Taylor Swift has some questions after she announced there would be a new bonus track on her upcoming album The Tortured Poets Department during her Eras tour in Melbourne on February 16. A theory on Reddit The song "Blaster" points to an unexpected historical figure.
Fans believe that Bolter may have been inspired by the life of Lady Idina Sackville. She was a member of the Happy Valley Group, a group of British aristocrats who settled in colonial Kenya in the 1930s and became notorious for their alcoholism and sexual promiscuity.
OG Bolter
According to the New York Times , Sackville first "shocked Britain" when she left her husband, dubbed "the most eligible bachelor of her generation," and eloped to Kenya with another man. She was married and divorced five times throughout her life, earning her the nickname "Bolt."
In 2008, Sackville's great-granddaughter Frances Osborne wrote a book called Bolt , telling the story of her ancestor using letters, diaries and family history.
While there's no obvious connection between Swift and Sackville, some fans believe the singer might find some parallels between the woman's history and her own public reputation.
A string of (invisible) historical connections
This isn't the first time Swift has written about historically important women to her, a tendency that dates back to her 2012 album Red . Fans have long speculated that Lucky One, about a pop musician who disappears from public view, was inspired by Joni Mitchell or Lisa Matassa.
In "The Last Great American Dynasty," from her 2020 album Folklore , Swift tells the story of composer and philanthropist Rebekah Harkness, who inherited her late husband's property. In a twist ending, Swift revealed that she purchased the historic Rhode Island home where Harkness once wreaked havoc.
If this theory holds true, "Blaster" wouldn't even be the only song on Tormented Poets Ministry to feature a famous woman. Most fans believe that the album's final song, "Clara Bow," is about the late actress of the same name. Bow rose to fame as a silent film star in the 1920s and was one of the first women to earn the title "It Girl" before retiring from show business in 1933.
Amid popular theories that Tortured Poets will be a breakup album about the end of her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn, Swifties has already linked "The Bolter" to him, citing a video of her ex "running wild" at a VMA afterparty of the clip to avoid the paparazzi. But there's evidence the extra tracks could make up a quartet of Swift's songs about complex women.
