Taylor Swift “Karma” Fan Theory Explained

“Karma is real.”

October 6, 2022

Updated on Oct. 6, 2022:

The Taylor Swift Karma album theory is real — well, at least, her Midnights track “Karma” is.

In her TikTok video series Midnights Mayhem With Me, Taylor has been slowly revealing the Midnights tracklist ahead of the Oct. 21 album release date. Here's the full Midnights tracklist:

Lavender Haze
Maroon
Anti-Hero
Snow on the Beach feat. Lana Del Rey
You're On Your Own, Kid
Midnight Rain
Question…?
Vigilante Shit
Bejeweled
Labyrinth
Karma
Sweet Nothing
Mastermind

On Oct. 6 at midnight, she captioned her eighth video, “been excited to announce this one.” She read out that track 11 is called “Karma,” cackling endlessly after she shared the news. Seriously, she laughed for several seconds.

The reason for all the laughter? A longtime Swiftie theory about the existence of an unreleased album titled Karma has proved at least partially true. The theory dates back to 2016, when Taylor seemingly began dropping clues about an album that would never see the light of day (at least not yet). Instead, we got the oft-maligned masterpiece that is Reputation a year later, in 2017. As you eagerly wait the album drop, dive into the whole Taylor Swift Karma theory below.

Previously on Teen Vogue:

You know what they say — the devil works hard, but Swifties work harder.

Okay, maybe they don't really say that, but ask any Taylor Swift fan about what they think their favorite singer-songwriter is working on next, and you're guaranteed to get a long-winded answer, a five-paragraph essay, and maybe a Powerpoint presentation to boot. From "there were five holes in the fence" to Woodvale, Swifties will put in the work to create a theory so airtight, we should honestly be working for the FBI.

The latest idea making the rounds is a long-standing theory that traces back to 2016. Some Swifties are convinced that Taylor has a secret, unreleased album from that year called Karma — and we may just get to hear it after all.

The theory goes like this: Up until 2016, Taylor had released an album every two years like clockwork. Her debut came out in 2006, Fearless in 2008, Speak Now in 2010, Red in 2012, and 1989 in 2014. So what happened in 2016? A lot, if you remember. That was the year when Kim Kardashian leaked a snippet of the phone call that supposedly took place between Taylor and Kanye West about his song "Famous." It was the Snapchat story heard 'round the world, and led to Taylor receiving a lot of social media hate and thus disappearing from the spotlight for nearly a year — the full emotional impact of which she detailed in her documentary Miss Americana.

Some fans think that Taylor had an album that was planned for fall 2016, in accordance with her pattern up until that point. But when everything went down that summer, she decided to scrap the album and didn't come back on the music scene until the following year, with Reputation.

The theory has been circulating on the internet for a while, but it's come back in full force after the recent exchange between Taylor and Damon Albarn. It picked up steam again when TikTok users began sharing videos outlining the many clues that "Karma is real," most notably the graffiti of the word "karma" that appears during "The Man" music video alongside Taylor's other album titles. And — hello — there's a big "MISSING" sign right in between 1989 and the word "karma," as if Taylor is trying to tell fans that there's an entire era missing.

Another big clue fans point to is Taylor's "73 Questions" interview with Vogue, in which she cryptically dropped the line, "Karma is real." We know that Taylor loves to hide easter eggs in places one might not think to look (like when she hid a "Daylight" lyric in her "30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30" essay for Elle).

Swifties also raise their eyebrows at the "Look What You Made Me Do" music video, which seems to have several possible hints about her missing album. There's the plane with the letters TS6 (that later gets spray painted with "Reputation"), plus the image of Taylor in an orange (which is believed to be Karma's color palette) jumpsuit in a cage — as though that era was trapped somewhere, unable to be released.

Of course, there's no way to know if any of these clues amount to anything (again, ahem, the five holes in the fence), but then again — Swifties have been right before. And if there's anyone who is known to surprise the world with new music unexpectedly (hello, still not over that Folklore drop), it's one Taylor Alison Swift.