On September 19 (September 20 in Manila time), fans of Taylor Swift joined forces to solve a puzzle challenge ahead of the release of her upcoming album.
Thirty-three million puzzles were deciphered via Google’s Search page, prompting Taylor to release five “From the Vault” tracks or never-been-released songs she made in the past.
Her upcoming “Vault” titles are:
- “Is It Over Now?”
- “Now That We Don’t Talk”
- “Say Don’t Go”
- “Suburban Legends”
- “Sl*t”
The *search* was worth the pain, because we got a long list of #1989TaylorsVersionVault Tracks!!!!! 😮💨🔓🩵 pic.twitter.com/Gjs2mBbtyO
— Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) September 20, 2023
Taylor earlier teased the fifth title on her Instagram account.
She shared this to hype up her fans for the game.
“You can tell me when the *search* is over… if the high was worth the pain,” Taylor wrote in the caption.
Taylor’s fifth re-recorded album “1989 (Taylor’s Version) will drop on October 27.
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The ‘Easter’ egg game
Taylor and Google earlier launched an online challenge for her fans, collectively called Swifties.
Swifties have to collectively solve 33 million puzzles using Google’s Search bar. Once they have deciphered all the puzzles, the American singer will unveil the sought-after titles of her mystery songs.
This game feature would activate after users searched the keyword “Taylor Swift” on the Search bar.
A blue vault surrounded by sand would then appear on the right side of the screen.
To start solving puzzles, the blue vault had to be clicked. A word puzzle in the theme of Taylor’s “1989” album would then pop up at the center of the screen.
Interesting hints referencing lyrics and music video elements from Taylor’s music catalog were also provided for the players throughout the challenge.
There were 89 puzzles to solve in total.
Swifties performed different strategies to decipher all 33 million “puzzles.”
Some of them used multiple email addresses on Google. Others shared their answers in hopes of encouraging other people to join.
Filipino fans also had fun sharing their progress with other Pinoy Swifties on the X app. Some of them went bayanihan to contribute to the fandom in reaching the end goal.
I have finally solved 13 puzzles for #1989TaylorsVersion challenge! It’s a lucky number. OMG. pic.twitter.com/tA42xfxEwJ
— 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓗𝓪𝓷𝔃𝓮𝓵 | Foolish One (@lavenderhanz) September 20, 2023
Ah yes, a milestone🩵. Now waiting for #1989TaylorsVersion pic.twitter.com/2OljqkMSMq
— seph ⸆⸉ (Taylor’s Version) (@samanthnyyy) September 20, 2023
The hashtag #1989TaylorsVersion also landed on the trending topics of Twitter Philippines because of it.
Taylor also previously held similar challenges where she teased her fans with jumbled letters of her “From the Vault” tracks to promote her versions of past albums.
These include “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version),” both of which were released in 2021.