As for fandoms, Taylor Swift fans – also called Swifties – are in a class of their own. Whether it’s a cryptic text, a hidden message or a pop-up installation in a mall, fans of the fourteen-time Grammy winner can’t get enough of her use of Easter eggs to tease crucial information about upcoming albums and projects. Of The Tortured Poets Section With the April 19 release just around the corner, Swifties are in full-fledged detective mode. The hidden details of the upcoming album are a case they are determined to crack.
Swift’s use of hidden messages can be traced back to her debut album. 2008 Taylor Swift It was the first time that the singer deliberately capitalized certain letters in the CD’s lyric booklet to form a message associated with each song. She continued this trend Red in 2012 before switching things up – relying on uncapitalized words to form a message – for 2014 1989.
But The department of tortured poets is not as easy to decode as keeping track of uppercase or non-capitalized letters. Since the announcement of the Martyred poets Publication date at the Grammys in February (which marks the second time Swift has announced a new album at an awards show), fans are obsessed with her use of peace signs and the runner-up. Could all this mean another surprise decline?
The announcement of the album itself also came as a surprise as fans expected it to be released Reputation (Taylor’s version) instead of. The moral of the story? Swift is not one for predictability.
Swifties share their decryption processes
For Danielle Marie, a Taylor Swift-centric content creator with more than 170,000 followers on TikTok, constant decoding is an integral part of fandom.
“Part of being a Swiftie is the madness of deciding whether or not Taylor gives us an Easter egg,” Marie told Yahoo Entertainment. “I have a master note where I keep ideas… that are ultimately successful [verified] as an Easter egg and compare what we know from previous things she has done or shared. I also have a bunch of screenshots and folders to easily identify things I recognize from previous Swiftie-like investigations.
Nikki King, another prominent Swiftie on TikTok, told Yahoo Entertainment that she is usually very alert to information coming directly from Swift or her team.
“The process for me personally is to make connections with everything from her previous releases or look for what it could mean in the future,” she said. “For example, [on April 16] we learned about the text ‘one less dagger to sharpen’ TTPD. … I immediately looked for previous use of daggers or knives in her texts. I personally remember her wearing a pair of dagger earrings at the American Music Awards in November 2022. She loves to weave a metaphor like a golden thread through her work and it deepens our understanding of her art in context.”
She added: “We are trying to monitor it [Swift’s patterns] but she can be unpredictable. Prior to the pandemic, she was following a more typical album cycle. She released pre-album singles and typically released a new album every two years. Now things are so unpredictable with her re-recordings and current new releases.
Jen, who asked that her first name be used for privacy reasons, runs the TikTok account @swiftieversenews13. She believes Swift’s fashion is an easy indicator that something new is coming – an album or an era.
“As she begins recording and working on a new album, her clothing will begin to reflect that new era. It’s the first real indication that something is in the works,” she said. “That’s why Swifties get extra excited when they see photos of her on the road, dining out with friends or heading to the recording studio.”
Why does Swift like Easter eggs?
What started as a way for the “Cruel Summer” singer to encourage fans to read the lyrics to her songs has turned into something much bigger than Swift intended. Luckily, Swifties are up for the challenge and happily identify and dissect every Easter egg that comes their way.
“[Swift] said she will continue to leave Easter eggs as long as we continue to enjoy finding them,” Jen said. “I think the idea is for her to have fun with her fans, to connect with us in this very unique way and at the same time promote her work and get us excited about it.”
According to King, these cryptic clues and theories are not only a way for fans to get involved in the process, they are also sources of inspiration for Swift.
“When fans saw the album variants TTPDThey theorized that each announcement of a ‘darker’ variant, from white to black, symbolized the five stages of grief,” King said. “According to Apple Music, she was so inspired by that fan theory that she looked into it and created five playlists of songs she wrote at each stage.”
A network of Swifties
For Swifties, deciphering one of Swift’s cryptic messages is not only an engaging pastime, it’s also a way to communicate with other fans.
I really love being a Swiftie, the Easter egg hunt we go through every time an album comes out is so annoying, but so much fun 😂😭 Like wdym, Swifties all over the world are currently looking for walls with QR codes 😂 #TSTTPD
— lisa (taylor’s version) (@lisa_goetzz) April 17, 2024
Casey Tayler, a Swiftie content creator, told Yahoo Entertainment that the Swiftverse is an especially unique fandom because of how enthusiastic and communicative everyone is.
“The Swiftverse is a sub-universe and that’s what makes it great. It’s a bunch of girly bops supporting each other, talking about shared experiences and, most importantly, excited about what’s to come,” Tayler told Yahoo Entertainment. “I think that’s why Taylor does what she does. She gives us the opportunity to be excited about the future… to work together.”
