Photo: Illustration: Vulture. Photos: Getty Images
Can Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner ask you a question, Taylor Swift? During a spot on her book tour for the best-selling memoir Crying In H-Mart, Zauner shared a drunken moment where she met Swift at a bar during a Grammys after-party. Obviously, Swift was ordering a Vodka Diet Coke, and Zauner felt compelled to ask her an important question that has been plaguing both BookTok and SwiftTok. An author and Hemingway fan herself, Zauner asked Swift about a possible literary reference in her song “invisible string,” but Swift’s response left her with more questions than answers. “I’ve been reading a lot of Hemmingway,” Zauner said to moderator Kiley Reid as she reenacted the moment. “In that song ‘invisible string,’ you say, Isn’t it just so pretty to think, is that a Hemingway reference? And she just goes, Okay, English major! and walks away!” As the audience abrupted with laughter at the response, Zauner explained that she was embarrassed by the interaction the next morning. While we may never know if Swift was reading Hemingway during quarantine, it makes sense that she’s leaving it a mystery and taking her Diet Coke with her. She’s the queen of Easter eggs after all, so it’s not out of character to make a little joke and escape, probably in a janitor’s cart.
