Taylor Swift fans are speculating that her new album Folklore may be inspired by her friendship with Karlie Kloss.
Within hours of Swift announcing the surprise release of Folklore, which will arrive at midnight tonight (or 5am GMT), Kloss posted images of herself posing among woodland trees – much like the cover art for Swift’s new album.
“Happy place,” the model and entrepreneur captioned the images.
Kloss also posted a video of herself frolicking in similar woodland earlier in July, with Swift fans now guessing it may have been an early hint about the album.
The status of Swift and Kloss’s friendship has been the subject of heated debate in recent years, amid speculation the pair may have fallen out after being regularly photographed together throughout 2015 and 2016.
In 2018, Jennifer Lawrence jokingly said that if she were a spy she would investigate “what’s going on with Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift, that’s the honest-to-god truth”.
Later that year, Kloss addressed speculation of a possible rift during an interview with Vogue, saying: “The world needs to know? Well, Jennifer Lawrence was interested. Jen, don’t worry, Taylor and I are still really good friends.”
However, Swift was not in attendance at either of Kloss’s wedding ceremonies to businessman Joshua Kushner in 2019. Kloss has also been photographed with Scooter Braun, who Swift has repeatedly condemned over the purchasing of her master recordings.
On Twitter, Swift fans have speculated that the new album may feature lyrics that clarify if they’re still friendly.
They’ve also theorised that “Betty”, a track on Folklore, could be a secret reference to Kloss, whose middle name is Elizabeth.
Earlier today (23 July), Swift announced that she had written and recorded an entire album in lockdown that she was dropping without any pre-publicity. It includes collaborations with Jack Antonoff, Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner of The National.
“Before this year I probably would’ve overthought when to release this music at the ‘perfect’ time, but the times we’re living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed,” Swift said in a statement. “My gut is telling me that if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world. That’s the side of uncertainty I can get on board with.”
