The latest episode of Killing Eve features a menacing Taylor Swift cover, leaving Swifties with a real-life mystery to solve
The latest episode of Killing Eve has left Taylor Swift fans with a real-life mystery to uncover.
The Killing Eve episode “Beautiful Monster”, which aired on Sunday, featured a menacing cover of the pop star’s 2017-defining track “Look What You Made Me Do”.
The cover was shared by Taylor Swift herself, who wrote: “VERY STOKED about this cover of ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ on Killing Eve by Jack Leopards and the Dolphin Club!!”
VERY STOKED about this cover of lwymmd on @KillingEve by Jack leopards & the dolphin club!! pic.twitter.com/fhkLfOssfm
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) May 25, 2020
There’s just one problem.
Jack Leopards and The Dolphin Club, the band the cover is credited to, does not appear to actually exist.
Taylor Swift and Killing Eve fans alike love nothing more than solving a mystery.
There appears to be no record of any band by that name online anywhere prior to the release of the cover, leaving fans to suspect that the mystery-loving singer might be toying with them.
this band literally didn't exist until today, TAYLOR SWIFT STRIKES AGAIN https://t.co/5kW1OFZfO3— just adam (@apat10) May 25, 2020
It didn’t take long for a full-scale investigation to begin, with fans noting that one listed producer on the track is “Nils Sjöberg” – a pseudonym previously used by Taylor Swift to conceal her work as a songwriter on Calvin Harris track “This Is What You Came For”.
Fans also have some clear ideas on who the male vocalist on the track could be – with fingers firmly pointed at Swift’s younger brother, Austin Swift.
A gossip column claimed back in February that Taylor Swift had pitched Fleabag executive producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge on the chance of her brother appearing on the soundtrack.
Fanning the flames of the theory, is confirmation that Austin Swift appears to have previously gone by the name “Dolphin Club” online.
So @austinswift7’s twitter name used to be The Dolphin Club- pic.twitter.com/h79PaVrNm5— smilesfortaylor (@SmilesForTaylor) May 25, 2020
Also, the cover art for the track appears to be… a barely-concealed picture of a young Austin Swift.
I JUST FOUND THE ORIGINAL PICTURE OF AUSTIN ON FACEBOOK …. I KNEW IT @taylorswift13 YOU SNEAKY SNAKE pic.twitter.com/b7L4BsN13k— alyssa (@biueeyesshined) May 25, 2020
The “Jack” in the band name is less of a mystery, given Jack Antonoff of Fun and Steel Train – a frequent collaborator and close friend of Swift’s – is actually credited publicly on the track.
Jack: Jack Antonoff
The Dolphin Club: Austin
Leopard: obviously it has to connect to Taylor but HOW??? pic.twitter.com/0XrCMHtwUD— thomas 🍂🐍✨ (@cowboy1ikem3) May 25, 2020
That just leaves “Leopards” to uncover, and if you cast your mind back to the original “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, you might just remember this shot of a certain singer with a leopard, in a leopard-print coat.
In summary, Taylor Swift fans are 99 per cent sure that the singer recorded a secret cover of her own song with her brother and BFF.
The whole thing cover might be an act of gloriously petty revenge.
If Taylor Swift is involved in the cover, fans believe she might have a motive beyond just being a really big fan of Killing Eve.
The singer has been locked in a dispute with her old record label Big Machine Records over the rights to her musical back catalogue, after the company was bought out by controversial music producer and Swift nemesis Scooter Braun.
The dispute between Swift, Braun and Big Machine Records founder Scott Borchetta has become extremely toxic – with Swift accusing the label of attempting to stifle performances of her old tracks, and putting out a live album without her permission.
Swift has even vowed to re-record all six of her albums, in order to wrangle the rights away from Braun and Borchetta.
By releasing the cover under a pseudonym, fans believe Swift handily denied any profits to her ex-label.
One wrote: “Taylor releasing a cover of her own song under a fake band name with her brother singing on it so that no coin goes into the pockets of Scott and Scooter! Support Jack Leopards and The Dolphin Club!”
https://twitter.com/MissAmericHANA/status/1264808267068239873
Another added: “Taylor made up a whole band called Jack Leopards and The Dolphin Club consisting of herself, Austin Swift and Jack Antonoff to cover LWYMMD which is sung by Austin, partly produced by Taylor herself, to not let Scooter gain a single cent from the it? TAYLOR SWIFT IS A GENIUS.”