Swifties are convinced that the pop superstar’s latest limited-edition vinyl drop, dubbed the Shiny Bug Collection, is an inside joke paying tribute to the uninvited critters she swallowed onstage during the Eras Tour.

A bug’s life — on the Eras stage

The theory goes back to June 2023, when Swift was performing in Chicago in front of more than 60,000 fans. Mid-song, she suddenly began coughing and admitted, “I swallowed a bug. I’m so sorry.” Ever the comedian, she then joked, “Oh, delicious. Oh, God. Is there any chance that none of you saw that?”

Fast-forward to June 2024 in London, and it happened again, this time during the marathon 10-minute version of All Too Well. Swift powered through the chorus but stopped to laugh, telling fans, “I just swallowed a bug, keep singing.”

Naturally, Swifties never forgot.

Fans turn mishaps into memes

The moment Swift announced the Shiny Bug Collection, fans swarmed social media with hilarious theories.

“It’s so nice of Taylor to name a vinyl collection after all the bugs she swallowed during eras,” one user joked, posting a still from the Chicago show.

Another fan quipped, “At least those bugs’ souls didn’t go to waste.”

Others got even more creative, Photoshopping Swift’s face onto a beetle or making collages of her bug-choking moments with captions like, “remember when the shiny bugs had her fighting for her life at the eras tour.”

One fan summed it up best: “She was already foreshadowing the variants, what a mastermind.”

From countdown hype to bug jokes

While some had hoped Swift’s countdown clock was leading to a surprise single, most were delighted when it turned out to be vinyls with a wink to her own onstage bloopers.

After all, who else but Taylor Swift could swallow a bug, laugh it off, and then turn it into a limited-edition collector’s piece?