Taylor Swift Will Appear At The iHeartRadio Awards, Adding More Fuel To Those New Music Rumors

She got a big reputation — and the biggest tour in the country. Taylor Swift will appear at the 2019 iHeartRadio Awards, where she will be honored with the "Tour of the Year" award for her blockbuster Reputation Stadium Tour, but she's just one of the big names set to appear at the event.

According to a press release obtained by Bustle, in addition to Swift, the telecast — which will air on Thursday, March 14 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox — will also feature performances from Alicia Keys, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, and Halsey. Meanwhile, Arianators hoping to get a sneak peek of Ariana Grande's upcoming tour will get a treat when the "Thank U, Next" singer takes the stage during the show. But, even with all these exciting performers promised, the buzz at the iHeartRadio Music Awards will likely surround Swift, as fans eagerly look for any clue that the artist is planning on releasing new music soon.

Speculation about the the singer's new music began on Sunday, Feb. 24, when Swift began posting a series of cryptic photos on Instagram without a caption. She also locked down the comments on the photos, which led to some fans to start hypothesizing that Swift was teasing a countdown on her social media.

On Sunday, Feb. 24, Swift shared a highly-edited photo of palm trees, and the number of trees — seven — in the picture, led one fan to speculate that it was a reference to the singer's upcoming seventh studio album. Another twitter user, @annaandmitch, suggested that the number of stars that were edited into the snap (61) was a hint that new music would be coming in 61 days from the date of posting — Friday, April 26. "So if there’s 60 stars as some have said, let’s say there’s about 60/61 ⭐️ There’s 61 days until April 26, FRIDAY, a SINGLE RELEASE day! Another connection is April 26 is Arbor Day, a connection to PALM TREES!?" they wrote on Twitter.

Things got even more interesting the following day, when Swift posted a photo of herself sitting on the sixth step of a staircase. (Technically, she is sitting on the sixth step from the bottom and the seventh step from the top — could that be another hint about album number 7?) She simply captioned the photo with a pink heart, and captioned a photo that she posted the next day — which featured her staring through the fifth hole in the fence — with a yellow heart. If this photo countdowsan theory goes according to plan, the big announcement will come on Saturday, March 2.

For some, the fact that Swift has posted so many photos in a row is also a clue that she's building up to a major countdown, as the singer is known for her rather sporadic posting style. And considering the fact that Swift famously marked the beginning of her reputation era on Instagram, that seems to be even more evidence for fans to assume that Swift is, in fact, teasing a new album now.

In May of 2018, Perez Hilton reported on YouTube that Swift told him that her seventh album would be "definitely be out before [she's] 30," which is in December. In January, the singer was spotted leaving a recording studio, according to a report from E! News. Coupled with all of clues that Swift has been dropping on Instagram, it seems as if we really might be on the verge of a new era of Taylor Swift. And where better to announce her intentions than at a major awards show? Let the games begin (again).