Two o'clock has come and gone, and the secret behind Taylor Swift's mysterious Chicago QR mural has been cracked -- at least one of them.
At midnight Friday, Swift dropped her highly anticipated new album "The Tortured Poet's Department" -- but fans already knew that was coming. However, after the first 16 songs were made made available, a countdown appeared on her website indicating something else would be coming at 2 a.m. ET.
Shortly after the clock struck two, Swift announced the release was in fact a "secret double album," with a total of 31 tracks.
"I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours," Swift captioned the announcement on Instagram.
Days before the album was released, a giant mural with a QR code containing album hints popped up on the side of a building in River North.
"I think it's going to be Easter eggs for a music video that's coming out," said Whitney Hansen, who came to watch the mural go up Tuesday afternoon. "I think she's going to release a music video at like 3 a.m. Friday."
While it wasn't a surprise music video, Hansen wasn't too far off.
As crews worked to finish the mural Tuesday, about a dozen people were lined up to try and scan the QR code -- but a large construction lift had blocked the view. By Wednesday afternoon, the mural appeared to be done -- or at least not blocked.
And as the week went on, the QR code's destination kept changing.
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Taylor Swift's Apple Music clues for ‘The Tortured Poets Department,' explained
When scanned Tuesday, the QR code led to a YouTube short on Taylor Swift's page with the message "Error 321." By Thursday morning, it led to a different YouTube short.
"A letter from the department," the caption in the latest video read, accompanied by a red heart. A typewriter is shown with the sound of a clock ticking in the background. The typewriter then types the letter "T."
After that, Swift masterminds at the Chicago mural began to put the pieces together.
"It fits into a puzzle that connects to other cities around the world that gives you clues," said Chelsea Kindred, at the Chicago mural. "The other letters around the word spelled out 'For a Fortnight.'"
At 2 p.m. Thursday, Swift announced on Instagram that her first single off the album would be song called "Fortnight" featuring Post Malone.
As of 5 a.m. Friday, the video the mural's QR code led to hadn't changed. But that doesn't mean another surprise couldn't be on the way.
“I feel like she cares a lot about her fans and keeping us in it and making it fun for us," fan April Burns. said. "And I think this is a really great example of that."
