32 Secret Meanings And Easter Eggs Fans Have Spotted In Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department" Promo

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It's officially release week for Taylor Swift's upcoming album The Tortured Poets Department, and she's put out some pretty interesting promo.

For example, from April 16–18, fans can visit her Spotify library installation at The Grove in Los Angeles.

A person observing a whimsical public installation titled "THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT" with books and an old typewriter
Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images

She also released a video of "The TTPD Timetable."

There's also this mysterious QR code that appeared in Chicago's North River area.

Large QR code mural on a building wall with a covered scissor lift in front
Chicago Tribune / TNS / Via Getty

As you know, Taylor's a "Mastermind" who loves to plant hidden clues and secret details in her work — and the Swifties are basically CIA decoders in training.

Here are 32 Easter eggs and details Swifties have spotted in Taylor Swift's album promo for The Tortured Poets Department:

1.In the "Timetable" video, the clock in the Midnights room is set to 2:00. Taylor's mentioned "two a.m." in several songs throughout her career.

Analog clock showing time as 2 on wall above a quilted couch

Here are a few examples:

"Mary's Song" — "Two a.m. riding in your truck."

"The Way I Loved You" — "And it's two a.m. and I'm cursing your name."

"Breathe" — "It's two a.m., feelin' like I just lost a friend."

"I Wish You Would" — "It's two a.m. in your car" and "it's two a.m. in my room."

 

2.In the Midnights room, it's no longer midnight because daylight is streaming in through the window. This could possibly be connected to "Daylight" from Lover.

Midnights room with scattered records, daylight streaming in through window

In the song, lyrics like "I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night, and now I see daylight, I only see daylight" use daylight as a metaphor for coming out of a dark time into the light of genuine love — something Taylor appears to have done recently through her new relationship with Travis Kelce.

3.On the floor of the Midnights room, there are several crumpled up pieces of paper lying there, evoking the lyrics of "All Too Well" from Red.

crumpled pieces of paper scattered on a tiled floor

In "All Too Well," Taylor sings, "I'm a crumpled up piece of paper lying here 'cause I remember it all, all, all too well."

4.She left her glitter gel pens in the Midnights room. In her NSAI's Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award acceptance speech, she said, "I've never talked about this publicly before, because, well, it’s dorky. But I also have, in my mind, secretly, established genre categories for lyrics I write. Three of them, to be exact. They are affectionately titled Quill Lyrics, Fountain Pen Lyrics, and Glitter Gel Pen Lyrics."

UMG / Via instagram.com

Describing the third category, she said, "Frivolous, carefree, bouncy, syncopated perfectly to the beat. Glitter Gel Pen lyrics don't care if you don't take them seriously because they don't take themselves seriously. Glitter Gel Pen lyrics are the drunk girl at the party who tells you that you look like an angel in the bathroom. It's what we need every once in a while in these fraught times in which we live."

5.And some of Taylor's Instagram pictures from the making of Midnights are framed on the wall.

A wall displaying a collection of four variously sized and framed photographs
UMG / Taylor Swift / Via Instagram: @taylorswift

Some eagle-eyed Swifties were able to identify exactly which pictures they were! All of the images are from this carousel Taylor shared on Instagram:

6.The camera exits the Midnights room, goes down a sterile office hallway, and enters The Tortured Poets Department, which is obviously a very on-the-nose way of signaling we're entering a new era.

Sign on a wood door reads "THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT."

7.The door to TTPD is apparently upside down!

UMG / Via instagram.com

8.And a calendar on the bulletin boards has a new music video scheduled for release on Friday!

Notebook with a schedule for a music video and album release, labeled "The Tortured Poets Department"

9.Fans in NYC spotted new lyrics on a digital billboard. It says, "One less temptress. One less dagger to sharpen."

Twitter: @CodyCaston13

10.And as previously mentioned, there's this giant QR code in Chicago.

Person in a hoodie and shorts stands by a large QR code mural as others take photos
Chicago Tribune / TNS

Currently, it leads to this YouTube Short, which is captioned, "A letter from the department." The letter is "T."

11.Also, Taylor previously mentioned this area of Chicago during a comedy bit on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2021.

Talk show host interviewing Taylor Swift, who is holding up a mood board with various images and texts
CBS / Via youtube.com

Here's the full clip, with this part starting at the 5:41 mark:

12.Fans have actually spotted QR codes revealing new letters all over the world.

Twitter: @chartstswift

13.For the past few days, Taylor has revealed new words of a secret phrase hidden in the lyrics of old songs on Apple Music. So far, the message is "We hereby conduct this post."

Taylor Swift is speaking into a microphone at a piano with floral decorations
Ashok Kumar / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

And now, let's dive into this Spotify library installation. I am there in all ways except physically.

14.The dried flowers on display relate to "Lavender Haze" from Midnights and "Cornelia Street" from Lover.

Twitter: @tswifterastour

15.There's a peace sign statue, which mimics a hand gesture Taylor made during her 2024 Grammys acceptance speech.

CBS via Paramount+ / @TheSwiftSociety / Via x.com

16.There are books with titles matching the TTPD track list — and "Guilty as Sin?" is the biggest one.

Twitter: @tswifterastour

17.Another book has the word "Us" on it, evoking "The Story of Us'" from Speak Now.

Twitter: @tswifterastour / Universal Music Group

18.There are two books titled The Tortured Poets Department. Basically anytime Taylor releases a new album lately, there's a double album theory.

Twitter: @icabsunyes

19.An antique-looking book on display revealed more lyrics: "Even statues crumble if they're made to wait."

Twitter: @swifferupdates

Also, the white lace veil beneath could possibly be a reference or link to this line from "You're Losing Me": "I wouldn't marry me either."

20.The book pages were turned, revealing these new lyrics: "Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?"

Twitter: @sophialoves1989

21.There's a card catalogue with 72 drawers, which some fans theorize may represent the six years Taylor spent in a relationship with Joe Alwyn because 72 months equals six years.

Library-style wall with numerous small drawers and assorted decorative items including books and a clock
@chartstswift / Via Twitter: @chartstswift

22.This hourglass evokes the "Karma" music video.

hourglass on a bookshelf
hourglass on a bookshelf
Two Taylors inside an hourglass
Two Taylors inside an hourglass

Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images, UMG / Taylor Swift / Via youtube.com

23.Some fans compared the card catalogue to a morgue. On the first night of the Eras Tour, Taylor reportedly said, "You know, my albums have characteristically been, sort of, excruciatingly autobiographical where, like, when I put out an album, it just feels like getting some sort of live-streamed, public autopsy."

Twitter: @mirrorswifft

24.Like the clock in the Midnights room, there's a clock in the library set to 2 a.m. Fans also linked it to Taylor's pocket watch in the "Bejeweled" music video, where the countdown to exile stops at two.

Twitter: @ashslippedawayy / Taylor Swift / UMG

25.There's a puzzle in a jar. It may be "The Lines" by Bgraamiens Puzzle.

Twitter: @japrilss / Bgraamiens / Via amazon.com

26.There's a globe with a nail in Florida. On TTPD, track 8 is "Florida!!!" Taylor was reportedly in Florida when reports of her breakup with Joe Alwyn first surfaced.

Twitter: @millenahlima

27.Fans have identified a bust of Diana of Ephesus (aka Artemis). To the Romans, she was the goddess of wild animals, hunting, and fertility. Her name is linked to the Latin word for daylight, dius. The original statue's temple was destroyed, but fragments of it remain — some notably at the British Museum in London.

Bust of a classical figure next to books on a shelf

28.In artworks from ancient Rome and Greece, Diana typically hunts with a bow and arrow (a possible reference to "The Archer") and sometimes a hound (a possible link to "The Black Dog").

Greek artwork of Artemis and her dog
Darko Mlinarevic / Getty Images

29.The Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world — just like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which Taylor mentioned in "cowboy like me."

ruins of the Temple of Artemis
Elizabeth Beard / Getty Images

On the track, she sings, "Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon."

30.As seen in this TikTok from The Today Show, there's a desktop calendar with the date Friday, Dec. 13 — which is this year!

desktop calendar with date Friday, 12/13
NBC / Via tiktok.com

31.Also as seen in Today's TikTok, there's a rose in a glass case, similar to the one in Beauty and the Beast.

rose in a glass case on a bookshelf
NBC / Via tiktok.com

The TTPD track "But Daddy I Love Him" is a line from The Little Mermaid, making for two Disney princess references.

32.And finally, Today's TikTok also shows birdcages similar to the one in the "Look What You Made Me Do" music video.

small birdcage on a bookshelf
small birdcage on a bookshelf
Taylor in an elegant dress seated inside a large birdcage
Taylor in an elegant dress seated inside a large birdcage

NBC / Via tiktok.com, Big Machine Records / Taylor Swift / Via youtube.com

Have you spotted any other Easter eggs or interesting details in Taylor's The Tortured Poets Department promo? Let me know in the comments!