Taylor Swift's "End Game" Video Decoded: Spot the Easter Eggs

Singer released her new music video, which features Ed Sheeran and Future, on Thursday night

By Corinne Heller Jan 12, 2018 4:16 PMTags

Ssssscore another video hit for Taylor Swift!

The singer released her new music clip "End Game" on Thursday. Her longtime collaborator Joseph Kahn directed the video, which features Ed Sheeran and Future and shows Swift partying in Miami, Tokyo and London, where she attends a New Year's Eve bash.

Parts of the video appear to be tributes to her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, and cats, Meredith and Olivia.

The singer also includes snake imagery; Swift's critics have often branded her a snake. Her music comeback this summer was preceded by a purging of her social media pages and black-out of her website, followed by the unveiling of a three-part video that made the moving image of a slithering snake.

The track "End Game" is featured on Swift's 2016 album Reputation. Check out Easter Eggs found in the video: 

 

Taylor Swift's "End Game"

Taylor Swift released her music video "End Game" on Thursday, January 11. The clip features Ed Sheeran and Future. Check out Easter Eggs.

Joe Alywn Tribute?

Swift is known for singing about her boyfriends and exes. Parts of the "End Game" video were filmed in London, the birthplace of her boyfriend and actor Joe Alwyn, and the singer wears a "J" pendant in some scenes in the clip. She referenced the necklace in the song "Call It What You Want," which is also featured on her Reputation album.

The New Year's Eve party seen in the video brings to mind Swift's Reputation track "New Year's Day," which many believe is a love letter to Alwyn.

Snakes

In another scene filmed in Tokyo, Swift rides a motorcycle and wears a snakeskin outfit. She also has a drink with a snake straw, wears snake earrings and plays the retro game Snake on a game console.

Japanese Billboards

Parts of "End Game" were filmed in Tokyo. One scene shows Swift on the street with several billboards displayed above her. They read slogans like, "A-Team (or squad)," "End" and "Meredith Olivia"—the names of the singer's cats.

Speaking of Cats...

One makes a cameo in another scene.

Song Callbacks

Swift's video includes a fireworks scene—a possible nod to the lyric "I'm shining like fireworks over your sad empty town" from her 2010 song "Dear John," which is widely believed to be about John Mayer, and a few scenes showing Swift lifting her drink in a toast—a nod to the lyric "Here's a toast to my real friends" from the pop star's Reputation track "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things."

Big Machine Label Group, LLC

"The video shows Taylor on a night out," a source told The Telegraph in October 2017. "All of the locations are places she has been to with Joe."

"She has spent months quietly going under the radar in London this year and has been out a lot more than anybody realizes," the source said.