You can’t miss it: A large mural containing a giant QR code has appeared on the side of a building in Chicago’s River North neighborhood.
For Taylor Swift fans, it’s a giant puzzle.
“I think it’s going to be Easter eggs for a music video that’s going to come out,” said Whitney Hansen, who came to see the mural Tuesday afternoon. “I think she’s going to release a music video around 3 a.m. Friday.”
Hansen and other Swift fans say the mural, which began being completed Monday, contains clues about her upcoming album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which will be released Friday. It’s filled with the letters “TTPD” and the number 13 — clues that TODAY.com describes as “telltale signs” that the mural and QR code are aimed at Swifties.
“We have the three ‘TTPDs,’ followed by four ’13s,'” said Dani Filip Bermudez, another Swift fan who came to see and hopefully decode the message. “If you do Taylor’s math, you add the threes and the ones together, and you get 16, which is today’s date. But I’m still waiting for more.”
Later Tuesday evening, the singer posted a cryptic video on her Instagram page, titled “TTPD Timetable.” The video shows clocks reading 2 p.m., typewriters in an office labeled “Department of Tortured Poets” and a cork board marking Friday as the album’s release day. The cork board also shows the number 14 through tally marks.
As crews worked to finish the mural Tuesday, about a dozen people lined up to try to scan the QR code — but a large construction elevator had blocked the view. As of Wednesday afternoon, the mural appeared to be finished — or at least not blocked.
According to TODAY.com, the QR code leads to a YouTube short on Taylor Swift’s page with the message “Error 321.”
A similar note appeared on Swift’s website in February, hours before she announced “The Tortured Poet Department” at the 2024 Grammy Awards. It read:
“Error 321 Backend recovery failed
Backend recovery failed
hneriergrd
TPD: 321
Varnish cache server”
The confusing “hneriergrd” turned out to be an anagram for “red herring.” And “DPT: 321,” read backwards, alluded to the title of the new album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Wearing a white and gray Taylor Swift sweatshirt, Kristen Blevins stood on the sidewalk in front of the mural at 25 W. Grand Avenue on Tuesday, working to decode what the new message might mean and how it relates to the previous puzzle.
“It’s a really good secret that she kept,” Blevins said. “The red herring is something that confuses or distracts you. I think that might be the conclusion of that.”
For now, Swifties will have to wait.
“It’s not finished yet,” said Vanessa Filip Bermudez who had been waiting for more than an hour for the mural to be finished. “There might be more once this is completely over. I think we’re just waiting to see.”