It’s no secret Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift have been besties for years. But on Wednesday (Feb. 2), the “Bad Habits” singer posted a cryptic Instagram tease that has fans sure the pair are cooking up a new collaboration.
“Signing some cds for something coming in a bit, keep an eye out,” Sheeran wrote, captioning a photo of autographed CDs featuring a playing card that’s one half joker and one half blonde queen that looks suspiciously like Swift.
In the comments, Swifties and Sheerios alike went wild at the prospect that the two superstar pals could be on the verge of releasing a duet version of “The Joker and the Queen” off Sheeran’s latest album, = (Equals). “JOKER AND THE QUEEN REMIX WITH TAYLOR SO TRUE,” one fan wrote, while another asked, “Taylor’s collab finally?????”
According to eagle-eyed fans, the post is just the latest piece of the puzzle that the remix is on its way. Multiple references to Swift were made in Sheeran’s video for “Overpass Graffiti” — there’s a patch with “Taylor Swift” stitched on the back of his leather jacket, which happened to be emblazoned with a joker’s face. Her name also pops up in a fake newspaper article whose headline reads “WHERE IS ED?” (It’s worth noting that the story happens to mention Elton John as well, whom Sheeran recently collaborated with on their hit holiday single “Merry Christmas.”)
Meanwhile, Swifties are convinced their queen has been dropping some Easter eggs of her own lately, including the subtle equal sign she carved into the cake in her “I Bet You Think About Me” music video, to the deck of Red (Taylor’s Version) playing cards she recently sold on her website.
Of course, a new remix would hardly be the first time the duo have collaborated together, though in the past they’ve always joined forces on Swift’s albums, from 2012’s “Everything Has Changed” and 2017 Reputation-era banger “End Game” to the recent Red (Taylor’s Version) vault track “Run.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for both Sheeran and Swift for comment.
Check out Sheeran’s teaser of a post, as well as numerous fan theories about “The Joker and The Queen”-related Easter Eggs below.
Ed Sheeran confirmed there is a remix coming out with an American artist for his song, “The Joker and The Queen” off his new album #Equals 👀❗️
Fans have spotted these Easter Eggs so far, including “Taylor Swift” written in scenes of the “Overpass Graffiti” music video! 👀 pic.twitter.com/dUZK1MaRMm
— Taylor Swift Updates (@SwiftNYC) October 29, 2021
Fans created theories that Blake Lively and Taylor Swift have been dropping Easter eggs alluding to another surprise, a collab between Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift because the “equal sign” is his album, and the 🃏joker emoji 👀 #RedTaylorsVersion https://t.co/fMJdUDtrql pic.twitter.com/gMs3xDWt61
— Taylor Swift Updates (@SwiftNYC) November 14, 2021
