Taylor Swift Updates Reputation Lyrics as Rep TV Theories Resurface

Taylor Swift didn’t make an announcement — she didn’t even post — but a quiet update to Reputation landed at a very specific moment. On Dec. 12, just one day before her 36th birthday, fans noticed lyric changes to two Reputation tracks as the first two episodes of her six-part Eras Tour docuseries, The End of an Era, premiered.

The updates appeared on Apple Music’s newly released Dolby Atmos versions of “I Did Something Bad” and “Delicate,” quickly reigniting long-running speculation around Reputation (Taylor’s Version).

On “I Did Something Bad,” the lyric “But if he drops my name, then I owe him nothing / And if he spends my change, then he had it comin’” has been changed to “If a man talks sh*t, then I owe him nothing / And if he calls me a b*tch, then he had it comin’.” Meanwhile, “Delicate” now features “G*ddamn, never seen that color blue,” replacing the original “Oh, damn.” The changes appear only on Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos versions, not across all streaming platforms.

Fans began discussing the updates on social media shortly after they surfaced, with several questioning whether the more explicit language reflects Swift’s full ownership of her catalog. “Do y’all think she just put those swear words there to make it seem like oh yes it’s mine now?” one fan wrote. Another added, “I swore I left the clown car the day she got her masters back. But this feels so intentional?” Others speculated about alternate explanations, including unreleased vault tracks or the possibility that earlier versions of the songs had been toned down at the time of their original release.

Among Swift fans, this cycle of intense speculation has its own shorthand: “clowning” — a self-aware term used to describe enthusiastically tracking Easter eggs, patterns, and micro-clues, even while acknowledging the theory may be a stretch. And this isn’t the first time fans have been convinced Reputation (Taylor’s Version) was close. In late 2023, Swifties were certain an announcement would come during the final Eras Tour shows of the year, pointing to song order, surprise-song logic, and the near-complete performance of the album’s track list. Similar speculation resurfaced in fall 2024, when outfit symbolism, snake motifs, website updates, and shifted release dates from artists in Swift’s orbit fueled another round of theories — none of which resulted in a release.

Swift herself has acknowledged that Reputation has been particularly difficult to revisit. In a May 2025 letter to fans following her purchase of her masters, she wrote that she hadn’t even re-recorded a quarter of the album, describing it as deeply tied to a specific and emotionally charged period in her life. She also noted that there would eventually be a time for the album’s unreleased vault tracks to “hatch.”

There’s also the legal reality. Swift’s original Reputation (Taylor’s Version) trademark application, filed in 2021, was officially abandoned by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in September 2025 after a required filing wasn’t submitted. While a newer Reputation-related trademark application was filed shortly afterward, they’re tied to non-music categories like candles — not sound recordings — offering no confirmation that an album release is imminent.

For now, all that’s changed are a few lyrics. Whether the timing signals something bigger or simply reflects Swift revisiting old work with new ownership remains unclear. But once again, fans are watching closely — cautiously, and with a sense of déjà vu.

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