Entertainment

Taylor Swift's Social Media Blackout Is Reminding Fans Of Harry Styles

by S. Atkinson
Getty Images/Bustle

On Friday August 18, Taylor Swift's Instagram account was suddenly, mysteriously blank of posts (and of accounts that it was following). So no wonder it seems like Swift is copying Harry Styles with her social media move. On September 26, 2016, Styles posted three identical blank images to Instagram with no accompanying captions to provide hints for puzzled followers. It was later revealed that it was a cryptic way of announcing an interview for the magazine Another Man and three different covers featuring the One Direction star. The stunt won the interview an incredible amount of publicity, with the New Statesman citing Styles' blank posts getting over a million likes cumulatively (at the time of writing, that figure is closer to three million).

Clearly, it was a good strategy. So, the fact that the handsome Brit's ex appears to be employing similarly abstract tactics does make it a question of whether she came up with the social media blitz on her own or if she was inspired by the man who may have inspired her song "Style." Whether or not she's actually pulling a copycat move is hard to say at this point, though.

It's important to stress that the social media whiteout has been pretty erratic, with Swift's Instagram account posts being deleted before the account was entirely deleted for half an hour before it came back to life. The British singer's social media mystery was far more smoothly executed. At this point, we're not even sure if it's truly a promotional move or whether the 1989 singer's accounts have just been hacked. Still, fans have been swift (ha, ha) on picking up on the similarity.

Meanwhile others implied it suggests a mischievous instinct on Swift's part (something she has in common with her ex) — and one that has fans enduring all the feels.

Perhaps the most unlikely, abstract train of thought that this has inspired in fans is the "Haylor's getting back together" theory. But given the fact that the 28-year-old is currently rumored to be coupled up with actor Joe Alwyn, and Styles is presumably in no mood for new drama following a break up in June 2017 with food blogger Tess Ward, it seems like the least probable explanation for what's going on.

Stay tuned, Swifties. Knowing the 1989 singer, there's an explanation forthcoming — and Harry Styles probably won't be name checked in it.