Pop

Taylor Swift & the Number 13: How She's Incorporated It on 'Reputation' and Beyond

11/10/2017

The singer says the word "reputation" 13 times in new track "End Game."

Listen to the second track of Taylor Swift's brand new album Reputation and you'll probably feel like you've heard the titular word plenty. How many times, exactly? Her lucky number, thirteen. Most likely, her affection for the number began when she was born on Dec. 13 back in 1989, making it the prime choice for a lucky set of digits.

If you were one of the fans that listened to a leaked version of the album on Thursday (Nov. 9), you may or may not have noticed one glaring omission from the album. Track number thirteen, "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" was not present for early listening. The title seems like a genius phrase to have removed from the grasp of listeners who wanted to sneak in before the Nov. 10 album drop.

Swift has a way of sneaking the number into quite literally everything she does, so it's not surprising that thirteen has shown up multiple times since Reputation was first announced. Her track "Gorgeous" actually peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Of course, she couldn't have planned for it, but it's pretty cool regardless. Before "Gorgeous" three other songs peaked at #13 as well - "Teardrops On My Guitar," off her self-titled debut, Fearless classic "White Horse," and "Ours" off of Speak Now.

Artist Mentioned

Taylor Swift

Prior to the album dropping, Swift released an early track "Call It What You Want" as a promotional single. Super keen fans noticed right away that the song had a 13-second intro, with Swift beginning to sing the lyrics right at that timestamp. While it may seem like a detail only serious Swifties would have noticed, it's not the only 13-second beginning to a Swift tune: Her first No. 1 hit "Our Song" also featured an intro of that length.

Swift also threw the number into her reference-packed "...Ready For It?" music video. Among the song titles and phrases spray painted on the walls, 13 can be seen in big bubble numbers on the left-hand side of the frame at 0:20.

Previously, Swift also repeated another word 13 times on a track. On Red's thirteenth song "The Lucky One" repeats the word "lucky" similarly.

Of course, there are countless more references not at all linked in any way to the types of hidden numbers on reputation. From writing the number on her hand before many live performances, to swearing by her theory that if she sees the number on the day of an awards show -- whether she's seated in row thirteen or otherwise -- she will win, the number is literally everywhere in Swift's universe.

With all this lucky number craziness, it's easy to agree on one thing: Swift has crowned herself queen of musical Easter eggs.

By Allison Stubblebine

11/10/2017

Taylor Swift & the Number 13: How She's Incorporated It on 'Reputation' and Beyond

The singer says the word "reputation" 13 times in new track "End Game."

The Daily