Taylor Swift, the pop idol, stirred up an online frenzy on Tuesday. Swift had planned an online Easter egg hunt to reveal her new “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” song titles. Yet, technical issues hampered the event’s success.
Last month, Swift disclosed plans for her “1989” re-recording. It happened during a performance in Los Angeles. The new version promises unreleased songs. Swift included vault songs in her previous three re-recordings as a bonus for her supporters.
Google teamed up with Swift to reveal these upcoming vault tracks. The reveal involved a puzzle-solving activity for fans—Google’s search function filled with 89 puzzles linked to Swift’s new song titles. Swift’s followers could solve these puzzles to discover the song names.
Google seemed excited about the event. They called upon the global Swifties, or Taylor Swift fans, to solve 33 million puzzles. But only some things unfolded as planned.
Some Swiftie stalwarts spotted a blue vault icon when they searched for “Taylor Swift” on Saturday. This discovery increased the anticipation for the revelation of the vault’s meaning.
As fans punched in their answers into the search bar, puzzles surfaced. These puzzles carried a scrambled version of Swift’s imminent album’s name. It was the fans’ job to unscramble them. But instead of fun and games, participants encountered issues.
The glitch emerged when users noticed no progression in the game after keying in the answers. The event floundered. Fans expressed their frustration. Some could not participate in the event. Others found the required puzzle completions too high.
One user on X, previously known as Twitter, commented on the glitch. They said Taylor seemed oblivious to her popularity. Thirty-three million puzzles seemed far too many, with the game not working. Google’s task of processing genuine players from random users added to the chaos. So, Swift’s Easter egg hunt ended up a scrambled game, much like her release’s title.
