Taylor Swift‘s new LP “The Tortured Poets Department” released Friday at midnight, but a surprise for fans came just a few hours later.
After Swift took home the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for “Midnights” at the Grammy Awards in February, the artist dropped a surprise announcement of her new album.
“My brand new album comes out April 19. It’s called the ‘Tortured Poets Department.’ I’m going to go and post the cover right now backstage,” Swift said after she said she had been keeping it a secret for two years.
Swift shared the news on social media shortly after.
“All’s fair in love and poetry,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out April 19.”
But what fans might have not known is that they weren’t just getting what Swift announced.
In the weeks leading up to the release of the album, Swift has been hinting hidden Easter eggs to her fans.
The artist has been famously known to tease fans with news surrounding her music. But instead of announcing it in the open, she sneakily embeds hidden messages in lyrics, outfits, music videos and more.
These Easter eggs unite the fandom to partake in a scavenger hunt for potential news surrounding the artist.
Swifties have noticed Swift consistently tease a peace sign in place of the number two. She even flashed a peace sign during her Grammy’s announcement when she said she was working on the album for two years.
That Easter egg turned out to be the big hint that two albums were on its way.
“The Tortured Poets Department” consists of two albums with 15 extra songs, as the second one was released at 2 a.m. EST as a surprise to fans.
“It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album,” Swift wrote on Instagram. “I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs.”
Among the 15 extra songs were four previously announced bonus tracks — “The Manuscript,” “The Bolter,” “The Albatross” and “The Black Dog.”
