Is Taylor Swift Actually Dropping Two Albums on Friday?

Taylor Swift's much-anticipated 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, comes out on Friday—but some Swifties are convinced the singer has a surprise in store for fans.

The pop star announced the record in February, while picking up the best album Grammy for 2022's Midnights. Swift is known for leaving Easter eggs for her fans to find, with Swifties quickly coming up with a stream of theories about Tortured Poets.

The latest theory to take over the internet was posed by TikToker and super fan Emerson (@swiftlyobsessed). In her viral video, Emerson suggested that Tortured Poets will be a "double-album drop," with Swift releasing another LP alongside it.

Emerson pointed to a QR code as evidence. A mural appeared in Chicago's River North District on Monday night, reading "ttpd13." When scanned with a phone camera, the mysterious code led to a 13-second clip on Swift's YouTube page.

The video features a piece of blank paper, with a typewriter printing "Error 321" across the page and what appears to be a faint "13."

The clip sent fans into a frenzy, with Swifties lining up to scan the QR code. The mural also launched a bunch of new theories.

As Emerson explains in her video, Swift's site crashed two hours before the Grammys. The page read "Error 321," along with the jumbled phrase "red herring."

At the time, speculation was rife that Swift would announce a re-recording of her sixth studio album, Reputation (2017). The 34-year-old began re-recording her first six albums in 2021, following a rights dispute with record producer Scooter Braun. The new releases have been dubbed "Taylor's Versions."

"We were so confident that we were going to get Reputation: Taylor's Version," Emerson said, before zooming in on the album cover.

"The repetition of the ttpds [in the mural] reminds me so much of the repetition of Taylor Swift on the Reputation album," she continued.

"I think she wants Tortured Poets to have it's moment, so my guess is Tortured Poets comes out, and then at like 3:00 am, she just randomly drops Reputation."

However, fellow Swifties were skeptical, with @chatswithchass commenting: "She's not going to give TTPD 3 hours to have its moment."

"She might announce it but she won't drop them both," agreed Olivia.

"She would never drop two albums at the same time. They would compete for awards AND why would she not market reputation?" wrote @katlyn_elizabeth21.

"She's not going to randomly drop Rep," said @sourpatchcycles. "She loves her numbers. She's going to do it like every other TV with weeks and weeks of buildup for preorders. She's also not going to drop it to compete w TTPD."

Although, other fans agreed with Emerson's belief that something else might drop alongside Tortured Poets.

"I don't think it's rep but I do think it's something. a book? a ttpd sister album?" said Shannon Pinette.

"I keep thinking it's going to be a deluxe '3am' version of TTPD like how she did with midnights," wrote Emily North.

"I think it'll have a sister album but like a few months after maybe after summer," commented @iwalkmypetgoldfish.

Newsweek has reached out to Taylor Swift for comment via email.

Other Tortured Poets theories to go viral include Easter eggs regarding Swift's ex-boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn, and that the music icon will include some of her new tracks in the Eras tour.

Swift dated Conversations With Friends star Alywn for six years before they split in April 2023. To promote the release of Tortured Poets, Swift created five Apple music playlists depicting the "the five stages of heartbreak"—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Many fans believed the playlists documented her break-up with Alwyn, hinting that Tortured Poets might include new material about the Mary Queen of Scots actor.

Swift is also currently part way through her record-breaking Eras tour, which incorporates different "eras" of the Grammy winner's music career. While the show is already three hours long and comprised of 44 songs, fans hope the pop legend will find time to add Tortured Poets' tunes to the 10-act setlist.