Taylor Swift Throws It Back, Dropping ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Easter Eggs in Song Liners

Taylor Swift is going old school with her The Tortured Poets Department Easter eggs, dropping subtle clues via Apple Music.

The music platform subtly changed its X bio on Saturday, April 13, to read, “A word a day til the @taylorswift13 album drops.”

Swifties immediately began scouring their Apple playlists, soon discovering that the lyric page for Midnights tune “Glitch” featured an array of capital letters in seemingly random places. However, fans know that it’s never random when the hitmaker, 34, starts capitalizing random letters.

Word No. 1: Hereby

The letters H, E, Y, E, R, and B were found in the “Glitch” lyric page, which spells “hereby” when unscrambled.

Breaking Down Every ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Easter Egg Taylor Swift Teased for Fans

Once the word was revealed, Swift’s fans started theorizing how “hereby” connects to The Tortured Poets Department.

“Taylor Swift out here sounding like the author in Bridgerton. I herby [sic] release this album,” one fan wrote via X on Saturday.

Others realized that the word is defined as “with these words or with this action” and speculated that it could be a TTPD lyric.

Swift’s official fan account chimed in later that night, writing via X, “Hm... we might have to do a little more searching. @AppleMusic, same time tomorrow?”

Word No. 2: Conduct

Clue No. 2 came in the liners of “Peace,” a 2020 track from Folklore. The official Taylor Nation Instagram account informed fans at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 14, that a new clue was up (and confirmed “hereby” as the first word). Within moments, Swifties found the capitalized letters and unscrambled them.

One X user noted that they might correlate to Swift's recent Apple Music playlists, taking one from each phase. "First she went to the denial playlist with glitch and we got HEREBY today was bargaining playlist with peace and we got CONDUCT," the fan wrote.

Another believes there is a connection to her ex Joe Alwyn. "Hereby in glitch and conduct in peace… both songs about Joe too," the Swiftie claimed.

A Guide to All of Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Album Bonus Versions

Swift confirmed at the Grammys earlier this year that The Tortured Poets Department, her 11th studio album, will be released on April 19. The LP, which she wrote after 2022’s Midnights was completed, helped her cope with an apparently difficult time.

“I needed to make [TTPD]. It was really a lifeline for me,” Swift said during a February concert in Australia. “It sort of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through life and I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”

Swift, a longtime champion of dropping intricate musical clues for her fans, dropped another one via Instagram on Sunday, April 14.

“I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all,” a quote on her Instagram read, while she promoted Target’s phantom clear vinyl edition of TTPD.

The Instagram quote, coupled with clues in the album’s tracklist, has led fans to believe that The Tortured Poets Department charts Swift’s emotions after breaking up with Alwyn, 33.

Swift and Alwyn dated for six years between 2016 and early 2023. The pop star has since moved on with football player Travis Kelce, who raved over an early copy of TTPD.

“I have heard some of it, yes, and it is unbelievable,” Kelce, 34, gushed during a February press conference ahead of Super Bowl LVIII. “I can’t wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops.”

Word No. 3: This

Clue No. 3 came from Swift’s song “Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version),” which included the letters H, T, I and S. Unscrambled, the word is This. Many Swifties took to social media to share their theories for what No. 4 could possibly be including meeting or investigation.

“Everyone is saying that it's going to be ‘I hereby conduct this meeting’ but...there isn't an I,” one user wrote via X. “It's ‘hereby conduct this.’ I think the next word is going to be something completely unexpected.”

The Tortured Poets Department drops on Friday, April 19.