Near the end of her Eras Tour shows, Taylor Swift leaves room for two "surprise" acoustic songs — usually one on guitar and one on piano, sometimes with a special guest — that aren't in the normal set list.
A blank space for fun extras, if you will, that has also given her famously avid fans a chance to track and prognosticate about what Swift might play.
These deeper cuts have been different for almost every show (see The Rules™), but if we know anything about this mastermind, she never fails to plan, and she loves to drop hints for fans to deduce.
Can we get inside her head and guess the plans for Minneapolis? This is us trying.
The Setup™
Ten studio albums plus lots of tracks on deluxe editions, special issues, rerecords and "from the vault" material still leaves a lot of Swift music on the cutting room floor, even after the 3½-hour, 44-song mega set list. It covers nine of her 10 albums, including her most recent four that she hasn't toured yet: "Lover," "Folklore," "Evermore" and "Midnights."
Those largely unperformed "eras," as seasoned Swifties call them, account for almost two-thirds of the show. For the uninitiated, fans use particular colors and emoji as era shorthand, so we'll stick with that style, too.
The Rules™
Swift said she doesn't want to repeat the songs during the acoustic set, although she's already somewhat shaken that off. She's given herself permission to repeat a song if she makes an error the first time around, and said she'll play songs from her most recent album, "Midnights," as many times as she wants.
Not that she'd need to: Her back catalog leaves plenty to choose from. Plus, Swift is a prolific songwriter and collaborator on other artists' albums, so those could be on the table, too. She has already played one track she recorded just for the movie soundtrack of "Fifty Shades Darker."
Two Minneapolis shows leaves four secret song slots. Here's what we think could be our songs.
Nothing new
We can rule out a lot based on what she's already played or is already on the set list. Most surprise songs so far have pulled from her earlier work, particularly "Fearless" and "Red," but not as much from "Reputation," which was her newest album during her last major tour five years ago.
I know places
What she's played in Minnesota before — at least 20 individual shows from 2006-18 — could also lend insights. We have a hunch that she'd be more likely to pluck a song we haven't heard in a long time.
So far as we can tell (we're missing set lists from a couple of performances), here's everything she's ever played at a Minnesota show. We recommend walking down memory lane and filtering by venue:
She's already played most of those during the Eras Tour in some capacity, and we can strike a few she played as surprise songs the last time she was at U.S. Bank Stadium. One, "Tied Together With a Smile" from her first album, she hadn't performed anywhere since 2007, according to setlist.fm, so it's unlikely she'll revisit it here.
But there are several that she hasn't played in Minnesota in more than a decade. Good candidates for a surprise song.
"Picture to Burn" was reliably Swift's concert-ender early in her career — one of her first breakup revenge fantasies — but she hasn't played it here since 2010. "Change" would be an even more rarefied play.
"Change" would also give Swift an opportunity to acknowledge two culturally significant dates while she's here: Pride weekend and the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Swift has been more outspoken about both LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights in recent years.
... or forever hold your peace
Swift has been playing frequently from "Red," her most recent rerecorded album. But as we inch closer to the release of "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" on July 7, she might consider playing more from that purple-drenched era, especially here, the home of Prince.
Based purely on the fact that we think it would sound great on piano, our best guess from this era is "Back to December".
We are never ever getting back together
Swift likes to bring out collaborators for special appearances (see also: Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Ice Spice), and she's due for a surprise guest in Minneapolis. During her 1989 tour, famous for a rotating cast of celebrity guests each night, her shows here were among the only ones that didn't feature a visitor. Fans were bummed.
This would be the moment for her to play the two cuts featuring Bon Iver — aka Justin Vernon, based out of nearby Eau Claire, Wis. — neither of which she has played yet: "Exile" and "Evermore." Curiously, he doesn't have any tour dates listed after June 19 until the end of July.
One more notch in the Bon Iver column: She made a surprise appearance on his tour late last year to play "Exile." Perhaps he'd like to return the favor.
If Vernon indeed comes to town, there's even another shot-in-the-dark song possibility. A couple of years ago, Swift appeared on two tracks with him and Dessner under the band Big Red Machine. On one, "Renegade," Swift leads vocals. It would be only her second Eras-less surprise song if played, but not unheard of.
For what it's worth, St. Louis Park's own Dan Wilson would have been on our special guest short list (he co-wrote and helped produce some "Red"-era tracks), but his band Semisonic is scheduled for shows in California while Swift's in town.
All too well
Speaking of which, Swift loves a local tie-in — like playing songs that reference New York in New York — for these secret songs. "The Lakes" from "Folklore" was one of our predictions until she played it in Chicago earlier this month.
We turned instead to the other natural phenomenon Minnesota is known for: winter. The "Red" from-the-vault track "Forever Winter" would be a fitting nod, especially after our record-setting snow season.
End game
Thirteen guesses feels like overkill, so we'll stop at six songs from six eras, plus a bonus prediction:
Did we choose a song you haven't heard of? Listen to our predictions below.
Speak now
Minnesota Swifties, tell us below how we did, what you think she'll play and what we missed. As for Taylor, if you're reading, consider these our wildest dreams.
Concert setlist information from Setlist.FM. Emojis from Emojipedia.org.
Staff Swifties Megan Ryan, Anna Boone and Abby Sliva contributed to this report (mostly in the form of puns).