If there's one artist who knows how to drop viral-worthy Easter eggs in their songs, it's none other than Miss Taylor Swift.
While accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights at the 66th Grammy Awards on Sunday night, Swift had a surprise announcement for her devoted Swifties. Not only did the star reveal the name of her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, she also announced that it would be released on April 19, 2024.
Soon after, the singer took to Instagram to reveal the tracklist and ever since, social media has been in a frenzy in an attempt to de-code the meaning of a few of the titles.
Following news of the upcoming The Tortured Poets Department album, we have put our investigative skills to the test to bring you a guide to the Easter eggs:
First up, here's a list of the tracklist:
Side A
Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)
The Tortured Poets Department
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
Down Bad
Side B
So Long, London
But Daddy I Love Him
Fresh Out the Slammer
Florida!!! (Florence + the Machine)
Side C
Guilty as Sin?
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
loml
Side D
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
The Alchemy
Clara Bow
Bonus Track: The Manuscript
Is an album trilogy on its way?
Now that the tracklist talk is out of the way, Swifties are under the impression that the upcoming album is a trilogy.
'THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT IS PART OF A TRILOGY AND THERE ARE TWO MORE ALBUMS/EDITIONS TO COME,' one wrote on X. 'read the thread for easter eggs and timelines because this is getting suspiciouSSS and the evidence is INSANE [sic].'
The user referred to a recent Tweet from Swift which read: 'How many secretsss do we think are hiding in that hair?' The fan suggested that the three 's' implies a trilogy could be on its way. They went on to share a screenshot of when Swift's website crashed with the error message DPT: 321.
'Taylor’s website shut downs with fake error messages and coding. People guess "red herring" not really sure what it means and no one knows what DPT: 321 means (DPT later gets solved as Tortured Poets Department) but the 321 is overlooked just like "secretSSS" was.'
Failing that, the fan said that the clock necklace Swift wore to the Grammy Awards on Sunday night had its hands set to three o'clock. '@taylorswift13 wears a clock necklace. The clock hands are pointed to midnight, which everyone assumes is for the Midnights album because of it being nominated for the Grammys. The clock hands are in the position of 3 because it’s sideways but we were distracted again,' she added.
Looking at Swift's album cover, the fan noticed that the star shared some song lyrics which read: 'Tick, tick, tick.'
As a result, we're pretty convinced this album won't be all we'll expect from Taylor in the coming months.
Here are all the Easter eggs :
According to the fans, 'But Daddy I Love Him' is a line from Disney's original animated The Little Mermaid, which came out in 1989 (the year Taylor was born).
Many Swifties are convinced that the phrase might be related to Swift's ex Harry Styles as a result of this T-shirt he once wore. We present you Exhibit A:
Others, meanwhile, wonder whether Styles features on the track.
Of course we're not 100% sure the song is even about Styles, not features him, but let's not forget that Swift once dressed up as the Disney character Ariel once, so maybe it's just a coincidence.
We'll continue updating this piece with all of the Easter eggs from Taylor Swift's upcoming album. You're welcome.
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