Taylor Swift’s 1920s Eyebrows Are Full Of Double Meanings

It’s a fruitful day to be a Swiftie. Not only were fans treated to the hotly-anticipated release of Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, but it turns out the superstar had a few extra tricks up her sleeve timed with the rollout, too. The release turned out to be a double-album drop, complete with 15 more songs — and a dark, gothic music video for the lead single to boot. While the full short film isn’t out yet, the teaser clips give fans plenty to work with until then. In the grayscale footage, Swift’s skinny brows and ‘20-style hair — among the other looks briefly featured — seem to hint at both the video’s theme as well as largely motifs and references explored elsewhere in the album. And in true Swiftian tradition, it’s also a nod to her own personal lore.

In the six-second clip from the “Fortnight” music video, Swift is seen clacking away at a typewriter across from Post Malone, undergoing what looks like electroshock therapy, burning sheets of paper in a Victorian mourning gown, and smirking on an asylum bed with that retro-style makeup. Her already-thin brows are covered by makeup and redrawn like a 1920s’ flapper, her lips colored a deep, rich shade — most likely some type of red.

A few fans have already drawn a link between that neo-gothic aesthetic and the Emma Stone film Poor Things, which isn’t too far of a stretch considering Swift was at the premiere and Stone is credited on a Poets Department track, “Florida!!! (Featuring Florence Welch0”. But there’s more to the story, too. The album’s closing track is called “Clara Bow”, building its premise on the silent film starlet many consider to be the original it-girl — she’s the one for whom that term was coined. Bow’s look naturally featured those dramatic, extreme eyebrows, so popular during the ‘20s.

Swift is someone who loves to plan her themes and songs sometimes years in advance — and this style is a familiar one for fans. Back in 2017, around the release of her album Reputation, the singer-songwriter did a cover shoot for British Vogue in which she’s done up in that exact same look.

If there’s one thing Swift’s going to do, it’s connect all the dots.