One of the curious features of Taylor Swift’s work is her regular use of words borrowed from astronomy and cosmology. “Taylor Swift’s discography frequently incorporates astrophysics terminology,” notes Sophie Newman and Ana Sein de Murietta of the Institute for Cosmology and Gravity at the University of Portsmouth in the UK.
It reflects the role science and technology plays in shaping cultural phenomena. But for Swifties, it also raises the issues of the field of astrophysics that most affect Swift’s work. And for scientists, the possibility of whether this process of cultural penetration can work in reverse has an impact on cosmological discoveries. “Can Taylor Swift’s 13th album retain the secrets of the ultimate fate of the universe?” asks Jane Bright at the Faculty of Physics at Grinnell University in Iowa.
Space Chorus
Thanks to the work of Newman and Sainz de Murieta, in one paper, and in another, Bright, there is an answer suitable for the traditional publication season in early April.
We can see that Swift’s astrophysical bias can be inferred by analyzing the word frequency in her discography. “We categorize language into different disciplines in astrophysics and have found that both Swift’s total discography and the ERAS tour have promoted the most attention-grabbing astronomy,” says Newman and Sains de Murieta. (Multi-immersion astronomy combines data from several types of astronomical signals, including light, gravitational waves, and neutrinos.)
Bright goes further by “mapping key traits and transitions in the history of the universe to the corresponding themes and milestones of Swift’s career.” In this way, she can map the universe era to the rapid era.
For example, Swift’s “Reputation” album mapped the dark ages of the universe about half a million years after the Big Bang, before hydrogen atoms were first formed, but the stars began to shine and made the universe much darker. “reputation Similarly, it felt like an era of Taylor’s “darkness” marked by media scrutiny, mass feuds and intentional withdrawal from the public eye,” says Bright.
And the “Tortured Poets Division” album maps the period of reionization in the universe 150 million to 1 billion years after the Big Bang. This is when the first stars begin to shine and their light ionizes neutral atoms. “Tortured Poets Division It feels like an era of intense emotional and creative “reionization” in Swift,” says Bright.
All impressive is Bright’s prediction that Swift’s next album, her 13th time, will be mapped to the ultimate fate of the universe, which is not yet combined with Swift’s other works.
Astrophysicists have yet to decide how the universe will end. They speculate that as the universe gets colder, colder, sky, and darker, it could become a huge freeze. It may be a huge rift where the relentless expansion of the universe cuts off fragments of the universe. It could be in a big crunch where the universe collapses in a kind of reversed big bang.
No one knows. But Swift may hold the key. As Bright points out, “To be honest, if someone is destined to hold the key to the fate of the universe, it could just be her.”
Signs of life
Many of the equally important advances complement these important works. In particular, the discovery of evidence referring to the highly technical civilization of the Exoplanet GJ 1132b, about 1.6 times the mass of the Earth, orbiting the red star 41 light years away in Vera’s constellation.
Frederick Hessmann and colleagues at the University of Gottingen in Germany say the spectroscopy of the deformation reveals a rich amount of rare material in the atmosphere. “We report detection of atmospheric whiskey in the ExtSolar Super Earth Planet GJ 1132B,” the team says.
They point out that this cannot be explained by natural processes, meaning the existence of technologically advanced civilizations engaged in large-scale distillation operations. “The reason for the inevitable massive production scale is that it is likely to produce rocket fuel for the interplanetary economy or for higher levels of personal consumption.”
Interestingly, Hessman and Co speculate that their discoveries provide a compelling solution to the Fermi paradox of the seemingly high probability of intellectual life elsewhere in the universe and the lack of evidence. Or as Fermi said: “Where are you guys?”
Hessman and Co., “technically savvy civilizations will not be able to achieve the higher technical level necessary to develop detectable radio signatures (a much less interstellar travel) at the recommended consumption rate.”
Obviously, a significant outcome (HIC) published on ARXIV on April 1, 2025.
References:
ERAS Tour: Map the Age of Taylor Swift to the Space Age of Space: arxiv.org/abs/2503.22795
Rapid analysis of the ERAS tour set list and impact on Astrophysics Research (Taylor’s version): arxiv.org/abs/2503.24188
Detection of extraterrestrial technological civilizations on Extreme Solar Planet GJ 1132b: arxiv.org/abs/2503.23788
Other notable papers include:
What is the most interesting number? Numerical humor research: arxiv.org/abs/2503.24175
Higher multi-pole for cows: arxiv.org/abs/2504.00506
The universe is strange: arxiv.org/abs/2503.22839
The definitive evidence of the classic multiverse! : arxiv.org/abs/2503.22768
PROMOPLOT: Covers open access fees by filling up wasted space in corner plots. arxiv.org/abs/2503.24254
