When Taylor Swift said that her nails could contain Easter eggs way back in 2019, she had to know fans would closely monitor her lacquer shades for clues about new music and secret projects. Although her latest manicure is as simple as they come, it has to mean something. Right?
For her inaugural Eras Tour concert of 2024, the 14-time Grammy winner took over the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. The first of four sold-out performances showed Taylor Swift doing her regular thing—another year, same stellar show—albeit with freshly colored nails. This time, she strayed from her regular Eras-themed multicolor manicure she wore last year for ten pure white fingernails.
Cut short and filed into a squoval shape, the 34-year-old's nails were the perfect length to play piano and guitar. (For inquiring minds: The night's acoustic surprise songs were "Holy Ground" and “Dear Reader.") While Swift typically keeps her nails short while on tour, she played around with shape during her break from performing, choosing a longer manicure for the AFC Championship Game at the end of January.
While that peachy look communicated love—she was at the game to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce—this new mani seems to be announcing the start of a new era. It Swift might be using the color white to reference her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, which will be released in April. The 16-track album is currently captioned with a white heart in her Instagram highlights. The record's visuals are also entirely black-and-white; so was the strapless Schiaparelli gown Swift wore to announce its imminent arrival at the Grammys on Sunday.
Swift's usual nail artist, Lisa Peña Wong, shared a breakdown of the recent look to Instagram on Tuesday after the "Fearless" singer wore a similar manicure to the Grammy Awards under her opera gloves. (To be fair, it's probably the exact same manicure; it certainly could've lasted since Sunday, even though Swift had many heavy awards to hold.) The professional's close-up tutorial revealed that Swift's nails actually had a little sparkle to them: the result of mixing CND's Shellac No-Wipe+ Top Coat and Over The Top Effects in "Pearl Obsession." She applied the shimmery mixture near the cuticle, extending it slightly but not all the way to the nails' tips.
While fans won't know whether Swift is deliberately color-coding until she makes a statement onstage, there are two things they can know: Swift loves glitter—and keeping her followers on their toes.
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