cash, 26, help Swift escape from a bank vault — surrounded by lots of Easter eggs.
Keep reading to see how Swift paid homage to her iconic career — and even teased her next rerecorded LP:
Countdown Clock
When the video begins, a timestamp of “July 9th 1:58 a.m.” flashes across the screen. The digits directly reference Swift’s “Last Kiss” (a Speak Now single) where she sings “Fresh on the pavement, I ran off the plane that July ninth” and "lit through the darkness at 1:58” in separate verses.
One day after the video’s premiere, Swift added “Last Kiss” to the surprise section of her Eras Tour show in KC. “I used to play this song with this guitar on the Speak Now tour every night. I don’t know if you noticed the date, It’s July 8th but very late in the night … and tomorrow is July 9th,” she quipped during the Saturday, July 8, concert, per social media footage.
Frozen Behind Glass
In front of the vault, there is a museum of Swift’s iconic outfits from her OG Speak Now era, including the purple tour dress and the golden Grammys ensemble. The outfits are all locked in glass cages, which provide a callback to Swift’s “It’s Time to Go.” In the Evermore song, she even sings, “He's got my past frozen behind glass but I've got me.”
Joey King Surely Isn’t ‘Mean’
Amid the release of King’s 2010 movie Ramona and Beezus — which she starred in alongside Swift’s BFF Selena Gomez — she appeared in the original music video for “Mean.” King’s video character wore a white, poofy dress that resembled the flower girl dress her movie character donned. Now, King wistfully gazed at the same dress through the glass. The Kissing Booth star also used Swift’s banjo from the OG music video to fight off the security guards on her tail in a second scene.
Long Live, Taylor Swift
Swift spent the majority of the video locked in the vault, dressed in her golden Speak Now tour dress, and accessorized with a “13” written on her hand and the “Long Live” lyrics written on her arm. (She would paint her lucky number and the musical lines onto her body before each 2010 show.)
Going Back to December
The Twilight star, who dated Swift for several months in 2009, appeared in “I Can See You,” to help King break the pop star out of the vault. In one scene, while fighting goons, Lautner shows off his swordsman skills — a reference to his Saturday Night Live monologue, in which he revealed how he wanted to fight Kanye West after the VMAs drama — in front of a white piano. Swift used the same instrument on her 2010 tour when she played “Back to December” — the song penned about her split from Lautner — in the blue gown on a mannequin next to it.
Numbers on the Wall
Eagle-eyed Swifties counted 1,468 tally marks on the inside of the vault, which correspond to the number of days between the time that her masters were sold before Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) came out.
Baby, She’s Got Bad Blood
King and Lautner fighting in the museum reminded many fans of Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video from her LP 1989. They also sought to hold onto a slim silver briefcase, which resembles a similar one Swift carried in “Bad Blood.”
Driving in a Getaway Car
After King and Lautner rescued Swift, they ran outside to reunite with Cash in her waiting van. The vehicle sped away, in what fans called their getaway car. Since Swift has a song titled “Getaway Car” on her album Reputation, it could potentially tease her version of the record is on the way.
Ready for 1989?
As the squad’s getaway car sped away, they drove past a bridge, which has a “1’-9” 8.9tv” sign in the center. Fans immediately recognized that as a potential allusion to 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
King going through a purple laser maze inside the bank is also a reference to Swift’s 1989 era. The “Mine” singer previously went through a similar green labyrinth in a prerecorded skit for her iHeartRadio awards show performance shortly after the OG record dropped in 2014.
