As a Swiftie, I can confidently say that we are a unique bunch. When we’re not jamming out to Taylor Swift’s music, there’s a good chance we’re looking for easter eggs connected to an upcoming announcement or project she could be dropping. With Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department dropping on April 19, the fan theories and easter egg spottings have kicked into overdrive.
Leading up to the release of TTPD, Swift partnered with Spotify to debut a pop-up library at The Grove in Los Angeles. The library is essentially a Swiftie’s Wonderland with books that are supposed to represent each era and other subtle nods to Swift’s musical history. One of the biggest components of the library, though, is the use of the Dewey Decimal System, which some Gen Z Swifties are calling “mailboxes.”
The Dewey Decimal System is a library classification system that allows new books to be added to a library by subject. It was originated by Melville Dewey at the Amherst College Library in 1873 and was first published in 1976. Each book is issued a shelf mark number that is usually found on the spine of the book. The books are then arranged in numerical order. The first three digits relate to a broad subject area and are followed by a decimal point and numbers to show the subcategory of the genre and then three letters that refer to the author or the editor of the book.
TBH, this is a super complex and unique way to organize The Tortured Poets Department Library, but we all know this is how Swift’s mind works.
While Swifties were intrigued and confused by the use of the Dewey Decimal System at first, it didn’t take long for fans to start theorizing that it could also be an easter egg for her past relationship with Joe Alwyn.
The Tortured Poets Department is the first album that Swift’s releasing since their breakup from Alwyn in April 2023. In photos from TTPD’s library pop-up circulating online,72 drawers from the Dewey Decimal System are seen with only 6 of them open. Fans on X (previously known as Twitter) pointed out that 72 months equals 6 years, which is how long Swift and Alwyn dated.
Fans also think the drawers could refer to specific times during the former couple’s relationship that Swift took inspiration from.
It’s also important to mention that 72 months is 2,190 days, which Swifties believe could be a reference to her song “Glitch,” where she sings, “But it’s been two-thousand one-hundred ninety days of our love blackout.” The song even has the lyric, “The system’s breaking down,” which shows another instance where Swift used a system to describe a relationship.
I honestly don’t know what to believe at this point but what I do know is that I and many others are counting down the days, hours, and minutes until TTPD is finally released.