Like a ton of other people today, Jimmy Fallon had some feelings about Taylor Swift’s announcement of her upcoming new album, which you probably already know is called “The Life of a Showgirl.”
And taking a cue from Swift’s very devoted fans, Fallon during his monologue on Tuesday’s “The Tonight Show” tried to figure out everything he could about the record from “clues” Swift may have dropped — to the point he basically turned into a conspiracy freak. Amusingly, of course.
“Well, guys, this morning at 12:12am, on Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast, Taylor Swift announced her 12th studio album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl.’ How? Americans are like, ‘Wait, there’s good news out there. I don’t know what to do with myself,’” Fallon joked.
“Seriously, we all need Taylor Swift right now, because without her music and her merchandise, we end up doing weird stuff, like starting a Labubu collection, stuff like that. You know, what are we doing? Yeah, following the announcement, Taylor’s website immediately crashed, and then out of habit, so did Ticketmaster’s,” Fallon continued.
“As of now, we don’t know the exact release date, but we do know that no one else is releasing music that day. That’s right. Taylor Swift announced her 12th album… and fans have already uncovered a lot of hidden clues,” Fallon said.
At this, The Roots member Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter weighed in, saying “all that stuff is just random conspiracy theories.”
“I don’t know Tariq. I mean, the clues are everywhere,” Fallon countered.
“Like, what?” Trotter asked.
Fallon replied, “Okay, so the release date, we know the number 12 will be involved, since it’s her 12th album, and the announcement was shared on Instagram at 12:12am, on Tuesday, August 12. You follow. So the question is, which 12th? Well, their website says pre orders will ship before October 13. So you’d have to assume?”
“October 12,” Trotter asked.
“Exactly. You’d be wrong… because yesterday, on August 11, the Instagram account of Taylor Nation posted a carousel of 12 pics of Taylor, and when they posted it, Taylor’s website crashed at exactly 9:12pm and that means, well, nothing by itself. But when you factor in that, Taylor Nation first teased the album with a different post, also made at exactly 9:12pm now there’s two nine twelves, which points to September 12, and we haven’t even, we haven’t even talked about the Lady Gaga connection,” Fallon rambled on.
“Lady Gaga” Trotter asked.
“Okay,” Fallon continued, “during the eras tour, the second to last song that played before Taylor came on stage was applause by Lady Gaga, which is followed by a countdown clock that started at two minutes and 24 seconds. Today is the 224th day of the year, August 12. And when did the song applause come out? That’s right, August 12, 2013. Exactly 12 years ago today.”
“And what does that mean,” Trotter asked.
“Think about it. Tariq, I explained this theory at exactly 11:39 and what’s Three plus nine?” Fallon said — obviously referring to the number 12.
You can watch the whole delightful bit below: