Taylor Swift’s song “Carolina,” which she wrote specifically as the theme for “Where the Crawdads Sing,” will officially drop tonight — and we can’t wait to hear how she captures that haunting, misty marsh in which main character Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) lives. Poor and surviving on her wits alone in the wilderness, her family having left her when she was young, Kya seems like the exact kind of hero Swift’s delicate songwriting can tap into. The confirmation comes via the artist’s Instagram stories, posted early Thursday morning.
The “Cardigan” singer first announced that she wrote “Carolina” for the upcoming film in March on Instagram, where she posted a clip of the trailer and a snippet of the single accompanying it.
“Where The Crawdads Sing is a book I got absolutely lost in when I read it years ago,” the 32 year-old singer wrote. “As soon as I heard there was a film in the works starring the incredible @daisyedgarjones and produced by the brilliant @reesewitherspoon, I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the musical side.”
“I wrote ‘Carolina’ alone and asked my friend @aarondessner to produce it. I wanted to create something haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerizing story,” Swift continued. “You’ll hear it fully soon, but for now check out the @crawdadsmovie trailer for a clip.”
Swifties spotted the hint about the song’s release, hidden in the captions on 12 recent posts on the @crawdadsmovie own Instagram account, to which she pointed fans back with her original post about the song. The 12 photos contain smaller snapshots of a bigger collage that contains seashells, bird feathers and photographs that lead into clips from the film.
In each of the 12 photos on the account, one letter in the captions is fancier than the others, and when combined together, they spell out ‘This Thursday.’
Swift is known for her sneaky Easter eggs that fans have taken to noticing in hindsight after she has made a big announcement. Many Swifties now predict hidden meaning behind her creative choices.
The singer-songwriter also recently released the “This Love (Taylor’s Version), a rerecorded song off of her “1989” album, for Jenny Han’s Prime Video adaptation of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” “Carolina” is otherwise her first brand-new song since releasing her “Evermore” album in late 2020. The single joins the ranks of other songs Swift has made for feature films, among them “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (featuring Zayn Malik)” for “Fifty Shades Darker,” “Sweeter Than Fiction” for “One Chance,” “Safe and Sound” and “Eyes Open” for “The Hunger Games,” “Today Was a Fairytale” for “Valentine’s Day” and “Crazier” and “You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home” for “The Hannah Montana Movie.”
“Where the Crawdads Sing” was adapted from the best-selling novel by Delia Owens, and the film creeps into theaters July 15.