On Wednesday morning, Taylor Swift fans caused a stir by essentially overwhelming Google’s search function. The singer used this opportunity to create a virtual Easter egg hunt, unveiling the tracklist for her upcoming “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
Google had announced a day earlier that they would present 89 puzzles through their search function, allowing fans to solve them and gradually uncover the new song titles. Google stated, “You’ll be helping Swifties around the world get out of the woods (or unlock the vault) as everyone collectively solves 33 million puzzles.”
Taylor Swift had previously announced her re-recording of “1989” and the inclusion of unreleased songs in the “Taylor’s Version” of the album. Vault tracks have become a special treat for fans in her re-recordings.
Swift had teased the presence of a blue vault icon in search results when “Taylor Swift” was searched for, adding excitement to the anticipation of what it would reveal.
The puzzle initially kicked off with the vault displaying a jumbled version of Swift’s upcoming album title. As participants entered answers into the search bar, it was supposed to unveil additional puzzles. However, numerous fans, including an NBC News reporter, believe there may have been a glitch, as their searches yielded no further advancements.
Some fans expressed frustration over their inability to participate or their disappointment with the excessive number of puzzle completions required, especially when the game wasn’t functioning correctly.
One user vented on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “It feels like Taylor sometimes underestimates her own popularity. 33 million is a massive number, especially when the vault isn’t working as it should. Google needs to sort out who’s playing the game and who’s genuinely searching for sunglasses, which seems to be causing the issues.”
Another fan humorously remarked, “We won’t hit 33 million before the album drops if this ridiculous vault keeps malfunctioning.”
Google acknowledged the issues in a post on X late Tuesday, stating, “Swifties, the vault is experiencing some difficulties! But don’t worry, there are no empty spaces inside. We’re currently in our ‘fix-it’ phase and will resolve this hiccup soon.”
A spokesperson for Taylor Swift had not responded to a request for comment as of Tuesday.
On Tuesday afternoon, Swift shared a video on Instagram featuring a blue vault opening, accompanied by the caption, “You can tell me when the search is over… if the high was worth the pain.” Following this post, searches for “Taylor Swift” surged and remained elevated for a few hours, as indicated by Google Trends data. Swift’s peak Google search interest occurred at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, two hours after her post, before gradually declining.
Google appeared to resolve the issue by late Tuesday evening, and fans resumed the game until 33 million puzzles were solved by Wednesday morning. A key to the vault appeared on Google’s search engine, unlocking a voice note from Swift in which she revealed the new vault track titles.
Swift exclaimed in the message, “Oh look, you did it! You unlocked the ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ vault, and now I am so excited to share the new vault track titles with you.”
The titles are: “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Suburban Legends,” “Say Don’t Go,” and “Is It Over Now?”
The fifth title was initially speculated by fans to be either “Slut!” or “Lust!” based on the scrambled letters in Swift’s Instagram clip from Tuesday. Swift later confirmed that the track is called “Slut!” when revealing the album’s back covers.
On Wednesday, Swift expressed her anticipation for the release of this particular track, stating, “I can’t wait for this one to be out, seriously. Thank you for playing along, sleuthing, puzzling, and making these reveals so much chaotic fun (which is the best kind of fun, after all).”
The release date for “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is set for October 27th, precisely nine years after the original album’s release.
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