Readers, in this essay I will put forth evidence suggesting that Mirrorball is about the 2016 Met Gala. Behold:

• The title: The Met Gala is a yearly BALL.

• I'll get you out on the floor- The very public dance she had with Tom Hiddleston.

• spinning in my highest heels, love- the shoes she wore to the 2016 met gala were knee high gladiator boots, causing her to tower over even some of the men. The "love", British slang, could refer to one or all three of the men affected by her dancing at the gala - Calvin, Tom, and Joe.

• hush I know they said the end is near - The event happened just before she and Calvin Harris split in June of 2016. a month later is the infamous I heart TS fourth of July party. at the end of July Kim Kardashian attempts to cancel Taylor with receipts from a heavily edited phone conversation between Taylor and Kanye.

• you are not like the regulars/ the masquerade revelers/ drunk as they watch my shattered edges glistening - the you is JOE, practically unknown, watching Taylor from the sidelines. After the dance, the media went wild, saying Taylor and Tom were both drunk. THE DRESS TAYLOR WORE TO THE 2016 MET GALA WAS A SHIMMERING SILVER METALLIC CRACKLE PATTERN THAT LOOKED LIKE A SHATTERED MIRRORBALL! https://assets.vogue.com/photos/58772906ef8cc67551004093/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/met-gala-vogue-special-edition-taylor-swift-coverlines.jpg

• and they called off the circus, burned the disco down - Calvin called their relationship a "media Circus". The bridge refers to this, and also brings us back to today, where 2020's Met Gala has been canceled - an event many people speculated Taylor and Joe would make their official debut as a couple, since they first met at the 2016 Gala.

• I'll show you every version of yourself tonight - the last line in the song, because this moment was every Taylor slammed together in one moment of time. She's in a messy love triangle (red/1989), she's being hounded and slut shamed by the media (1989, rep), and she's met Joe (rep, Lover). She's the mirrorball, but she's looking inward, to the moment her whole life changed forever. She's reflecting on her past self.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

*Edited to include link to reference photo of dress.