At 5:27 PM on Sunday, February 4th I was sitting at my desk, wading through endless homework, when I received a frantic call from my cousin. She had come over earlier, so I expected her to ask me if I found her toothbrush or a sweatshirt she had left. Instead, she eagerly explained that Taylor Swift’s website had mysteriously blacked out, showing only an error message.
As an avid Swiftie myself, I wasted no time typing the website in the search bar and sure enough, it glitched. Earlier that morning, Swift changed her profile picture on all social media accounts to black-and-white. With the Grammys later that night and the profile’s color mimicking the album’s monochrome palette, I was certain it meant a looming Reputation (Taylor’s Version) announcement. A closer investigation of the site showed that it was not, in fact, a real error. All the other links were accessible at the bottom of the page. This meant one thing: the site malfunction was intentional.
Closer investigation showed many clues on the website. Throughout my detective process, I had my cousin on the line. Together we deciphered a string of letters beneath the error code; “hneriergrd” unscrambled to “red herring,” meaning a false clue. This phrase could correspond to several things; namely the profile change, the site malfunction or any other information and hints on the site. The next step in our scrutinization of the website was to address the “Error 321 Backend fetch failed.” Some Swifties believed the “321” corresponded to a typical chant during Swift’s Eras Tour. A quick Google search revealed that the error code “321” was not a valid HTTP code while “Backend fetch failed” corresponded to error code 503.
Many minutes passed but we had made little progress. Instead of examining each detail more, we turned to the internet. There we found that some hackers had seen words in various languages. These words seemed random, like a Japanese word for a ticking sound and others such as “bruises,” “love bombs” and “tarnished.” I was convinced they would somehow relate to Reputation (Taylor’s Version) From the Vault tracks. My cousin, on the other hand, was certain this was a sign of something else. After all, my cousin argued, what if the “red herring” meant Swift would do something totally unexpected? We both decided to give the analysis a rest until the Grammys later that night.
I sat anxiously on the couch through most of the Red Carpet. I couldn’t contain my excitement for a possible new album drop. I waded through the awards, paying particular attention to the ones that Swift was nominated for. Eventually, U2 was shown on the screen on the stage to present the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. When they announced that Swift won the award, I was ecstatic. But even that enthusiasm paled in comparison to my elation after her speech.
Swift began by referencing her lucky number, thirteen, and thanked the Recording Academy and her fans for giving her the win in this category. Swift then announced, “I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19th.” I cannot explain the joy I felt after Swift revealed she had created not a re-recording of a previous album, but an entirely new album titled The Tortured Poets Department.
Swift posted an announcement on her social media pages shortly after receiving the award. There she included photos of the front cover and a special photo with lyrics. These lyrics included the words hackers had found in the code just hours earlier: “The tick, tick, tick of love bombs.” This was a red herring I could not have anticipated. After a whirlwind of a day discovering clues and easter eggs, Swift had exceeded all my expectations.
