The clues Taylor Swift has dropped about her new album in LA art installation

Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) | Natacha Pisarenko, Associated Press
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Taylor Swift is sending her fans on a quest for answers about her upcoming album once again. This time, she sent a Spotify pop-up art installation to The Grove in Los Angeles that includes clues, art and lyrics from “The Tortured Poets Department,” which comes out on Thursday at 10 p.m. MDT.

It’s not the only thing Swift is doing to help fans count down to the album. In the seven days leading up the album, Swift is hiding a hidden message in the lyrics of one song each day on Apple Music.

So far, fans have deciphered four words — “hereby”, “conduct” and “this,” according to Yahoo News.

Here’s what else we know about “The Tortured Poets Department” so far.

Easter eggs for Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Within the installation, her fans were quick to notice little hidden clues Swift is known for that only true fans would know. Fashioned like a library, Swift demonstrates a masterful example of getting fans excited, sending them on the hunt for clues.

  • Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt performed “All Too Well (Ryan and Emily’s Version)” on “Saturday Night Live” this week, and Swift shared the video using two heart hand emojis and two clapping hands emojis.

  • She placed a two-finger peace sign in the Spotify library installation and also used the sign after announcing the album while receiving a Grammy award. The clock in the Spotify library is also set to 2.

  • Dried and dead flowers were found in the exhibit, including cornelia rose, lavender and daisy flowers — a possible reference to the ending of her relationship with B-list actor Joe Alwyn.

  • A calendar displayed Friday, Dec. 13 — Swift was born on a Wednesday, but this year, Dec. 13 does fall on a Friday.

  • A filing cabinet in the library has six drawers open — fans are speculating it could be a reference to her first original six albums she doesn’t own herself.

  • Fans also noticed multiple references to her Chicago performances on The Eras Tour, speculating it’s a hint for the album.

Lyrics we know are on Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Here are lyrics Swift has divulged from the album so far, including when and how she shared it.

  • “And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises, / My talismans and charms / The tick tick tick of love bombs / My veins of pitch black ink / All’s fair in love and poetry, ‘ Sincerely,The Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department” — she shared in an Instagram post after making the album announcement.

  • “i love you / it’s ruining my life” — she shared in the first variant album announcement.

  • “am i allowed to cry?” — from the second variant album announcement.

  • “old habits die screaming” — from the third variant album announcement.

  • “i wish i could un-recall how we almost had it all” — this lyric showed up on the Spotify album page.

  • “Crowd goes wild at her fingertips / Half moonshine, Full eclipse.” — she released this lyric on her Instagram stories on the day of the solar eclipse last week.

  • “even statues crumble if they’re made to wait” — fans saw this lyric at the LA art installation.

  • “one less temptress one less dagger to sharpen” — this lyric was on a page turned in an open book locked in the art installation at exactly 2 p.m.

Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ track list

Swift released the names for the track list for the album a few days after the album announcement and also shared that Post Malone and Florence + The Machine would have features and writing credits on the album. She revealed this week who she worked with on each song for the album, listing Jack Antonoff — who has worked with Swift on each of her albums since “1989,″ and also disclosed that Aaron Dessner was the other producer she worked with.

She first worked with Dessner on “Folklore” and has since used his talents on “Evermore”, “Midnights” and now “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Here’s the track and the authors listed on each song.

  1. “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Austin Post.

  2. “The Tortured Poets Department” | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff.

  3. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” | Taylor Swift.

  4. “Down Bad” | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff.

  5. “So Long, London” | Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner.

  6. “But Daddy I Love Him” | Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner.

  7. “Fresh Out the Slammer” | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff.

  8. “Florida!!! featuring Florence + The Machine” | Taylor Swift, Florence Welch.

  9. “Guilty as Sin?” | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff.

  10. “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” | Taylor Swift.

  11. “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff.

  12. “loml” | Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner.

  13. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff.

  14. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” | Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner.

  15. “The Alchemy” | Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff.

  16. “Clara Bow” | Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner.

‘The Tortured Poets Department’ bonus tracks

She will release four variants of the album, available for purchase on her site for a limited time, that will include a different bonus track on each variant.

Those include:

  1. “The Manuscript.”

  2. “The Bolter.”

  3. “The Albatross.”

  4. “The Black Dog.”