Taylor Swift Chicago QR code mural links to ‘Tortured Poets’ YouTube short

Painters work on a Taylor Swift QR code mural in Chicago on Tuesday. Swifties gathered at the site near Grand Avenue and Dearborn Street to activate the code via their cell phones. Swift’s album “The Tortured Poets Department” drops at midnight Eastern time on Thursday.

Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times

Clare Doverspike glanced skyward, along with about 20 other young women, and declared: “This is better than the eclipse.”

What could possibly overshadow so glorious a celestial event?

For Swifties, it happened to be, of all things, a giant QR code painted high up on the side of a building on West Grand Avenue near Dearborn.

Swifties gather in Chicago with phones pointed upward to activate a QR code painted as part of a mural on the side of a building at Grand and Dearborn. The mural code is linked to Taylor Swift’s upcoming release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Zubaer Khan/ Sun-Times

Painters atop a bright green scissor lift appeared Monday evening and were still at work Tuesday afternoon. The code — made out of “ttpd” letters and the numeral “13” — an obvious hint for her soon-to-be released album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”

When people scanned the code with their phone cameras, it took them to a 13 second YouTube short attached to Swift’s page. The YouTube short animates like a typewriter with the message “Error 321″ and a faded “13.”

Swift is known for posting cryptic messages on social media just before an album release.

A Taylor Swift mural featuring a mysterious QR code adorns a building on West Grand Avenue in Chicago, as onlookers gather Tuesday on the street below.

Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times

Katie Preo, 21, a film student at DePaul University and a die-hard Swiftie, stood on Grand for a four hours Monday and was back Tuesday. She tried teasing information out of the painters, but they were apparently sworn to secrecy.

“I’m going to stay until the [QR code] is activated,” Preo said. “It’s just because Chicago Swifities don’t necessarily get too many new things. It’s usually international or the bigger cities.”

Preo’s “original hope” was that the code would be a link to a “poetry book,” she said.

@bestdatefood Taylor Swift’s team is currently painting a mural with a secret message in Chicago right now! #chicago #taylorswift #thetorturedpoetsdepartment ♬ the lakes – bonus track – Taylor Swift

But she wasn’t sure. She noticed below the code, in the faintest pencil, the words “YouTube shorts.”

“I think she’s going to release either some type of video, possibly a single or lyrics for us to decode,” Preo said. “She’s very much a mastermind.”

“The Tortured Poets Department” is scheduled for release at midnight ET on Thursday.

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