All the Easter Eggs in Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Spotify Exhibit

Taylor Swift is dropping Easter eggs about The Tortured Poets Department. 

On April 16, Spotify hosted a pop-up exhibit at The Grove in Los Angeles, during which Swifties were given the chance to walk around a library-themed room riddled with subtle clues about Swift’s upcoming album. 

The pop-up, which will be open until April 18, was “highly curated to represent the direction of the new record” and will be updated each day “with additional aspects, creating a one-of-a-kind experience,” per a press release from Spotify. 

In addition to containing a book with new lyrics from the album, it also included lots of imagery that appears to tease the content of the upcoming album, as well as possible nods to her previous relationship with actor Joe Alwyn. 

Shortly after the pop-up opened, Swift dropped another surprise: a teaser posted to social media that announced her new video on April 19. 

Like many of her music videos, the clip is filled with Easter eggs. It starts in a Midnights-themed room before heading down a white hallway and entering an office where there are two desks, two typewriters and the clock is set to 2:00. 

Ahead, we’ve rounded up some of the biggest Easter eggs from the Spotify exhibit and what they could signal for the new album. 

Telling lyrics

At the center of the exhibit, there sits an open book featuring new lyrics from Swift’s album. The first lyrics featured were “Even statues crumble if they’re made to wait,” however, the installation was modified at 2 p.m. on April 16 to reveal new lyrics. The latest lyrics are “One less temptress. One less dagger to sharpen.” 

Fans have already drawn parallels to Swift’s new lyrics and her previous songs; Swift sang about her castle crumbling overnight in Reputation, and sang about daggers in “Daylight” from Lover and “Tolerate It” from Evermore. 

Puzzle pieces in a jar

On one of the shelves, there is a glass jar that contains pieces of a puzzle with lines and letters. Some have theorized that the puzzle is actually a Bgraamiens Puzzle-The Lines, which is known to be incredibly difficult to solve. Seeing that Swift has many lyrics about problem solving and putting pieces together, perhaps Swift is making reference to a broken relationship that was difficult to repair. 

Dried flowers

Elsewhere in the exhibit, there is a vase with dried flowers, which some believe to be lavender and cornelia rose, references to Swift’s love songs “Lavender Haze” and “Cornelia Street.” With the dead flowers, is Swift marking the end of a relationship that these songs were inspired by? 

Story of Us book

The entire exhibit includes books on shelves, many of which are named after songs on her upcoming album, including “The Manuscript,” “The Albatross” and more. One item sticks out of the shelf as it’s just a notebook with the word “US” written in sharpie, which fans think is referencing her Speak Now song “The Story of Us,” in which she chronicles the beginning and end of a relationship.  

Taylor Swift’s birthday

In the pop-up, there is also a desktop calendar that features Swift’s birthday, Dec. 13. However, as many fans have noted, it’s set to Friday and Swift was actually born on a Wednesday in 1989. One year in which she will be celebrating her birthday on a Friday? 2024! Could Swift be teasing a future project set to drop on her birthday later this year? 

Globe pinned at Florida 

The pop-up also features a globe that has a pin near Florida, the title of her song with Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine. As fans have previously noted, the state is also the first Eras Tour stop Swift made after her breakup with Joe Alwyn was publicly announced. 

Quill and fountain pens

In one part of the exhibit, fans have clued in on a quill and a fountain pen near a piece of paper. Swift has previously shared that she categorizes all of her songs as containing either quill lyrics, fountain pen lyrics and glitter gel pen lyrics. She described quill lyrics as songs containing “words and phrasings [that] are antiquated” like “Ivy” from Evermore while fountain pen songs have a “modern storyline or references, with a poetic twist” like “All Too Well” from Red. 

It’s worth noting that a glitter pen was nowhere in sight in the pop-up, which Swift has said describes songs that are “frivolous, carefree, bouncy, syncopated perfectly to the beat.” With that in mind, it seems like the songs on Tortured Poets Department will be a mix of Evermore and Red. 

Birds outside of their cage 

The exhibit also features a gold cage as well as a statue of birds sitting on a branch. Swift is no stranger to bird cage imagery, notably using it a lot during her Speak Now era as well as the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, in which she is seen swinging in a bird cage. (She also has featured bird cages in her living spaces, including New York and Nashville.) What’s perhaps most striking about the imagery in the pop-up, though, is that the cage is now open and the birds are free.

Diana of Ephesus statue 

On one of the bookshelves, there appears to be a statue of Diana of Ephesus, who in Roman and Hellenistic religion was “a goddess of domestic animals” as well as a “fertility deity” invoked by women “to aid conception and delivery,” per Britannica. She is usually equated with the Greek goddess Artemis. 

Swift is no stranger to Greek mythology references, notably including many references to goddesses in her “Karma” music video such as as Dike, the goddess of justice. It seems Swift could be diving deeper in Greek and Roman mythology with her new album. 

72 drawers

In the center of the exhibit there are rows of drawers, which many fans believe make up a library book catalog. While the catalog could easily represent Swift’s music catalog, one notable detail is that there are 72 boxes, with six open. As fans have noted, 72 months equate to six years, which was the amount of time Swift and Alwyn were together before they split. 

Blacked-out window 

In the installation, there is a window featuring lace curtains, which are evoking a wedding veil for some fans. However, what many have focused on is that the windows are blacked out. Many have theorized that this could be a reference to Swift’s breakup song “You’re Losing Me” in which she sings, “Remember lookin’ at this room, we loved it ’cause of the light / Now, I just sit in the dark and wonder if it’s time.” 

A peace sign 

On one of the shelves, there is a small statue of a peace sign, similar to the one Swift made when she announced The Tortured Poets Department at the Grammys. While this could be a reference to Swift’s song “Peace” from Folklore, in which she sings about never being able to give her lover peace because of the chaos that surrounds her in the spotlight, the number two has been a recurring theme leading up to the album’s release. 

A clock set to two 

Speaking of, there is actually a clock in the exhibit set to 2 o’clock. Her recent teaser on social media also featured two clocks set to 2 o’clock in a Midnights-themed room and a Tortured Poets Department-themed room. This detail, of course, has been making fans run wild with theories.

Among them include theories that Swift could be doing a double album drop (possibly Reputation (Taylor’s Version) or simply that she’ll be releasing a deluxe version of The Tortured Poets Department at 2 a.m. on April 19, similar to how she did with Midnights (3am Edition).